1 


REESE    LIBRARY 

<>      IHK 

UNIVERSITY   OF   CALIFORNIA, 


Receireii 

V/0//N        -\(          «*-J 


\tpnians  here  are  more  English  than  the 
English  themselves. 

To  indulge  Miss  Harriet,  I  now  go  out 
more  than  my  health  will  permit.  Last 
night  I  dined  out  at  8  o'clock  and  after 
wards  attended  three  evening  parties. 
Thank  Heaven  !  the  season,  as  it  is  called, 
will  soon  be  over,  and  the  nobility  and 
gentry  will  go  to  their  homes  in  the  coun 
try,  there  to  remain  until  next  Easter, 
shall  then  have  comparative  peace  and 
quiet. 

Harriet's  society  affords  me  much  pleas 
ure,  and  I  now  have  no  apprehensions  that 
she  will  be  spoiled  by  London  life.  She 
plainly  perceives  that  among  the  higher 
classes  of  the  aristocracy.  "  it  is  a  region 


LIFE 


OF 


JAMES    BUCHANAN 


FIFTEENTH  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


BY 


GEORGE  TICKNOR  CURTIS 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOL.  I. 


UNIVERSITY 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    FRANKLIN    SQUARE 
1883 


Copyright,  1883,  by  GEORGE  TICKNOR  CURTIS. 


All  rights  reserved. 


Stereotyped  by  Smith  &  McDougal. 


PREFACE. 


"AyOTWITHSTAKDING  the  proverbial  tendency  of  bio- 
-LN  graphers  to  contract  what  Macaulay  has  called  "  the 
disease  of  admiration,"  no  one  who  can  lay  claim  to  any 
strength  of  mind  need  allow  the  fear  of  such  an  imputation  to 
prevent  him  from  doing  justice  to  a  public  man  whose  life,  for 
whatever  reason,  he  has  undertaken  to  write.  But  that  my 
readers  may  judge  of  the  degree  t)f  my  exposure  to  this  malady, 
a  frank  explanation  of  the  circumstances  under  which  I  came 
to  write  this  work  is  due  both  to  them  and  to  myself. 

In  the  summer  of  1880,  the  executors  and  the  nearest  surviv 
ing  relatives  of  Mr.  Buchanan  asked  me  to  allow  them  to  place 
in  my  hands  the  whole  collection  of  his  private  papers,  with  a 
view  to  the  preparation  of  a  biographical  and  historical  work 
concerning  his  public  and  private  life.  This  duty  could  not 
have  been  undertaken  by  me,  without  an  explicit  understanding 
that  I  was  to  treat  the  subject  in  an  entirely  independent  and 
impartial  spirit.  To  be  of  much  value,  the  work,  as  I  conceived, 
must  necessarily  be,  to  some  extent,  a  history  of  the  times  in 
which  Mr.  Buchanan  acted  an  important  part  as  a  public  man. 
Moreover,  although  I  had  been  for  far  the  greater  part  of  this 
period  an  attentive  observer  of  public  affairs,  I  had  no  special 
interest  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  fame,  and  was  never  personally 
known  to  him.  I  could  have  no  object,  therefore,  of  any  kind, 
to  subserve,  save  the  truth  of  history;  nor -did  the  representa- 


iv  PREFACE. 

lives  of  Mr.  Buchanan  desire  me,  in  assuming  the  office  of  his 
biographer,  to  undertake  that  of  an  official  eulogist.  I  have 
sought  for  information,  aside  from  the  papers  of  the  late  Presi 
dent,  in  many  quarters  where  I  knew  that  I  could  obtain  it ;  but 
the  opinions,  inferences  and  conclusions  contained  in  these  vol 
umes  are  exclusively  my  own,  excepting  in  the  few  instances  in 
which  I  have  expressly  quoted  those  of  other  persons.  ]STo  one 
has  exercised  or  endeavored  to  exercise  the  slightest  influence 
over  what  I  have  said  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  I  acknowledge  and 
have  felt  no  loyalty  to  his  reputation  beyond  the  loyalty  that 
every  man  owes  to  justice  and  to  truth. 

I  have  thought  it  proper  to  say  this  much  concerning  my 
relations  to  the  family  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  for  two  reasons.  The 
President,  by  his  will,  appointed  as  his  biographer  a  personal 
friend,  the  late  Mr.  William  B.  Reed  of  Philadelphia,  in  whom 
he  had  great  confidence,  and  who  was  a  very  accomplished 
writer.  But  Mr.  Reed  was  prevented  by  private  misfortunes 
from  doing  anything  more  than  to  examine  Mr.  Buchanan's 
voluminous  papers,  and  to  prepare  two  introductory  chapters  of 
the  intended  Life.  Of  these  I  could  make  no  use,  as  they  did 
not  accord  with  my  method  of  treating  the  subject.  After  Mr. 
Reed  had  surrendered  the  task  which  he  had  undertaken,  the 
papers  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  late  Judge  John  Cad- 
wallader  of  Philadelphia,  another  personal  friend  of  the  President. 
This  gentleman  died  before  he  had  begun  to  write  the  proposed 
work ;  and  wrhen  the  papers,  which  had  been  placed  in  his  hands 
by  the  executors,  came  into  mine,  along  writh  another  large  col 
lection  from  "Wheatland,  I  had  to  subject  them  to  an  entirely 
new  arrangement  and  classification,  before  anything  could  be 
done.  In  resorting  to  a  stranger  as  the  biographer  of  Mr. 
Buchanan,  his  executors  and  friends  did  what  circumstances 
had  rendered  unavoidable.  The  only  assurance  I  can  give  is 
that  I  have  had  no  reason  to  be  otherwise  than  strictly  faithful 


PREFACE.  v 

to  what  I  believe  to  be  the  truth  concerning  the  whole  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  career. 

The  other  reason  for  a  candid  explanation  of  my  relation  to 
this  subject  will  occur  to  every  one.  Mr.  Buchanan's  adminis 
tration  of  the  Government  during  the  four  years  which  pre 
ceded  the  commencement  of  our  civil  war,  is  a  topic  upon  which 
friends  and  foes  have  widely  differed.  But  no  unprejudiced  per 
son  who  now  examines  the  facts  can  doubt  that,  in  many  minds, 
injustice  has  been  done  to  him.  Perhaps  this  was  inevitable, 
considering  that  a  sectional  civil  war,  of  vast  magnitude  and 
attended  with  great  bitterness,  followed  immediately  after  his 
retirement  from  office,  when  a  political  party  which  had  been  in 
opposition  to  his  administration  came  for  the  first  time  into  the 
full  control  of  the  Federal  Government.  It  was  in  the  nature 
of  things — or  rather,  I  should  say,  it  was  in  the  nature  of  man — 
that  those  who  succeeded  to  the  Government  should  have  charged 
upon  the  outgoing  administration  that  they  had  been  remiss  in 
their  public  duty ;  and  that  under  the  example  of  men  in  high 
places,  there  should  have  grown  up  a  popular  belief  that  Mr. 
Buchanan  favored  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States,  either 
purposely,  or  by  lack  of  the  proper  energy  to  meet  it  in  its  inci 
pient  stages.  Charges  of  this  kind  found  popular  credence  in  a 
time  of  unexampled  excitement ;  and  since  the  war  was  ended, 
there  have  been,  and  doubtless  there  still  are,  many  persons 
who  regard  President  Buchanan  as  a  man  who  could  have 
saved  the  country  from  a  frightful  civil  war,  if  he  had  had  the 
wish  and  the  energy  to  nip  Secession  in  the  bud. 

Such,  at  all  events,  were  the  reproaches  with  which  many  of 
his  countrymen  pursued  him  into  retirement,  and  continued  to 
follow  him  to  his  grave.  Denied  as  he  was  a  hearing  while  he 
lived,  because  the  perils  and  turmoils  of  the  immediate  present 
unfitted  men  to  look  dispassionately  back  into  the  past,  he  may 
well  have  desired  that  in  some  calmer  time,  when  he  had  gone 


vi  PREFACE. 

where  there  is  neither  ignorance,  nor  prejudice,  nor  rancor,  some 
one  should  u  read  his  cause  aright  to  the  unsatisfied."  To  that 
better  time  he  looked  forward  with  an  un doubting  faith  in  the 
ultimate  justice  of  his  country.  I  believe  that  the  time  which 
he  anticipated  has  come ;  and  that  nothing  more  than  a  proper 
examination  of  the  facts  is  now  needed,  to  insure  for  him  all 
the  vindication  that  he  could  ever  have  desired. 

In  regard  to  this  and  to  every  other  part  of  his  life,  I  have 
found  it  an  interesting  task  to  trace  the  history  of  a  man  whose 
public  and  private  character  were  always  pure,  whose  patriotism 
was  co-extensive  with  his  whole  country,  whose  aims  were  high, 
and  who  was  habitually  conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  every 
obligation.  My  estimate  of  his  abilities  and  power  as  a  states 
man  has  risen  with  every  investigation  that  I  have  made ;  and 
it  is,  in  my  judgment,  not  too  much  to  say  of  him  as  a  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  that  he  is  entitled  to  stand  very  high 
on  the  catalogue — not  a  large  one — of  those  who  have  had  the 
moral  courage  to  encounter  misrepresentation  and  obloquy, 
rather  than  swerve  from  the  line  of  duty  which  their  convictions 
marked  out  for  them. 

I  must  say  a  few  words  in  explanation  of  my  method  of 
describing  important  public  transactions,  the  interest  in  which 
attaches  both  to  the  events  and  to  an  individual  who  has  borne 
a  chief  part  in  them.  There  are  two  modes  of  historical  writ 
ing.  One  is  to  make  a  narrative  of  the  course  of  a  foreign 
negotiation,  for  example,  or  of  any  other  public  action,  with 
out  quoting  despatches  or  documents.  The  other,  which  scarcely 
rises  above  the  dignity  of  compilation,  is  to  let  the  story 
be  told  mainly  by  the  documents.  But  in  biography,  where 
the  interest  centres  for  the  nonce  in  some  principal  actor,  I 
conceive  that  the  better  course  is  to  unite  the  two  methods,  by 
so  much  of  description  as  is  needful  to  illustrate  the  documents, 
and  by  so  much  of  quotation  as  is  needful  to  give  force  to  the 


PREFACE.  yii 

narrative.  It  often  happens,  however,  that  the  private  letters 
which  a  person  in  high  official  station  receives  or  writes,  are 
quite  valuable  to  the  elucidation  of  official  papers  and  official 
acts,  as  they  certainly  may  render  a  description  more  lively  than 
it  would  be  without  them.  The  collection  of  Mr.  Buchanan's 
papers  is  exceedingly  rich  in  private  correspondence,  both  with 
persons  towards  whom  he  stood  in  official,  and  with  other  per 
sons  towards  whom  he  stood  in  only  social,  relations ;  and  I 
have  drawn  largely  upon  these  materials.  Whether  I  have 
accomplished  the  object  at  which  I  have  aimed,  the  reader  will 
judge.  It  is  for  me  to  do  no  more  than  to  apprise  him  that  I 
have  endeavored  to  write  for  his  instruction  and  his  entertain 
ment,  as  well  as  to  render  justice  to  the  person  whose  life  I  have 
described.  To  vindicate  in  all  things  the  public  policy  of  the 
party  with  which  he  acted,  has  not  been  my  aim.  I  have  only 
sought  to  exhibit  it  in  its  true  relation  to  the  history  of  the 
times.  Sincerity  and  strength  of  conviction  were  as  character 
istic  of  those  to  whom  Mr.  Buchanan  was  politically  opposed, 
as  they  were  of  his  political  associates. 

It  is  perhaps  almost  superfluous  for  me  to  say  that  it  would 
have  been  impracticable  for  me  within  the  limits  of  these  two 
volumes  to  give  an  account  of  every  debate  in  Congress  in 
which  Mr.  Buchanan  took  part,  or  of  every  transaction  with 
which  he  was  connected  as  a  foreign  minister,  as  Secretary  of 
State,  or  as  President.  Such  of  his  speeches  as  I  have  quoted 
at  length  have  been  selected  because  of  the  interest  that  still 
attaches  to  the  subject,  or  some  part  of  it,  or  because  they  illus 
trate  his  powers  as  a  debater ;  and  in  making  selections  or  quo 
tations  from  his  diplomatic  papers,  I  have  been  unavoidably  con 
fined  to  those  which  related  to  critical  questions  in  our  foreign 
relations.  It  was  equally  impracticable  for  me  to  touch  upon 
the  connections  which  he  had  with  numerous  political  persons 
in  the  course  of  a  public  life  of  forty  years.  I  have  drawn  a 


viii  PREFACE; 

necessary  line,  and  have  drawn  it  between  those  with  whom  he 
stood  in  some  important  official  relation,  or  who  occupied  impor 
tant  public  positions,  and  those  who  belong  in  the  category  of 
politicians  more  or  less  prominent  and  active,  with  whom  all 
very  eminent  public  men  have  more  or  less  to  do ;  including  the 
former  and  excluding  the  latter.  But  of  course  I  have  varied 
this  rule  in  the  case  of  friends  who  stood  in  personal  rather  than 
political  relations  with  him. 

It  remains  for  me  to  give  a  description  of  the  materials  of 
which  I  have  made  use,  and  to  make  the  customary  acknowl 
edgments  to  those  who  supplied  them. 

Any  man  who  has  been  in  public  life  for  a  long  period  of 
time,  and  has  attained  to  the  highest  public  stations,  must  ne 
cessarily  have  accumulated  a  vast  amount  of  materials  of  the 
highest  importance  to  the  elucidation  of  his  own  history  and  of 
the  history  of  the  times  in  which  he  has  acted.  Mr.  Buchanan 
had  a  habit  of  preserving  nearly  everything  that  came  into  his 
hands.  The  mass  of  his  private  correspondence  is  enormous.  I 
can  hardly  specify  the  number  of  letters  that  I  have  had  to  read, 
in  order  to  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  state  of  the  public  mind 
in  the  opposite  sections  of  the  Union  during  the  period  when 
he  first  had  to  encounter  the  secession  movement.  My  recollec 
tion  of  the  condition  of  public  opinion  at  such  junctures  was 
pretty  vivid,  but  I  could  not  venture  to  trust  to  it  without 
examining  the  best  evidence ;  for  undoubtedly  the  best  evidence 
of  public  opinion  was  to  be  found  in  the  private  letters  which  at 
such  periods  reached  the  President  from  all  quarters  of  the  coun 
try.  Many  hundreds  of  such  letters  have  been  examined,  in 
order  to  write,  and  to  write  correctly,  a  very  few  pages.  Mr. 
Buchanan  had  also  another  habit  of  great  utility.  Although  he 
did  not  always  keep  a  regular  diary  or  journal,  he  rarely  held  an 
important  conversation,  or  was  engaged  in  a  critical  transaction, 
without  writing  down  an  account  of  it  with  his  own  hand 


PREFACE.  jx 

immediately  afterward.  These  extremely  valuable  memoranda 
will  be  found  to  throw  great  light  upon  many  matters  that  have 
hitherto  been  left  in  obscurity,  or  have  been  entirely  misrepre 
sented.  He  was  also  an  indefatigable  letter- writer ;  and  of  those 
of  his  own  letters  of  which  he  did  not  keep  copies,  he  procured 
many  from  his  correspondents  after  his  retirement  to  Wheat- 
land.  He  wrote  freely,  easily,  and  I  should  think  rapidly. 
His  familiar  letters  rarely  received  or  required  much  correc 
tion  ;  but  his  official  productions  were  polished  with  great  care. 

The  principal  mass  of  these  papers,  along  with  the  public 
documents  which  were  connected  with  them,  was  collected  by 
Mr.  Buchanan  himself,  in  the  interval  between  his  retirement 
from  the  Presidency  and  his  death.  This  collection  was  placed 
in  my  hands  by  his  brother  and  executor,  the  Rev.  Edward  Y. 
Buchanan,  D.D.,  of  Philadelphia.  Another  large  collection 
came  to  me  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  E.  Johnston,  the  present 
possessors  of  Wheatland.  Mrs.  Johnston  enriched  the  collec 
tion  of  papers  which  were  sent  to  me  from  Wheatland,  by 
adding  to  them  a  great  quantity  of  her  uncle's  letters  to  herself, 
of  which  she  kindly  permitted  me  to  take  copies. 

From  James  Buchanan  Henry,  Esq.,  nephew  of  the  President, 
and  for  some  time  his  private  secretary,  and  from  Miss  Buchanan, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Buchanan,  I  have  received  interesting 
contributions,  which  have  found  their  place  in  my  work. 

Next  to  these,  the  immediate  relatives  of  President  Buchanan, 
I  am  indebted  to  the  Hon.  Jeremiah  S.  Black,  Attorney-Gen 
eral  and  afterwards  Secretary  of  State  during  Mr.  Buchanan's 
Presidency,  for  important  information.  I  am  under  like  obliga 
tions  to  Brinton  Coxe  and  Joseph  B.  Baker,  Esqs.,  of  Phila 
delphia,  friends  of  the  late  President. 

And  finally,  from  my  own  valued  friend  of  many  years, 
Samuel  L.  M.  Barlow,  Esq.,  of  ]STew  York,  I  have  received  two 
very  interesting  contributions,  which  are  quoted  and  credited 


x  PREFACE. 

in  their  appropriate  places.  I  am  also  under  a  similar  obliga 
tion  to  W.  U.  Hensel,  Esq.,  of  Lancaster,  and  to  George 
Plumer  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia.  Nor  should  I  omit  to 
mention  the  name  of  Hiram  B.  Swarr,  Esq.,  co-executor  with 
Dr.  Buchanan,  and  the  confidential  lawyer  of  the  late  Presi 
dent,  at  Lancaster,  as  one  who  has  very  materially  aided  my 
researches. 

NEW  YORK,  May  1,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 
1791—1820. 

PAGE 

Birth  and  Parentage — Early  Education  and  College  Life — Study  of  the 
Law — Admission  to  the  Bar — Settles  in  Lancaster — A  Volunteer  in  the 
War  of  1812 — Enters  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania— Early  Distinc 
tion — Professional  Income — Retires  from  Public  Life — Disappointment 
in  Love — Re-enters  Public  Life— Elected  to  Congress 1 

CHAPTER    II. 
1820—1824. 

Monroe's  Administration — Eminent  Men  in  Congress — Notices  of  William 
Lowndes  and  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke— John  Sergeant — Buchanan 
becomes  a  leading  Debater — Bankrupt  Bill — Cumberland  Road — The 
Tariff. 23 

CHAPTER    III. 
1824 — 1825. 

Election  of  John  Quincy  Adams — The  "Bargain  and  Corruption" — 
Unfounded  Charge  —  General  Jackson's  erroneous  Impression  —  His 
Correspondence  with  Mr.  Buchanan 38 

CHAPTER    IV. 
1825—1826. 

Bitter  Opposition  to  the  Administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams — Bill  for 
the  Relief  of  the  Revolutionary  Officers — The  Panama  Mission — Inci 
dental  Reference  to  Slavery 51 

CHAPTER    V, 
1827—1829. 

Great  Increase  of  General  Jackson's  Popularity — "  Retrenchment "  made 
a  Political  Cry — Debate  on  the  Tariff—  l^ucj^ajiajQ^Qj^ni^ 
ments  —  The  Interests  of  Navigation  —  The  Cumberland  Road  again 
Discnssed— Ineligibility  of  a  President 70 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XVII. 
1843—1844. 

PAGD 

X  Buchanan  elected  to  the  Senate  for  a  Third  Term — Efforts  of  his  Pennsyl 
vania  Friends  to  have  him  nominated  for  the  Presidency — Motives  of 
his  Withdrawal  from  the  Canvass — The  Baltimore  Democratic  Conven 
tion  of  1844  nominates  Mr.  Polk  — The  Old  Story  of  "Bargain  and 
Corruption  " — Private  Correspondence 515 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

1842 — 1849. 
Harriet  Lane 531 

CHAPTER    XIX. 
1844—1845. 

Annexation  of  Texas — Election  of  President  Polk — The  Department  of 
State  accepted  by  Mr.  Buchanan 543 

CHAPTER    XX. 
1845 — 1846. 

\/   The  Oregon  Controversy — Danger  of  a  War  with  England — Negotiation 

for  a  Settlement  of  Boundary — Private  Correspondence 551 

CHAPTER    XXI. 
1845—1848. 

*  Origin  of  the  War  with  Mexico— Efforts  of  Mr.  Folk's  Administration  to 
prevent  it 579 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

1848—1849. 
-i—    Central  America— The  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  the  Clay  ton -Bui  wer  Treaty.  619 


UNIVERSITY, 


LIFE   OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN, 


CHAPTER    I. 

1791—1820. 

BIRTH  AND  PARENTAGE — EARLY  EDUCATION  AND  COLLEGE  LIFE — STUDY 
OF  THE  LAW — ADMISSION  TO  THE  BAR — SETTLES  IN  LANCASTER — A 
VOLUNTEER  IN  THE  WAR  OF  1812 — ENTERS  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF 
PENNSYLVANIA — EARLY  DISTINCTION — PROFESSIONAL  INCOME — RE 
TIRES  FROM  PUBLIC  LIFE — DISAPPOINTMENT  IN  LOVE — RE-ENTERS 
PUBLIC  LIFE— ELECTED  TO  CONGRESS. 

A  UTOBIOGKAPHY,  when  it  exists,  usually  furnishes  the 
-£j-  most  interesting  and  reliable  information  of  at  least  the 
early  life  of  any  man.  Among  the  papers  of  Mr.  Buchanan, 
there  remains  a  fragment  of  an  autobiography,  without  date, 
written  however,  it  is  supposed,  many  years  before  his  death. 
This  sketch,  for  it  is  only  a  sketch,  ends  with  the  year  1816, 
when  he  was  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  I  shall  quote  from  it, 
in  connection  with  the  events  of  this  part  of  his  life,  adding 
such  further  elucidations  of  its  text  as  the  other  materials 
within  my  reach  enable  me  to  give. 

The  following  is  the  account  which  Mr.  Buchanan  gives  of 
his  birth  and  parentage : 

"My  father,  James  Buchanan,  was  a  native  of  the  county  Donegal,  in 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland.  His  family  was  respectable  ;  but  their  pecuniary 
circumstances  were  limited.  He  emigrated  to  the  United  States  before  the 
date  of  the  Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace  with  Great  Britain ;  having  sailed 

from in  the  brig  Providence,  bound  for  Philadelphia,  in  1783.    He 

was  then  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  his  age.  Immediately  after  his 
arrival  in  Philadephia,  he  proceeded  to  the  house  of  his  maternal  uncle, 
Mr.  Josh uaRussel,  in  York  county.  After  spending  a  short  time  there, 
he  became  an  assistant  in  the  store  of  Mr.  John  Tom,  at  Stony  Batter,  a 
I.— 1 


2  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

country  place  at  the  foot  of  the  North  Mountain,  then  in  Cumberland 
(now  in  Franklin  county.) 

"  He  commenced  business  for  himself,  at  the  same  place,  about  the  be 
ginning  of  the  year  1788;  and  on  the  16th  of  April,  in  the  same  year,  -was 
married  to  Elizabeth  Speer.  My  father  was  a  man  of  practical  judgment, 
and  of  great  industry  and  perseverance.  He  had  received  a  good  English 
education,  and  had  that  kind  of  knowledge  of  mankind  which  prevented 
him  from  being  ever  deceived  in  his  business.  With  these  qualifications, 
with  the  facility  of  obtaining  goods  on  credit  at  Baltimore  at  that  early 
period,  and  with  the  advantages  of  his  position,  it  being  one  of  a  very  few 
spots  where  the  people  of  the  western  counties  came  with  pack  horses 
loaded  with  wheat  to  purchase  and  carry  home  salt  and  other  necessaries, 
his  circumstances  soon  improved.  He  bought  the  Dunwoodie  farm  for 
£1500  in  1794,  and  had  previously  purchased  the  property  on  which  he 
resided  at  the  Cove  Gap. 

"  I  was  born  at  this  place  on  the  23d  of  April,  1791,  being  my  father's 
second  child.  My  father  moved  from  the  Cove  Gap  to  Mercersburg,  a  dis 
tance  of  between  three  and  four  miles,  in  the  autumn  of  1790,  and  began 
business  in  Mercersburg  in  the  autumn  of  1798.  For  some  years  before  his 
death,  which  occurred  on  the  llth  of  June,  1821,  he  had  quite  a  large 
mercantile  business,  and  devoted  much  of  his  time  and  attention  to  super 
intending  nis  farm,  of  which  he  was  very  fond.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
native  force  of  character.  He  was  not  only  respected,  but  beloved  by 
everybody  who  approached  him.  In  his  youth,  he  held  the  commission  of 
a  justice  of  the  peace;  but  finding  himself  so  overrun  with  the  business  of 
this  office  as  to  interfere  with  his  private  affairs,  he  resigned  his  commis 
sion.  A  short  time  before  his  death,  he  again  received  a  commission  of 
the  peace  from  Governor  Hiester.  He  was  a  kind  father,  a  sincere  friend, 
and  an  honest  and  religious  man. 

"  My  mother,  considering  her  limited  opportunities  in  early  life,  was  a 
remarkable  woman.  The  daughter  of  a  country  farmer,  engaged  in  house 
hold  employment  from  early  life  until  after  my  father's  death,  she  yet 
found  time  to  read  much,  and  to  reflect  deeply  on  what  she  read.  She 
had  a  great  fondness  for  poetry,  and  could  repeat  \^ith  ease  all  the  pas 
sages  in  her  favorite  authors  which  struck  her  fancy.  These  were  Milton, 
Pope,  Young,  Cowper,  and  Thomson.  I  do  not  think,  at  least  until  a 
late  peiiod  of  her  life,  she  had  ever  read  a  criticism  on  any  one  of  these 
authors,  and  yet  such  was  the  correctness  of  her  natural  taste  that  she  had 
selected  for  herself,  and  could  repeat,  every  passage  in  them  which  has 
been  admired. 

"  She  was  a  sincere  and  devoted  Christian  from  the  time  of  my  earliest 
recollection,  and  had  read  much  on  the  subject  of  theology ;  and  what 
she  read  once,  she  remembered  forever.  For  her  sons,  as  they  successively 
grew  up,  she  was  a  delightful  and  instructive  companion.  She  would 
argue  with  them,  and  often  gain  the  victory  ;  ridicule  them  in  any  folly  or 


PARENTAGE.  3 

eccentricity  ;  excite  their  ambition,  by  presenting  to  them  in  glowing  colors 
men  who  had  been  useful  to  their  country  or  their  kind,  as  objects  of 
imitation,  and  enter  into  all  their  joys  and  sorrows.  Her  early  habits  of 
laborious  industry,  she  could  not  be  induced  to  forego — whilst  she  had 
anything  to  do.  My  father  did  everything  he  could  to  prevent  her  from 
laboring  in  her  domestic  concerns,  but  it  was  all  in  vain.  I  have  often, 
during  the  vacations  at  school  or  college,  sat  in  the  room  with  her,  and 
whilst  she  was  (entirely  from  her  own  choice)  busily  engaged  in  homely 
domestic  employments,  have  spent  hours  pleasantly  and  instructively  in 
conversing  with  her.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  firmness  ot  character  and 
bore  the  afflictions  of  her  later  life  with  Christian  philosophy.  After  my 
father's  death,  she  lost  her  two  sons,  William  and  George  Washington, 
two  young  men  of  great  promise,  and  a  favorite  daughter.  These  afflic 
tions  withdrew  her  affections  gradually  more  and  more  from  the  things  of 
this  world — and  she  died  on  the  14th  of  May,  1833,  at  Greensburg,  in  the 
calm  but  firm  assurance  that  she  was  going  home  to  her  Father  and  her 
God.  It  was  chiefly  to  her  influence  that  her  sons  were  indebted  for  a 
liberal  education.  Under  Providence,  I  attribute  any  little  distinction 
which  I  may  have  acquired  in  the  world  to  the  blessing  which  He  con 
ferred  upon  me  in  granting  me  such  a  mother." 

The  parents  of  Mr.  Buchanan  were  both  of  Scotch-Irish 
descent,  and  Presbyterians.  At  what  time  this  branch  of  the 
Buchanan  family  emigrated  from  Scotland  to  Ireland  is  not 
known ;  but  John  Buchanan,  the  grandfather  of  the  President, 
who  was  a  farmer  in  the  county  of  Donegal  in  Ireland,  married 
Jane  Kussel,  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  She  was  a 
daughter  of  Samuel  Russel,  who  was  also  a  farmer  of  Scotch- 
Presbyterian  descent  in  the  same  county.  James  Buchanan, 
their  son,  and  father  of  the  President,  was  brought  up  by  his 
mother's  relatives.  Elizabeth  Speer,  the  President's  mother, 
was  the  only  daughter  of  James  Speer,  who  was  also  of  Scotch- 
Presbyterian  ancestry,  and  who  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania  in 
1756.  James  Speer  and  his  wife  (Mary  Patterson)  settled  at 
first  on  a  farm  ten  miles  from  Lancaster,  and  afterwards  at  the 
foot  of  the  South  Mountain  between  Chambersburg  and  Get 
tysburg.  It  is  told  in  some  memoranda  which  now  lie  before 
me,  that  in  1779,  James  Speer  left  the  "  Covenanted  Church," 
on  account  of  difficulties  with  Mr.  Dobbins,  his  pastor,  and  was 
afterwards  admitted  to  full  communion  in  the  Presbyterian 
congregation  under  the  care  of  the  Eev.  John  Black.  This  in- 


4  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

cident  sufficiently  indicates  the  kind  of  religious  atmosphere  in 
which  Mrs.  Buchanan  grew  up ;  and  the  letters  of  both  parents 
to  their  son,  from  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  quote  fre 
quently,  afford  abundant  evidence  of  that  deep  and  peculiar  piety 
which  characterized  the  sincere  Christians  of  their  denomina 
tion.  They  were  married  on  the  16th  of  April,  1788,  when 
Mrs.  Buchanan  was  just  twenty-one,  and  her  husband  twenty- 
seven.  Eleven  children  were  born  to  them  between  1789  and 
1811.  James,  the  future  President,  was  born  April  23d,  1791. 
Of  his  early  education  and  his  college  life,  he  gives  this  ac 
count  : 

"  After  having  received  a  tolerably  good  English  education,  I  studied 
the  Latin  and  Greek  languages  at  a  school  in  Mercersburg.  It  was  first 
kept  by  the  Rev.  James  R.  Sharon,  then  a  student  of  divinity  with  Dr. 
John  King,  and  afterwards  by  a  Mr.  McConnell  and  Dr.  Jesse  Magaw, 
then  a  student  of  medicine,  and  subsequently  my  brother-in-law.  I  was 
sent  to  Dickinson  College  in  the  fall  of  1807,  where  I  entered  the  junior 
class. 

"  The  college  was  in  a  wretched  condition  ;  and  I  have  often  regretted 
that  I  had  not  been  sent  to  some  other  institution.  There  was  no  efficient 
discipline,  and  the  young  men  did  pretty  much  as  they  pleased.  To  be  a 
sober,  plodding,  industrious  youth  was  to  incur  the  ridicule  of  the  mass  of 
the  students.  Without  much  natural  tendency  to  become  dissipated,  and 
chiefly  from  the  example  of  others,  and  in  order  to  be  considered  a  clever 
and  a  spirited  youth,  I  engaged  in  every  sort  of  extravagance  and  mischief 
in  which  the  greatest  proficients  of  the  college  indulged.  Unlike  the  rest 
of  this  class,  however,  I  was  always  a  tolerably  hard  student,  and  never 
was  deficient  in  my  college  exercises. 

"  A  circumstance  occurred,  after  I  had  been  a  year  at  college,  which 
made  a  strong  and  lasting  impression  upon  me.  During  the  September 
vacation,  in  the  year  1808,  on  a  Sabbath  morning,  whilst  I  was  sitting  in 
the  room  with  my  father,  a  letter  was  brought  to  him.  He  opened  it,  and 
read  it,  and  I  observed  that  his  countenance  fell.  He  then  handed  it  to  me 
and  left  tli3  room,  and  I  do  not  recollect  that  he  ever  afterwards  spoke  to  me 
on  the  subject  of  it.  It  was  from  Dr.  Davidson,  the  Principal  of  Dickinson 
College.  He  stated  that,  but  for  the  respect  which  the  faculty  entertained 
for  my  father,  I  would  have  been  expelled  from  college  on  account  of  dis 
orderly  conduct.  That  they  had  borne  with  me  as  best  they  could  until 
that  period ;  but  that  they  would  not  receive  me  again,  and  that  the  letter 
was  written  to  save  him  the  mortification  of  sending  me  back  and  having 
me  rejected.  Mortified  to  the  soul,  I  at  once  determined  upon  my  course. 
Dr.  John  King  was  at  the  time  pastor  of  the  congregation  to  which  my 


COLLEGE  LIFE.  5 

parents  belonged.  He  came  to  that  congregation  shortly  after  the  Revolu 
tion,  and  continued  to  be  its  pastor  until  his  death.  He  had  either  married 
or  baptized  all  its  members.  He  participated  in  their  joys  as  well  as  their 
sorrows,  and  had  none  of  the  gloomy  bigotry  which  too  often  passes  in 
these  days  for  superior  sanctity.  He  was,  I  believe,  a  trustee  of  the  col 
lege,  and  enjoyed  great  and  extensive  influence  wherever  he  was  known.  To 
him  I  applied  with  the  greatest  confidence  in  my  extremity.  He  gave  me  a 
gentle  lecture — the  more  efficient  on  that  account.  He  then  proposed  to 
me,  that  if  I  would  pledge  my  honor  to  him  to  behave  better  at  college 
than  I  had  done,  he  felt  such  confidence  in  me  that  he  would  pledge  him 
self  to  Dr.  Davidson  on  my  behalf,  and  he  did  not  doubt  that  I  would  be 
permitted  to  return.  I  cheerfully  complied  with  this  condition  ;  Dr.  King 
arranged  the  matter,  and  I  returned  to  college,  without  any  questions 
being  asked  ;  and  afterwards  conducted  myself  in  such  a  manner  as,  at  least, 
to  prevent  any  formal  complaint.  At  the  public  examination,  previous 
to  the  commencement,  I  answered  without  difficulty  every  question  which 
was  propounded  to  me.  At  that  time  there  were  two  honors  conferred 
by  the  college.  It  was  the  custom  for  each  of  the  two  societies  to  present 
a  candidate,  and  the  faculty  decided  which  of  them  should  have  the  first 
honor,  and  the  second  was  conferred  upon  the  other  candidate  as  a  matter 
of  course.  I  had  set  my  heart  upon  obtaining  the  highest,  and  the  society 
to  which  I  belonged  unanimously  presented  me  as  their  candidate.  As  I 
believed  that  this  society,  from  the  superior  scholarship  of  its  members, 
was  entitled  to  both,  on  my  motion  we  presented  two  candidates  to  the 
faculty.  The  consequence  was,  that  they  rejected  me  altogether,  gave  the 
first  honor  to  the  candidate  of  the  opposite  society,  and  the  second  to 
Mr.  Robert  Laverty,  now  of  Chester  county,  assigning  as  a  reason  for 
rejecting  my  claims  that  it  would  have  a  bad  tendency  to  confer  an  honor 
of  the  college  upon  a  student  who  had  shown  so  little  respect  as  I  had 
done  for  the  rules  of  the  college  and  for  the  professors. 

"  I  have  scarcely  ever  been  so  much  mortified  at  any  occurrence  of  my 
life  as  at  this  disappointment,  nor  has  friendship  ever  been  manifested 
towards  me  in  a  more  striking  manner  than  by  all  the  members  of  the 
society  to  which  I  belonged.  Mr.  Laverty,  at  once,  in  the  most  kind  man 
ner,  offered  to  yield  me  the  second  honor,  which,  however,  I  declined  to 
accept.  The  other  members  of  the  society  belonging  to  the  senior  class 
would  have  united  with  me  in  refusing  to  speak  at  the  approaching  com 
mencement,  but  I  was  unwilling  to  place  them  in  this  situation  on  my 
account,  and  more  especially  as  several  of  them  were  designed  for  the 
ministry.  I  held  out  myself  for  some  time,  but  at  last  yielded  on  receiving 
a  kind  communication  from  the  professors.  I  left  college,  however,  feeling 
but  little  attachment  towards  the  Alma  Mater." 

In  regard  to  the  danger  of  his  expulsion  from  the  college, 
which  Mr.  Buchanan  has  frankly  recorded  in  his  autobiographi- 


G  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

cal  fragment,  I  find  no  other  reference  to  it.  But  I  have  seen 
in  the  note-books  of  his  studies  and  in  the  notes  which  he  kept 
of  lectures  that  he  attended,  abundant  proof  that  he  was,  as  he 
says,  "  a  tolerably  hard  student."  He  seems  to  have  had  a 
strong  propensity  to  logic  and  metaphysics,  and  of  these  studies 
there  are  copious  traces  in  his  own  handwriting.  The  inci 
dent  which  he  relates  concerning  his  disappointment  in  not 
receiving  one  of  the  highest  of  the  college  honors  at  his  grad 
uating  "  commencement,"  is  thus  touched  upon  in  a  letter  from 
his  father : 


MEECERSBUBG,  September  6,  1809. 
DEAR,  SON: — 

Yours  is  at  hand  (though  without  date)  which  mortifies  us  very  much 
for  your  disappointment,  in  being  deprived  of  -both  honors  of  the  college, 
especially  when  your  prospect  was  so  fair  for  one  of  them,  and  more  so 
when  it  was  done  by  the  professors  who  are  acknowledged  by  the  world  to 
be  the  best  judges  of  the  talents  and  merits  of  the  several  students  under 
their  care.  I  am  not  disposed  to  censure  your  conduct  in  being  ambitious 
to  have  the  first  honors  of  the  college ;  but  as  it  was  thought  that  Mr.  F. 
and  yourself  were  best  entitled  to  them,  you  and  he  ought  to  have  com 
pounded  the  matter  so  as  to  have  left  it  to  the  disposition  of  your  several 
societies,  and  been  contented  with  their  choice.  The  partiality  you  com 
plain  of  in  the  professors  is,  no  doubt,  an  unjust  thing  in  them,  and  per 
haps  it  has  proceeded  from  some  other  cause  than  that  which  you  are 
disposed  to  ascribe  to  them. 

Often  when  people  have  the  greatest  prospects  of  temporal  honor  and 
aggrandizement,  they  are  all  blasted  in  a  moment  by  a  fatality  connected 
with  men  and  things ;  and  no  doubt  the  designs  of  Providence  may  be  seen 
very  conspicuously  in  our  disappointments,  in  order  to  teach  us  our  de 
pendency  on  Him  who  knows  all  events,  and  they  ought  to  humble  our 
pride  and  self-sufficiency.  ......     I  think  it  was  a  vyy  partial  decision, 

and  calculated  to  hurt  your  feelings.  Be  that  as  it  will,  I  hope  you  will 
have  fortitude  enough  to  surmount  these  things.  Your  great  consolation 
is  in  yourself,  and  if  you  can  say  your  right  was  taken  from  you  by  a  par 
tial  spirit  and  given  to  those  to  whom  it  ought  not  to  be  given,  you  must 
for  the  present  submit.  The  more  you  know  of  mankind,  the  more  you 
will  distrust  them.  It  is  said  the  knowledge  of  mankind  and  the  distrust 
of  them  are  reciprocally  connected 

I  approve  of  your  conduct  in  being  prepared  with  an  oration,  and  if 
upon  delivery  it  be  good  sense,  well  spoken,  and  your  own  composition, 
your  audience  will  think  well  of  it  whether  it  be  spoken  first,  or  last,  or 
otherwise.  . 


STUDIES    LAW.  7 

We  anticipate  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  shortly,  when  I  hope  all  these 
little  clouds  will  be  dissipated. 

From  your  loving  and  affectionate  father, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Following  Mr.  Buchanan's  sketch  of  his  early  life,  we  come 
to  the  period  immediately  after  he  graduated  from  Dickinson 
College. 

I  came  to  Lancaster  to  study  law  with  the  late  Mr.  Hopkins,  in  the 
month  of  December,  1809,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  November, 
1812.  I  determined  that  if  severe  application  would  make  me  a  good  law 
yer,  I  should  not  fail  in  this  particular ;  and  I  can  say,  with  truth,  that  I 
have  never  known  a  harder  student  than  I  was  at  that  period  of  my  life. 
I  studied  law,  and  nothing  but  law,  or  what  was  essentially  connected 
with  it.  I  took  pains  to  understand  thoroughly,  as  far  as  I  was  capa 
ble,  everything  which  I  read ;  and  in  order  to  fix  it  upon  my  memory  and 
give  myself  the  habit  of  extempore  speaking,  I  almost  every  evening  took 
a  lonely  walk,  and  embodied  the  ideas  which  I  had  acquired  during  the 
day  in  my  own  language.  This  gave  me  a  habit  of  extempore  speaking,  and 
that  not  merely  words  but  things.  I  derived  great  improvement  from  this 
practice. 

It  would  seem  that  young  Buchanan  remained  at  home  with 
his  parents  after  he  had  graduated  until  the  month  of  Decem 
ber,  when  he  went  to  Lancaster  and  entered  himself  as  a  stu 
dent  at  law,  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Hopkins.  The  following  letters 
from  his  parents  give  all  that  I  am  able  to  glean  respecting  the 
period  of  his  law  pupilage,  and  the  choice  of  a  permanent  resi 
dence  after  he  had  been  admitted  to  practice,  which  was,  it 
seems,  in  November,  1812. 

[FROM  HIS  FATHER.] 

March  12,  1810. 

I  am  very  glad  to  hear  you  are  so  well  pleased  with  Laucaster, 

and  with  the  study  of  the  law. 

I  hope  you  will  guard  against  the  temptations  that  may  offer 

themselves  in  this  way,  or  any  other,  knowing  that  without  religion  all  other 
things  are  as  trifles,  and  will  soon  pass  away.  ...  .  .  Your  young  ac 
quaintances  often  talk  of  you,  and  with  respect  and  esteem.  Go  on  with 
your  studies,  and  endeavor  to  be  eminent  in  your  profession. 

Mr.  Buchanan  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  year  which 
saw  the  commencement  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  under 
the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Madison.  His  early  political  principles 


8  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

were  those  of  the  Federalists,  who  disapproved  of  the  war.  Yet, 
as  the  following  passages  in  his  autobiography  show,  he  was 
not  backward  in  his  duty  as  a  citizen :  * 

The  first  public  address  I  ever  made  before  the  people  was  in  1 814,  a 
short  time  after  the  capture  of  Washington  by  the  British.  In  common 
with  the  Federalists,  generally,  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  States,  whilst 
I  disapproved  of  the  declaration  of  war  under  the  circumstances  in  which 
it  was  made,  yet  I  thought  it  was  the  duty  of  every  patriot  to  defend  the 
country,  whilst  the  war  was  raging,  against  a  foreign  enemy.  The  capture 
of  Washington  lighted  up  a  flame  of  patriotism  which  pervaded  the  whole 
of  Pennsylvania.  A  public  meeting  was  called  in  Lancaster  for  the  pur 
pose  of  adopting  measures  to  obtain  volunteers  to  march  for  the  defence 
of  Baltimore.  On  that  occasion  I  addressed  the  people,  and  was  among 
the  first  to  register  my  name  as  a  volunteer.  We  immediately  formed  a 
company  of  dragoons,  and  elected  the  late  Judge  Henry  Shippen  our  cap 
tain.  We  marched  to  Baltimore,  and  served  under  the  command  of  Major 
Charles  Sterret  Ridgely,  until  we  were  honorably  discharged.  This  com 
pany  of  dragoons  was  the  avant  courier  of  the  large  force  which  rushed 
from  Pennsylvania  to  the  defence  of  Baltimore. 

Mr.  Buchanan's  entrance  into  public  life  is  thus  described  by 
himself: 

In  October,  1814, 1  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
in  the  Legislature,  from  the  county  of  Lancaster.  The  same  principles 
which  guided  my  conduct  in  sustaining  the  war,  notwithstanding  my 
opposition  to  its  declaration,  governed  my  course  after  I  became  a  member 
of  the  Legislature.  An  attack  was  threatened  against  the  city  of  Philadel 
phia.  The  General  Government  was  nearly  reduced  to  a  state  of  bank 
ruptcy,  and  could  scarcely  raise  sufficient  money  to  maintain  the  regular 
troops  on  the  remote  frontiers  of  the  country.  Pennsylvania  was  obliged 
to  rely  upon  her  own  energies  for  the  defence,  and  the  people  generally, 
of  all  parties,  were  ready  to  do  their  utmost  in  the  ca*se. 

Two  plans  were  proposed.  The  one  was  what  was  called  the  Conscrip 
tion  Bill,  and  similar  to  that  which  had  been  rejected  by  Congress,  reported 
in  the  [State]  Senate  by  Mr.  Nicholas  Biddle,  by  which  it  was  proposed  to 
divide  the  white  male  inhabitants  of  the  State  above  the  age  of  eighteen 
into  classes  of  twenty-two  men  each,  and  to  designate  one  man  by  lot  from 

*  Under  the  date  of  September  13, 1813,  Mr.  Buchanan's  father  writes  to  him :  "  Teeter- 
day  the  fast  clay  was  kept  here  pretty  unanimously.  Mr.  Elliot  gave  us  an  excellent  sermon, 
and  spoke  of  the  war  as  a  judgment,  and  the  greatest  calamity  that  could  befall  a  people. 
He  showed  it  to  be  worse  than  the  famine  or  the  pestilence.  In  the  two  latter  cases,  he  said 
God  acted  as  the  immediate  agent :  in  that  of  war  he  acted  by  subordinate  agents ;  therefore 
the  calamity  was  the  greater."  This  was  the  tone  of  many  Federalist  sermons. 


COURSE    IN    THE    LEGISLATURE.  9 

the  numbers  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five  of  each  class, 
who  should  serve  one  year,  each  class  being  compelled  to  raise  a  sum  not 
exceeding  two  hundred  dollars,  as  a  bounty  to  the  conscript.  This  army 
was  to  be  paid  and  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  and  its  esti 
mated  cost  would  have  been  between  three  and  three  and  one-half  million 
of  dollars  per  annum.  The  officers  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Gov 
ernor,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

The  other  was  to  raise  six  regiments,  under  the  authority  of  the  State, 
to  serve  for  three  years,  or  during  the  war,  and  to  pass  efficient  volunteer 
and  militia  laws. 

[Here  the  narrative  changes  to  the  third  person.'} 

"On  the  1st  of  February,  1815,  Mr.  Buchanan  delivered  his  sentiments 
in  regard  to  the  proper  mode  of  defending  the  Commonwealth,  on  the  bill 
entitled  *  An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  volunteers  for  the  defence  of 
this  Commonwealth.'  He  said :  '  Since,  then,  the  Congress  have  deserted 
us  in  our  time  of  need,  there  is  no  alternative  but  either  to  protect  our 
selves  by  some  efficient  measures,  or  surrender  up  that  independence  which 
has  been  purchased  by  the  blood  of  our  forefathers.  No  American  can 
hesitate  which  of  these  alternatives  ought  to  be  adopted.  The  invading 
enemy  must  be  expelled  from  our  shores ;  he  must  be  taught  to  respect  the 
rights  of  freedom.' 

"  Again,  speaking  of  the  Conscription  Bill,  he  said  :  '  This  law  is  cal 
culated  to  .be  very  unjust  and  very  unequal  in  its  effects.  Whilst  it  will 
operate  as  a  conscription  law  upon  the  poor  man  in  the  western  parts  of 
the  State,  where  property  is  not  in  danger,  it  will  be  but  a  militia  law 
with  the  rich  man  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  whose  property  it  con 
templates  defending.  The  individuals  in  each  class  are,  to  be  sure,  to  pay 
the  two  hundred  dollars  in  proportion  to  their  comparative  wealth,  as  a 
bounty  to  the  substitute  or  conscript.  It  will,  therefore,  be  just  in  its 
operation  among  the  individuals  composing  each  class,  but  how  will  it  be 
with  respect  to  entire  classes  ?  Twenty-two  men  in  the  city  of  Philadel 
phia,  whose  united  fortunes  would  be  worth  two  million  dollars,  would  be 
compelled  to  pay  no  more  than  twenty-two  men  in  the  western  country, 
who  may  not  be  worth  the  one-thousandth  part  of  that  sum .' 

"  After  Mr.  Buchanan  had  stated  that  he  would  have  voted  for  the 
Enlistment  Bill,  had  he  not  been  necessarily  absent  when  it  passed  the 
House,  he  said :  'After  all,  I  must  confess,  that  in  my  opinion  an  efficient  vol 
unteer  and  militia  bill,  together  with  the  troops  which  can  be  raised  under 
the  Voluntary  Enlistment  Bill,  will  be  amply  sufficient  for  the  defence  of 
the  city  of  Philadelphia.  We  need  not  be  afraid  to  trust  to  the  patriotism. 
or  courage  of  the  people  of  this  country  when  they  are  invaded.  Let  them 
have  good  militia  officers,  and  they  will  soon  be  equal  to  any  troops  of  the 
world.  Have  not  the  volunteers  and  militia  on  the  Niagara  frontier 
fought  in  such  a  manner  as  to  merit  the  gratitude  of  the  nation  ?  Is  it  to 


10  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

be  supposed  that  the  same  spirit  of  patriotism  would  animate  the  man 
who  is  dragged  out  by  a  conscription  law  to  defend  his  country,  that  the 
volunteer  or  militiaman  would  feel  ?  Let  us,  then,  pass  an  efficient  militia 
law,  and  the  Volunteer  Bill  which  is  now  before  us.  Let  us  hold  out  suf 
ficient  inducement  to  our  citizens  to  turn  out,  as  volunteers.  Let  their 
patriotism  be  stimulated  by  self-interest,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  the 
day  of  trial  there  will  be  armies  of  freemen  in  the  field  sufficiently  large 
for  our  protection.  Your  State  will  then  be  defended  at  a  trifling  com 
parative  expense,  the  liberties  of  the  people  will  be  preserved,  and  their 
willingness  to  bear  new  burdens  be  continued.' 

"  The  bill  having  passed  the  Senate,  was  negatived  in  the  House,  on  the 
3d  of  February,  1815,  by  the  decisive  vote  of  51  to  36.  It  was  entitled 
'  An  act  to  raise  a  military  force  for  the  defence  of  this  Commonwealth.' 
The  Senate  and  the  House  thus  differed  in  regard  to  the  best  mode  of 
defending  the  Commonwealth  ;  the  one  being  friendly  to  the  Conscription 
Bill,  and  the  other  to  the  Voluntary  Enlistment  and  Volunteer  Bill.  All 
agreed  upon  the  necessity  of  adopting  efficient  means  for  this  purpose. 
Before  any  final  action  was  had  upon  the  subject,  the  news  of  peace  arrived, 
and  was  officially  communicated  by  Governor  Snydcr  to  the  Legislature 
on  the  17th  February,  1815." 

So  open  and  decided  was  I  in  my  course  in  favor  of  defending  the  coun 
try,  notwithstanding  my  disapproval  of  the  declaration  of  war,  that  I  dis 
tinctly  recollect  that  the  late  William  Beale,  the  shrewd,  strong-minded, 
and  influential  Democratic  Senator  from  Mifflin  county,  called  upon  me,  and 
urged  me  strongly  during  the  session  to  change  my  [political]  name,  and 
be  called  a  Democrat,  stating  that  I  would  have  no  occasion  to  change  my 
principles.  In  that  event,  he  said  he  would  venture  to  predict  that,  should 
I  live,  I  would  become  President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  mistaken, 
for  although  I  was  friendly  to  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  I  was  far 
from  being  a  "  Democrat  "  in  principle. 

[FROM  nis  FATHER.] 

September  22,  1814. 
DEAR  SON: — 

I  received  your  letter  of  the  9th  ult.  from  Baltimore,  which  stated  that 
you  were  then  honorably  discharged.  This  news  was  very  gratifying,  as 
at  that  moment  we  received  accounts  that  the  British  were  making  their 
attack  on  Baltimore,  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  consequently  our  fore 
bodings  with  respect  to  your  fate  were  highly  wound  up 

You  say  you  are  in  nomination  for  the  Assembly.  I  am  not  certain  that 
it  will  be  to  your  advantage,  as  it  will  lead  you  off  from  the  study  and 
practice  of  the  law.  If  by  your  industry  and  application  you  could 
become  eminent  at  the  bar,  that  would  be  preferable  to  being  partly  a 
politician  and  partly  a  lawyer.  However,  you  must  now  be  directed  by 
circumstances  and  the  counsel  of  your  friends. 


COURSE    IN    THE    LEGISLATURE.  n 

The  Assembly  has  passed  a  law  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor, 

which  in  fact  prevents  them  from  paying  any  debts,  as  they  hold  all  under 
cover  of  the  reserve  made  them  in  the  law.  So  much  for  popularity  at  the 
expense  of  justice. 

October  21,  1814. 
DEAR  SON: — 

I  received  yours  by  Mr.  Evans,  informing  me  you  were  elected  to  the 
Assembly.  The  circumstances  of  your  being  so  popular  amongst  your 
neighbors  as  to  give  you  a  majority  over  Isaac  Wayne,  who,  I  suppose, 
was  one  of  the  highest  on  your  ticket,  is  very  gratifying  to  me,  and  I  hope 
your  conduct  will  continue  to  merit  their  approbation.  But  above  all 
earthly  enjoyments,  endeavor  to  merit  the  esteem  of  heaven ;  and  that 
Divine  Providence  who  has  done  so  much  for  you  heretofore,  will  never 
abandon  you  in  the  hour  of  trial.  Perhaps  your  going  to  the  Legislature 
may  be  to  your  advantage,  and  it  may  be  otherwise.  I  hope  you  will 
make  the  best  of  the  thing  now.  The  feelings  of  parents  are  always  alive 
to  the  welfare  of  their  children,  and  I  am  fearful  of  this  taking  you  from 
the  bar  at  a  time  when  perhaps  you  may  feel  it  most 

There  is  now  every  prospect  of  a  continuation  of  the  war.  The  terms 
offered  us  by  the  British  are  such  that  no  true  American  could  comply 

with,  or  submit  to  them News  has  just  come  to  this  place  that 

Lord  Hill  has  arrived  with  16,000  men. 

From  your  loving  father,  J.  B. 

January  20,  1815. 

I  am  glad  to  find  you  are  well  pleased  at  being  a  member  of  the 

Legislature.  Perhaps  it  may  have  the  effect  you  mention,  that  of  increas 
ing  your  business  hereafter.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  yoil  mean  to  proceed 
with  caution,  and  speak  only  when  you  are  well  prepared  for  the  subject 
you  mean  to  speak  upon.  You  are  young,  consequently  deficient  in  ex 
perience  ;  therefore  you  must  supply  that  defect  by  watchfulness  and  appli 
cation,  never  forgetting  that  every  gift  you  may  possess  flows  from  that 
Being  who  has  always  been  your  friend,  and  will  continue  to  be  so,  if  you 
are  in  your  duty. 

February  24, 1815. 
DEAR  SON:— 

I  expect  you  are  now  engaged  in  repealing  many  of  those  laws  which 
have  been  enacted  for  prosecuting  the  war  with  vigor.  As  the  olive- 
branch  has  been  presented  to  us,  it  will  Change  all  our  plans,  and  we  will 
again  be  permitted  to  return  in  peace  to  our  different  occupations,  and 
ought  to  thank  heaven  for  the  blessing.  This  night  we  are  to  illuminate 
this  place  in  consequence  of  peace.  Those  who  have  seen  the  treaty  say  it 
is  dishonorable  to  America ;  that  there  are  none  of  those  points  gained  for 
which  we  declared  war. 


12  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

June  23,  1815. 

You  appear  to  hesitate  about  going  to  the  Legislature  again, 

and  I  ain  both  unable  and  unwilling  to  advise  you  on  that  point;  but  as 
it  appears  your  business  has  not  decreased  by  being  there  last  winter, 
I  would  have  no  objection  to  your  going  another  session,  as  it  would 
afford  you  another  opportunity  of  improvement,  and  perhaps  the  people 
of  your  district  may  some  time  elect  you  to  Congress.  Could  you  not  get 
an  active  young  man  as  a  student  that  could  keep  your  office  open  in  your 
absence,  and  do  a  little  business  for  you  ? 

You  may  expect  to  have  many  difficulties  and  dangers  to  encounter  in 
your  passage  through  life,  especially  as  your  situation  becomes  enviable  ; 
but  I  hope  you  will  always  depend  upon  the  protection  of  that  kind  Prov 
idence,  who  has  dealt  so  kindly  with  you,  to  shield  you  from  the  shafts  of 
malicious  enemies. 

Your  mother  and  the  family  send  their  kind  love  to  you,  and  believe 
me  your  loving  father, 

J.  B. 

The  next  event  in  his  life  of  which  I  find  any  mention  in 
his  autobiography,  was  the  delivery  of  an  oration  before  the 
Washington  Society  of  Lancaster,  July  4,  1815,  of  which  he 
speaks  as  follows : 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1815, 1  delivered  the  oration  before  the  Washington 
Association  of  Lancaster,  which  has  been  the  subject  of  much  criticism. 
There  are  many  sentiments  in  this  oration  which  I  regret ;  at  the  same 
time  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  country  was  wholly  unprepared  for  war, 
at  the  period  of  its  declaration,  and  the  attempt  to  carry  it  on  by  means 
of  loans,  without  any  resort  to  taxation,  had  well  nigh  made  the  Govern 
ment  bankrupt.  There  is,  however,  a  vein  of  feeling  running  throughout 
the  whole  oration — of  which,  as  I  look  back  to  it,  I  may  be  excused  for 
being  proud — which  always  distinguishes  between  the  conduct  of  the  ad 
ministration  and  the  necessity  for  defending  the  country.  Besides,  it  will 
be  recollected  that  this  oration  was  not  delivered  until  after  the  close  of 
the  war.  I  said  :  "  Glorious  it  has  been,  in  the  highest  degree,  to  the  Amer 
ican  character,  but  disgraceful  in  the  extreme  to  the  administration. 
When  the  individual  States  discovered  that  they  were  abandoned  by  the 
General  Government,  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  them,  the  fortitude  of 
their  citizens  arose  with  their  misfortunes.  The  moment  we  were  invaded, 
the  genius  of  freedom  inspired  their  souls.  They  rushed  upon  their  ene 
mies  with  a  hallowed  fury  which  the  hireling  soldiers  of  Britain  could 
never  feel.  They  taught  our  foe  that  the  soil  of  freedom  would  always  be 
the  grave  of  its  invaders." 

I  spoke  with  pride  and  exultation  of  the  exploits  of  the  navy,  and  also 
of  the  regular  army  during  the  last  year  of  the  war.  The  former  "has 


EARLY    DISTINCTION.        .  13 

risen  triumphant  above  its  enemies  at  home,  and  has  made  the  proud  mis 
tress  of  the  ocean  tremble.  The  people  are  now  convinced  that  a  navy  is 
their  best  defence."  * 

In  the  conclusion  there  is  a  passage  concerning  foreign  influence  which 
must  be  approved  by  all.  "  Foreign  influence  has  been,  in  every  age,  the 
curse  of  Republics.  Her  jaundiced  eye  sees  all  things  in  false  colors.  The 
thick  atmosphere  of  prejudice,  by  which  she  is  forever  surrounded,  ex 
cludes  from  her  sight  the  light  of  reason  •  whilst  she  worships  the  nations 
which  she  favors  for  their  very  crimes,  she  curses  the  enemies  of  that 
nation,  even  their  virtues.  In  every  age  she  has  marched  before  the  ene 
mies  of  her  country,  '  proclaiming  peace,  when  there  was  no  peace,'  and 
lulling  its  defenders  into  fatal  security,  whilst  the  iron  hand  of  despotism 
has  been  aiming  a  death-blow  at  their  liberties."  And  again,  "  We  are 
separated  from  the  nations  of  Europe  by  an  immense  ocean.  We  are  still 
more  disconnected  from  them  by  a  different  form  of  government,  and  by 
.the  enjoyment  of  true  liberty.  Why,  then,  should  we  injure  ourselves  by 
taking  part  in  the  ambitious  contests  of  foreign  despots  and  kings  ?  " 

[FROM  HIS  FATHER.] 

July  14,  1815. 

No  doubt  you  will  have  many  political  enemies  to  criticise  your  oration, 
but  you  must  take  the  consequences  now.  It  is  a  strong  mark  of  appro 
bation  to  have  so  many  copies  of  it  published.  I  hope  to  see  one  of  them. 

I  am  busily  engaged  with  my  harvest.  I  am  very  glad  I  did  not  pur 
chase  goods  as  I  proposed,  as  they  have  fallen  greatly  in  price. 

September  1,  1815. 

Myself  and  the  family  are  very  anxious  to  see  you,  yet  I  am 

glad  that  your  business  is  so  good  that  you  cannot,  with  propriety,  leave 
it,  yet  you  must  always  make  your  calculations  to  come  as  often  as  you 
can.  Have  you  agreed  to  your  nomination  for  the  Legislature  another 
session  ?  You  know  your  own  situation  best.  If  you  think  proper  to 
take  another  seat,  it  has  my  approbation.  I  have  read  your  oration,  and 
I  think  it  well  done.  Perhaps  it  is  a  little  too  severe,  and  may  hurt  the 
feelings  of  some  of  your  friends,  who  have  been  friendly,  independent  of 
politics.  I  have  lent  it  to  a  few  people  who  have  asked  for  it,  and  they 
all  speak  well  of  your  performance. 


*  "  There  is  extant,  according  to  the  best  of  my  recollection  in  the  National  Intelligencer, 
though  not  in  Everett's  edition  of  his  works,  a  speech  of  Mr.  Webster  in  1814,  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  on  the  'Conduct  of  the  War.'  It  is  very  severe  on  the  military  opera 
tions,  especially  in  Canada  (which  no  doubt,  as  a  general  thing,  deserved  all  that  was  said  of 
them),  but  he  dwells  with  pride  on  our  naval  exploits.  'However,'  says  he,  'we  may 
differ  as  to  what  has  been  done  or  attempted  on  land,  our  differences  cease  at  the  water's 
edge.'  "  (Note  by  Mr.  Buchanan.) 


14  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Oct.  19,  1815. 

It  appears  from  the  Lancaster  Journal,  you  are  again  elected. 

I  wish  you  may  end  the  next  session  with  the  same  popularity  as  a  states 
man  that  you  gained  in  the  last  session. 

Mr.  Buchanan's  own  account  of  his  second  term  of  service  in 
the  Legislature  is  thus  given  : 

I  was  again  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the 
State  Legislature  in  October,  1815.  The  currency  at  that  period  was  in 
great  disorder  throughout  the  Middle,  Western,  and  Southern  States,  in 
consequence  of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  occasioned  by  the  war. 
On  the  20th  of  December,  1815,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  House  of 
Representatives,  instructing  the  Committee  on  Banks,  "  to  inquire  into  the 
causes  of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks  within  this  Com 
monwealth  ;  and  also,  whether  any  or  what  measures  ought  to  be  adopted 
by  the  Legislature  on  this  subject."  This  committee  was  composed  of  Mr. 
McEuen.  of  the  city  ;  Milliken,  of  Mifflin ;  Stewart,  of  Fayette ;  and  Dysart, 
of  Crawford.  On  the  12th  of  January,  1816,  Mr.  McEuen  made  a  report 
which  concluded  with  a  recommendation  that  a  law  should  be  passed, 
obliging  the  banks  to  pay  interest  on  balances  to  each  other  monthly,  at 
the  rate  of  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  after  the  1st  of  March  ;  also,  obliging 
the  banks  refusing  to  pay  specie  for  their  notes  after  the  1st  of  January, 
1817,  to  pay  interest  at  the  rate  of  eighteen  per  cent,  per  annum  from  the 
time  of  demand ;  and  forfeiting  the  charters  of  such  banks  as  should  refuse 
to  redeem  their  notes  in  specie  after  the  1st  of  January,  1818.  A  bare 
majority  of  the  committee  had  concurred  in  the  report.  The  minority  had 
requested  me  to  prepare  a  substitute  for  it,  and  offer  it  as  soon  as  the  re 
port  was  read.  This  substitute  concluded  with  a  resolution,  "  that  it  is 
inexpedient  at  this  time  for  the  Legislature  to  adopt  any  compulsory 
measures  relative  to  the  banks.'1  The  original  report  and  the  substitute 
were  postponed,  and  no  action  was  ever  had  afterwards  upon  either. 

The  substitute  states  the  following  to  have  been  Hie  causes  of  the  sus 
pension  of  specie  payments  in  Pennsylvania  : 

1.  The  blockade  by  the  enemy  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  seaports, 
the  impossibility  of  getting  their  productions  to  market,  and  the  conse 
quent  necessity  imposed  upon  them  to  pay  in  specie  to  New  England  the 
price  of  the  foreign  merchandise  imported  into  that  portion  of  the  Union. 

2.  The  large  loans  made  by  banks  and  individuals  of  this  and  the  adja 
cent  States  to  the  Government  to  sustain  the  war,  and  the  small  compara 
tive  loans  made  in  New  England,  which  were  paid  by  an  extravagant 
issue  of  bank  notes.     These  latter  bore  but  a  small  proportion  to  the 
money  expended  there.     To  make  up  this  deficiency,  the  specie  of  the 
Middle  and  Southern  States  was  drawn  from  the  vaults  of  these  banks, 


PROFESSIONAL    INCOME.  15 

and  was  used  by  the  New  England  people  in  commerce,  or  smuggled  to 
the  enemy. 

3.  The  great  demand  for  specie  in  England. 

4.  The  recent  establishment  of  a  number  of  new  banks  throughout  the 
interior  of  Pennsylvania,  which  drew  their  capital  chiefly  from  the  banks 
in  Philadelphia  and  thereby  weakened  them,  compelled  them  first  to  sus 
pend  specie  payments.     These  new  banks,  in  self-defence,  were  therefore 
obliged  to  suspend. 

5.  The  immense  importation  of  foreign  goods  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
and  the  necessity  of  paying  for  them  in  specie,  have  continued  the  suspen 
sion. 

During  this  session,  and  whilst  the  debates  on  the  subject  were  pro 
ceeding  in  Congress,  I  changed  my  impression  on  the  subject  of  a  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  and  became  decidedly  hostile  to  such  an  institution.  In 
this  opinion  I  have  never  since  wavered,  and  although  I  have  invested 
much  of  the  profits  of  my  profession  in  stocks,  and  was  often  advised  by 
friends  to  buy  stock  in  this  bank,  I  always  declined  becoming  a  stock 
holder.  Whilst  the  bill  was  pending  in  Congress,  I  urged  Mr.  Holgate 
and  other  influential  Democrats  in  the  House  to  offer  instructions  against 
the  measure,  but  could  not  prevail  with  them.  I  recollect  Mr.  II.  told  me 
that  it  was  unnecessary,  as  our  Democratic  Senators  in  Congress  would 
certainly  vote  against  the  measure  without  any  instructions. 

Mr.  Buchanan  appears  to  have  left  the  Legislature  at  the  end 
of  the  session  of  1815-16,  with  a  fixed  determination  to  devote 
himself  exclusively  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  says : 

After  my  second  session  in  the  Legislature,  I  applied  myself  with  unre 
mitting  application  to  the  practice  of  the  law.  My  practice  in  Lancaster 
and  some  of  the  adjoining  counties  was  extensive,  laborious,  and  lucrative. 
It  increased  rapidly  in  value  from  the  time  I  ceased  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Legislature.  During  the  year  ending  on  the  1st  of  April,  1819. 1  received 
in  cash  for  professional  services  $7,915.92,  which  was,  down  to  that  time, 
the  best  year  I  ever  experienced.* 


*  I  find  a  memorandum  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  handwriting  of  his  professional  emoluments 
during  his  years  of  active  practice. 


1813 $938 

1814 $1,096 

1815 $2,246 

1816 $3,174 

1817 $5,379 

1818 $7,915 

1819 $7,092 

1820 $5,665 


1821-2 $11,297 

1823 $7,243 

1825 $4,521 

1826 $2,419 

1827 $2,570 

1828 $2,008 

1829 $3,362 


16  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Among  his  professional  employments  at  this  period,  I  find 
the  following  modest  allusion  to  a  cause  in  which  he  gained 
great  distinction : 

During  the  session  of  the  Legislature  of  1816-17  I  alone  defended  the 
Hon.  Walter  Franklin  and  his  associates  on  articles  of  impeachment 
against  them  before  the  Senate;  and  during  the  session  of  1817-18,  I  de 
fended  the  same  judges  on  other  articles,  and  had  for  associates  Mr.  Condy 
and  Mr.  Hopkins.  I  never  felt  the  responsibility  of  my  position  more 
sensibly  than,  when  a  young  man  between  25  and  26  years  of  age,  I  under 
took  alone  to  defend  Judge  Franklin ;  and  although  he  was  anxious  I 
should,  again  the  next  year,  undertake  his  cause  without  assistance,  yet 
I  insisted  upon  the  employment  of  older  and  more  experienced  counsel. 

As  the  impeachment  case  referred  to  in  the  close  of  this 
sketch  was  the  occasion  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  early  distinction 
at  the  bar,  a  brief  account  of  it  may  be  here  given.     It  was 
a  prosecution  instituted   from   political   motives,    and   was   a 
lamentable  exhibition  of  party  asperity.     Judge  Franklin  was 
the  president  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  for  a  judi 
cial  district  composed  of  the  counties  of  Lancaster,  Lebanon, 
and  York.      His   associates  were  not  lawyers.      At  a  period 
of  great  political  excitement,  which  had  continued  since  the 
close  of  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  there  arose  a  litigation 
in  Judge  Franklin's  court  which  grew  out  of  one  of  the  occur 
rences  of  the  war.     In  July,  1814,  the  President  had  made  a 
requisition  on  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  for  the  services  of 
certain  regiments  of  militia.     The  troops  wrere  called  and  mus 
tered  into  the  Federal  service.    Houston,  a  citizen  of  Lancaster, 
refused  to  serve ;  he  was  tried  by  a  court-martial,  held  under 
the  authority  of  the  State,  convicted,  and  Sentenced  to  pay  a 
fine.     For   this  he  brought   an  action  in  the   common  pleas 
against  the  members  of  the  court-martial  and  its  officer  who 
had  collected  the  fine.      On  the   trial,  Judge  Franklin  ruled 
that  when  the  militia  had  been  mustered  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  the  control  of  the  State  and  its  power  to  punish 
were   ended.      The  plaintiff,   therefore,   recovered   a  verdict. 
Judge  Franklin  was  subjected  to  this  impeachment  for  ruling  a 
point  of  law  on  which  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  afterwards  differed. 


EARLY    DISTINCTION. 


17 


In  a  diary  kept  by  a  gentleman  who  watched  this  impeach 
ment  with  the  deepest  interest,  I  find  the  following  allusion  to 
Mr.  Buchanan's  argument : 

"  This  argument  was  conducted  with  great  ingenuity,  eloquence,  and 
address.  It  made  a  deep  impression.  It  will  tend  very  much  to  raise  and 
extend  the  reputation  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  will  have,  I  hope,  a  favorable 
effect  upon  his  future  prospects  as  a  lawyer  and  a  politician. 

The  impression  produced  by  Mr.  Buchanan's  argument  was  so 
strong,  that  the  managers  of  the  impeachment  asked  for  an 
adjournment  before  they  replied  to  it.  His  defence  was  made 
upon  the  sound  doctrine  that  "impeachment"  of  a  judge  for  a 
legal  opinion,  when  no  crime  or  misdemeanor  has  been  com 
mitted,  is  a  constitutional  solecism.  The  respondent  was  ac 
quitted,  and  his  advocate  acquired  a  great  amount  of  reputation 
for  so  young  a  man. 

With  an  honorable  and  distinguished  professional  career  thus 
opening  before  him,  a  favorite  in  society  both  from  his  talents 
and  his  character,  young,  high-spirited  and  full  of  energy,  it 
seemed  that  happiness  had  been  provided  for  him  by  his  own 
merits  and  a  kind  Providence.  But  there  now  occurred  an 
episode  in  his  life  which  cast  upon  him  a  never-ending  sorrow. 
He  became  engaged  to  be  married  to  a  young  lady  in  Lancaster, 
who  has  been  described  to  me,  by  persons  who  knew  her,  as  a 
very  beautiful  girl,  of  singularly  attractive  and  gentle  disposi 
tion,  but  retiring  and  sensitive.  Her  father,  Robert  Coleman, 
Esq.,  a  wealthy  citizen  of  Lancaster,  entirely  approved  of  the 
engagement.  After  this  connection  had  existed  for  some  time, 
she  suddenly  wrote  a  note  to  her  lover  and  asked  him  to  release 
her  from  the  engagement.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
their  mutual  feelings  had  in  any  degree  changed.  He  could 
only  reply  that  if  it  was  her  wish  to  put  an  end  to  their  engage 
ment,  he  must  submit.  This  occurred  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
summer  of  1819.  The  young  lady  died  very  suddenly," while 
on  a  visit  to  Philadelphia,  on  the  9th  of  the  December  following, 
in  the  twenty-third  year  of  her  age.  Her  remains  were  brought 
to  her  father's  house  in  Lancaster,  on  the  next  Saturday,  just 
one  week  from  the  day  on  which  she  left  home.  "  The  funeral," 
says  the  diary  already  quoted  from,  "  took  place  the  next  day, 

I.—2 


18  LIFE   OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

and  was  attended  by  a  great  number  of  the  inhabitants,  who 
appeared  to  feel  a  deep  sympathy  with  the  family  on  this  dis 
tressing  occasion." 

From  the  same  source,  I  transcribe  a  little  obituary  notice, 
which  was  published  in  a  Lancaster  paper  on  the  llth  of 
December,  and  which  the  diary  states  was  written  by  Mr. 
Buchanan : 

"  Departed  this  life,  on  Thursday  morning  last,  in  the  twenty-third  year 
of  her  age,  while  on  a  visit  to  her  friends  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  Miss 
Anne  C.  Coleman,  daughter  of  Robert  Coleman,  Esquire,  of  this  city.  It 
rarely  falls  to  our  lot  to  shed  a  tear  over  the  mortal  remains  of  one  so 
much  and  so  deservedly  beloved  as  was  the  deceased.  She  was  everything 
which  the  fondest  parent  or  fondest  friend  could  have  wished  her  to  be. 
Although  she  was  young  and  beautiful,  and  accomplished,  and  the  smiles 
of  fortune  shone  upon  her,  yet  her  native  modesty  and  worth  made  her 
unconscious  of  her  own  attractions.  Her  heart  was  the  seat  of  all  the  softer 
virtues  which  ennoble  and  dignify  the  character  of  woman.  She  has  now 
gone  to  a  world  where  in  the  bosom  of  her  God  she  will  be  happy  with 
congenial  spirits.  May  the  memory  of  her  virtues  be  ever  green  in  the 
hearts  of  her  surviving  friends.  May  her  mild  spirit,  which  on  earth  still 
breathes  peace  and  good-will,  be  their  guardian  angel  to  preserve  them 
from  the  faults  to  which  she  was  ever  a  stranger — 

"  '  The  spider's  most  attenuated  thread 
Is  cord,  is  cable,  to  man's  tender  tie 
On  earthly  bliss— it  breaks  at  every  breeze.'  " 

The  following  letter,  written  by  Mr.  Buchanan  to  the  father 
of  the  young  lady,  is  all  that  remains  of  written  evidence,  to 
attest  the  depth  of  his  attachment  to  her : 

[JAMES  BUCHANAN  TO  EGBERT  COLEMAN,  ESQ.] 

t 
LANCASTER,  December  10,  1819. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

You  have  lost  a  child,  a  dear,  dear  child.  I  have  lost  the  only  earthly 
object  of  my  affections,  without  whom  life  now  presents  to  me  a  dreary 
blank.  My  prospects  are  all  cut  off,  and  I  feel  that  my  happiness  will  be 
buried  with  her  in  the  grave.  It  is  now  no  time  for  explanation,  but  the 
time  will  come  when  you  will  discover  that  she,  as  well  as  I,  have  been 
much  abused.  God  forgive  the  authors  of  it.  My  feelings  of  resentment 
against  them,  whoever  they  may  be,  are  buried  in  the  dust.  I  have  now 
one  request  to  make,  and,  for  the  love  of  God  and  of  your  dear,  departed 


DISAPPOINTMENT  IN  LOVE.  19 

daughter  whom  I  loved  infinitely  more  than  any  other  human  being  could 
love,  deny  me  not.  Afford  me  the  melancholy  pleasure  of  seeing  her  body 
before  its  interment.  I  would  not  for  the  world  be  denied  this  request. 

I  might  make  another,  but,  from  the  misrepresentations  which  must 
have  been  made  to  you,  I  am  almost  afraid.  I  would  like  to  follow  her 
remains  to  the  grave  as  a  mourner.  I  would  like  to  convince  the  world, 
and  I  hope  yet  to  convince  you,  that  she  was  infinitely  dearer  to  me  than 
life.  I  may  sustain  the  shock  of  her  death,  but  I  feel  that  happiness  has 
fled  from  me  forever.  The  prayer  which  I  make  to  God  without  ceasing 
is,  that  I  yet  may  be  able  to  show  niy  veneration  for  the  memory  of  my 
dear  departed  saint,  by  my  respect  and  attachment  for  her  surviving 
friends. 

May  Heaven  bless  you,  and  enable  you  to  bear  the  shock  with  the  forti 
tude  of  a  Christian. 

I  am,  forever,  your  sincere  and  grateful  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

There  is  among  Mr.  Buchanan's  papers  a  letter  written  to 
him  by  one  of  his  friends,  shortly  after  the  death  of  Miss  Cole- 
man,  which  shows  how  this  affliction  immediately  affected  him, 
and  how  it  was  regarded  by  persons  of  high  social  standing  in 
Pennsylvania,  who  were  not  prejudiced  by  erroneous  beliefs  in 
regard  to  the  circumstances  which  led  to  the  breaking  of  the 
engagement. 

[AMOS  ELLMAKER  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

December  20,  1819. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  hear  you  have  left  Lancaster,  and  have  not  heard  where  you  have 
gone  to;  but  I  take  it  for  granted  the  absence  will  be  short.  I  am  writing, 
I  know  not  why,  and  perhaps  had  better  not.  I  write  only  to  speak  of  the 
awful  visitation  of  Providence  that  has  fallen  upon  you,  and  how  deeply 
I  feel  it.  The  thought  of  your  situation  has  scarcely  been  absent  from  my 
mind  ten  days.  I  trust  your  restoration  to  your  philosophy  and  courage, 
and  to  the  elasticity  of  spirits  natural  to  most  young  men.  Yet  time,  the 
sovereign  cure  of  all  these,  must  intervene  before  much  good  can  be  done. 
The  sun  will  shine  again — though  a  man  enveloped  in  gloom  always  thinks 
the  darkness  is  to  be  eternal.  Do  you  remember  the  Spanish  anecdote  ? 
A  lady,  who  had  lost  a  favorite  child,  remained  for  months  sunk  in  sullen 
sorrow  and  despair.  Her  confessor,  one  morning,  visited  her,  and  found 
her,  as  usual,  immersed  in  gloom  and  grief.  "  What !  "  says  he ;  "  have 
you  not  forgiven  God  Almighty  ? "  She  rose,  exerted  herself,  joined  the 
world  again,  and  became  useful  to  herself  and  friends. 


20  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Might  I  venture  to  hint  advice  ?  It  would  be  to  give  full  scope  (con 
trary  to  common  advice  on  similar  occasions),  I  say  to  give  full  vent  and 
unrestrained  license  to  the  feelings  and  thoughts  natural  in  the  case  for  a 
time — which  time  may  be  a  week,  two  weeks,  three  weeks,  as  nature  dic 
tates — without  scarcely  a  small  effort  during  that  time  to  rise  above  the 
misfortune;  then,  when  this  time  is  past,  to  rouse,  to  banish  depressing 
thoughts,  as  far  as  possible,  and  engage  most  industriously  in  business. 
My  opinion  is  that  too  early  an  effort  to  shake  off  a  very  heavy  affliction 
is  often,  if  not  always,  dangerous.  An  early  effort  is  futile,  and  worse 
— an  unavailing  struggle  renders  the  mind  cowardly,  and  sinks  the 
spirits  deeper  in  gloom.  The  true  way  to  conquer  is  to  run  away  at 
first.  The  storm  which  uproots  the  firmest  oak  passes  harmlessly  over  the 
willow. 

Forgive  all  this  talk ;  it  opens  in  my  own  bosom  a  wound  which  a  dozen 
years  have  not  cicatrized,  and  brings  to  my  recollection  a  dark  period  of 
my  own  days,  the  remembrance  of  which  yet  chills  me  with  horror. 

Two  of  your  cases  here  may  be  tried.  If  they  are,  I  will  endeavor  to 
assist  your  colleague,  Mr.  Elder,  for  you,  and  for  your  benefit.  This  is  our 
court  week  for  the  civil  list 

Mrs.  E talks  much  of  you,  and  if  she  knew  I  was  writing,  would 

have  me  add  her  kindest  message — indicative  of  the  interest  she  feels. 
Farewell. 

AMOS  ELLMAKER. 

In  the  course  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  long  subsequent  political 
career,  this  incident  in  his  early  life  was  often  alluded  to  in 
partisan  newspapers,  and  in  that  species  of  literature  called 
"  campaign  documents,"  accompanied  by  many  perversions  and 
misrepresentations.  These  publications  are  each  and  all  un 
worthy  of  notice.  On  one  occasion,  after  he  had  retired  to 
Wheatland,  and  when  he  had  passed  the  age  of  seventy,  he  was 
shown  by  a  friend  a  newspaper  article,  misrepresenting,  as 
usual,  the  details  of  this  affair.  He  then  said,  with  deep  emo 
tion,  that  there  were  papers  and  relics  which  he  had  religiously 
preserved,  then  in  a  sealed  package  in  a  place  of  deposit  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  which  would  explain  the  trivial  origin  of 
this  separation.*  His  executors  found  these  papers  inclosed  and 
sealed  separately  from  all  others,  and  with  a  direction  upon 

*  These  and  other  papers  of  importance  were  sent  by  Mr.  Buchanan  from  Wheatland  to 
a  bank  in  New  York  during  the  Civil  War,  when  Pennsylvania  was  threatened  with  an  inva 
sion  by  the  Confederate  troops. 


DISAPPOINTMENT    IN    LOVE.  21 

them  in  his  handwriting,  that  they  were  to  be  destroyed  with 
out  being  read.  They  obeyed  the  injunction,  and  burnt  the 
package  without  breaking  the  seal.  It  happened,  however,  that 
the  original  of  the  letter  addressed  by  Mr.  Buchanan  to  the 
young  lady's  father,  before  her  funeral,  was  not  contained  in 
this  package.  It  was  found  in  his  private  depositaries  at 
Wheatland ;  and  it  came  there  m  consequence  of  the  fact  that 
it  was  returned  by  the  father  unread  and  unopened. 

It  is  now  known  that  the  separation  of  the  lovers  originated 
in  a  misunderstanding,  on  the  part  of  the  lady,  of  a  very  small 
matter,  exaggerated  by  giddy  and  indiscreet  tongues,  working 
on  a  peculiarly  sensitive  nature.  Such  a  separation,  the  com 
monest  of  occurrences,  would  have  ended,  in  the  ordinary 
course,  in  reconciliation,  when  the  parties  met,  if  death  had  not 
suddenly  snatched  away  one  of  the  sufferers,  and  left  the  other 
to  a  life-long  grief.  But  under  the  circumstances,  I  feel  bound 
to  be  governed  by  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  written  instruc 
tion  to  his  executors,  and  not  to  go  into  the  details  of  a  story 
which  show  that  the  whole  occurrence  was  chargeable  on  the 
folly  of  others,  and  not  on  either  of  the  two  whose  interests 
were  involved. 

Among  the  few  survivors  of  the  circle  to  which  this  young 
lady  belonged,  the  remembrance  of  her  sudden  death  is  still 
fresh  in  aged  hearts.  The  estrangement  of  the  lovers  was  but 
one  of  those  common  occurrences  that  are  perpetually  verifying 
the  saying,  hackneyed  by  everlasting  repetition,  that  "the 
course  of  true  love  never  did  run  smooth." 

But  it  ran,  in  this  case,  pure  and  unbroken  in  the  heart  of 
the  survivor,  through  a  long  and  varied  life.  It  became  a  grief 
that  could  not  be  spoken  of;  to  which  only  the  most  distant 
allusion  could  be  made;  a  sacred,  unceasing  sorrow,  buried 
deep  in  the  breast  of  a  man  who  was  formed  for  domestic  joys ; 
hidden  beneath  manners  that  were  most  engaging,  beneath 
strong  social  tendencies,  and  a  chivalrous  old-fashioned  deference 
to  women  of  all  ages  and  all  claims.  His  peculiar  and  reveren 
tial  demeanor  towards  the  sex,  never  varied  by  rank,  or  station, 
or  individual  attractions,  was  doubtless  in  a  large  degree  caused 
by  the  tender  memory  of  what  he  had  found,  or  fancied,  in  her 
whom  he  had  lost  in  his  early  days  by  such  a  cruel  fate.  If  her 


22  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

death  had  not  prevented  their  marriage,  it  is  probable  that  a 
purely  professional  and  domestic  life  would  have  filled  up  the 
measure  alike  of  his  happiness  and  his  ambition.  It  is  certain 
that  this  occurrence  prevented  him  from  ever  marrying,  and 
impelled  him  again  into  public  life,  after  he  had  once  resolved 
to  quit  it.  Soon  after  this  catastrophe,  he  was  offered  a  nomi 
nation  to  a  seat  in  Congress.  He  did  not  suppose  that  he  could 
be  elected,  and  did  not  much  desire  to  be.  But  he  was  strongly 
urged  to  accept  the  candidacy,  and  finally  consented,  chiefly 
because  he  needed  an  innocent  excitement  that  would  some 
times  distract  him  from  the  grief  that  was  destined  never  to 
leave  him.*  Great  and  uninterrupted,  however,  as  was  his  polit 
ical  and  social  success,  he  lived  and  died  a  widowed  and  a 
childless  man.  Fortunately  for  him,  a  sister's  child,  left  an 
orphan  at  an  early  age,  whom  he  educated  with  the  wisest  care, 
filled  to  him  the  place  of  a  daughter  as  nearly  and  tenderly  as 
such  a  relative  could  supply  that  want,  adorning  with  womanly 
accomplishments  and  virtues  the  high  public  stations  to  which 
he  was  eventually  called, 

*  Conversing  once  in  London  with  an  intimate  friend,  very  much  younger  than  him 
self  (Mr.  S.  L.  M.  Barlow  of  New  York),  Mr.  Buchanan  said :  "  I  never  intended  to  engage  in 
politics,  but  meant  to  follow  my  profession  strictly.  But  my  prospects  and  plans  were  all 
changed  by  a  most  sad  event  which  happened  at  Lancaster  when  I  was  a  young  man.  As 
a  distraction  from  my  great  grief,  and  because  I  saw  that  through  a  political  following  I 
could  secure  the  friends  I  then  needed,  I  accepted  a  nomination." 


CHAPTER    II. 

1820—1824. 

MONROE'S  ADMINISTRATION — EMINENT  MEN  IN  CONGRESS — NOTICES  OP 
WILLIAM  LOWNDES  AND  JOHN  RANDOLPH  OF  ROANOKE — JOHN  SAR- 
GEANT — BUCHANAN  BECOMES  A  LEADING  DEBATER — BANKRUPT  BILL 
— CUMBERLAND  ROAD — THE  TARIFF. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1820,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  elected  a  Repre 
sentative  in  Congress  for  a  district  composed  of  the  counties 
of  Lancaster,  York,  and  Dauphin.     He   was   nominated  and 
elected  as  a  Federalist.     He  took  his  seat  on  the  3d  of  Decem 
ber,  1821. 

Of  course  a  young  man  of  nine-and-twenty,  who  had  been 
for  two  terms  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  his  native  State, 
and  had  been  somewhat  active  in  that  body,  was  already  pos 
sessed  of  some  powers  as  a  debater.  But  his  political  principles, 
as  a  national  statesman,  were  yet  to  be  formed.  The  "  Federal 
ism  "  of  the  period  in  which  Mr.  Buchanan  came  into  public 
life,  and  which  was  professed  by  those  among  whom  he  grew 
up,  chiefly  consisted  in  an  opposition  to  the  war  of  1812  and  to 
some  of  the  measures  of  the  Administration  which  conducted 
it.  In  the  five  years  which  followed  the  peace  of  1815,  the 
sharper  lines  which  had  separated  the  Federal  and  the  Repub 
lican  (or  Democratic)  parties,  and  their  distinctive  organiza 
tions,  almost  disappeared.  Mr.  Monroe,  who  succeeded  Mr. 
Madison,  was  elected  President,  for  the  term  commencing  March 
4,  1817,  by  a  majority  of  149  out  of  217  electoral  votes.  At  his 
second  election,  for  the  term  commencing  March  4,  1821,  he 
received  234  electoral  votes.  This  near  approach  to  unanimity 
evinces  almost  an  obliteration  of  party  distinctions.  Mr.  Mon 
roe's  personal  popularity  and  the  general  confidence  that  was 
reposed  in  him  had  a  considerable  influence  in  producing  what 


24  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

was  called  "the  era  of  good  feeling."  which  prevailed  while  he 
administered  the  government.  The  Federalists,  who  had  been 
strongest  in  the  North  and  the  East,  were  conciliated  by  his 
first  Inaugural,  while  his  strength  was  not  weakened  among 
the  Republicans  (or  Democrats)  of  the  South.  In  truth,  it  was 
not  until  the  war  was  over  and  some  of  the  animosities  which 
it  caused  had  begun  to  fade,  that  the  attention  of  men  began  to 
be  directed  to  questions  of  internal  administration,  which  would 
involve  an  exploration  of  the  Federal  powers  and  a  discussion 
of  policies  applicable  to  a  state  of  peace. 

"When  Mr.  Buchanan  entered  Congress  there  was  110  section 
alism  to  disturb  the  repose  of  the  country.  The  Cabinet  was  a 
fair  representation  of  the  different  sections,  its  members  being 
from  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Ohio, 
and  Virginia.  It  remained  the  same,  with  one  exception  only, 
until  Mr.  Monroe  went  out  of  office  in  1825.*  It  is  not  easy  to 
trace  among  the  public  men  of  this  period  any  fixed  political 
doctrines  such  as  afterwards  came  to  distinguish  the  opposing 
parties.  All  that  can  be  said  is,  that  in  the  Middle  States  those 
who  had  been  Republicans  had  a  strong  tendency  to  the  Virginia 
principles  of  State  Eights ;  but  what  these  were,  beyond  a  gen 
eral  tendency  to  watch  and  prevent  undue  expansion  of  the 
Federal  powers,  it  would  be  difficult  now  to  say.  In  Congress, 
most  of  the  Eastern  representatives  were  Free  Traders,  while 
those  of  the  Middle  States  were  in  favor  of  moderate  protection. 
Among  the  Southern  members  there  was  a  disposition  to  follow 
a  liberal  policy  in  the  administration  of  the  government,  which 
was  aided  by  the  ability  and  ambition  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  the 
Secretary  of  War.  But  among  the  members^  chiefly  confined  to 
the  Southwestern  States,  there  was  a  compact  knot  of  men  who 
were  called  "  Radicals,"  in  the  political  nomenclature  of  that 
period.  It  is  hard  to  define  them,  but  their  distinctive  policy 
appears  to  have  been  a  steady  resistance  to  all  expenditures  of 
public  money,  and  a  persistently  strict  construction  of  the  Con 
stitution.  Thus  there  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  any  well- 
defined  parties  at  this  period,  such  as  the  country  has  since  been 

*  Mr.  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  was  appointed  to  the  Bench  of  the  Snprema 
Court  in  December,  1823,  and  Mr.  Southard,  of  New  Jersey,  took  his  place. 


MONROE'S    ADMINISTRATION.  25 

accustomed  to.  But  they  began  to  be  formed  on  the  questions 
relating  to  finance  and  the  development  of  the  internal  resources 
of  the  country,  which  arose  during  Mr.  Monroe's  Presidency, 
and  continued  to  a  later  period.  Men  who  had  been  Federalists 
and  men  who  had  been  Republicans,  during  the  previous  admin 
istrations,  passed  into  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  subsequent 
parties,  which  assumed  new  designations,  without  much  real 
historical  connection  with  the  old  parties  that  had  preceded 
them. 

The  personal  composition  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  at 
this  time  presents  many  interesting  names.  In  the  Senate, 
Rufus  King,  who  had  been  a  Senator  during  Washington's 
Administration,  and  Nathaniel  Macon,  who  had  been  a  Repre 
sentative  at  the  same  time,  gave  a  flavor  of  the  formative  period 
of  the  Republic.  John  Gralliard  and  William  Smith  (of  South 
Carolina)  and  James  Brown  (of  Louisiana)  were  also  among  the 
older  members.  A  somewhat  younger  class  of  men  numbered 
among  them  Martin  Yan  Buren,  who  succeeded  General  Jack 
son  as  President. 

Mr.  Buchanan  always  considered  it  one  of  the  great  advan 
tages  of  his  life  that  he  had  the  benefit,  at  this  early  period,  of 
the  society  of  Mr.  King  and  Mr.  Macon,  and  he  always  spoke  in 
the  most  grateful  terms  of  their  personal  kindness  to  him.  The 
members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  one  exception, 
General  Smith  of  Maryland,  were  younger  men.  They  are 
spoken  of  in  the  following  paper,  which  I  find  in  Mr.  Buchanan's 
handwriting,  and  in  which  he  has  recorded  his  impressions  of 
that  beau-ideal  of  a  statesman,  William  Lowndes,  of  South 
Carolina,  by  whose  early  death,  in  1822,  the  country  lost  one 
of  the  ablest,  most  accomplished  and  purest  men  it  has  ever 
produced :  * 

"  I  entered  the  House  of  Representatives  with  George  McDuffie  and  Joel 
R.  Poinsett  of  South  Carolina,  Andrew  Stevenson  of  Virginia,  John  Tod  of 
Pennsylvania,  John  Nelson  of  Maryland,  Reuben  H.  Walworth  and  Churchill 
C.  Cambreleng  of  New  York,  and  Benjamin  Gorham  of  Massachusetts.  They 
were  all  able  and  promising  men,  having  already  attained  high  distinction  in 
their  respective  States. 

*  These  notes  were  written  by  Mr.  Buchanan  in  1867. 


26  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

"Among  those  who  had  served  in  former  Congresses,  Mr.  William  Lowndes 
of  South  Carolina  was  the  foremost  in  ability  and  influence.  Next  to  him 
stood  Mr.  Sergeant  of  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  McLane  of  Delaware,  Mr.  Philip  P. 
Barbour  of  Virginia,  Mr.  Baldwin  of  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Tracy  of  New  York, 
and  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke.  Neither  Mr.  Clay  nor  Mr.  Webster  was  a 
member  of  Congress  at  this  period.  Mr.  Lowndes  did  not  take  his  seat  until 
December  21st,  nearly  three  weeks  after  the  beginning  of  the  session.  In 
the  meantime,  the  new  members  of  the  House  awaited  his  arrival  in  Wash 
ington  with  much  interest.  He,  with  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Cheves,  had  con 
stituted  what  was  termed  the  '  Galaxy '  of  young  men  whom  South  Carolina 
sent  to  the  House  to  sustain  the  war  of  1812  with  Great  Britain,  and  he 
ranked  the  first  among  them. 

"Mr.  Lowndes  had  been  unanimously  nominated  in  December,  1821,  by 
the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  to  suc 
ceed  Mr.  Monroe.  To  this  he  made  no  direct  response.  In  a  letter  to  a 
friend  in  Charleston,  after  stating  that  he  had  not  taken  and  never  would 
take  a  step  to  draw  the  public  eye  upon  him  for  this  high  place,  he  uttered 
the  memorable  sentiment :  '  The  Presidency  of  the  United  States  is  not,  in 
my  opinion,  an  office  to  be  either  solicited  or  declined.'  And  such  was  the 
general  conviction  of  his  candor  and  sincerity  that  no  man  doubted  this  to  be 
the  genuine  sentiment  of  his  heart.  Fortunate  would  it  have  been  for  the 
country  had  all  future  aspirants  for  this  exalted  station  acted  in  accordance 
with  this  noble  sentiment.  At  the  time,  as  Mr.  Benton  truly  observes,  '  he 
was  strongly  indicated  for  an  early  elevation  to  the  Presidency — indicated  by 
the  public  will  and  judgment,  and  not  by  any  machinery  of  individual  or  party 
management,  from  the  approach  of  which  he  shrank  as  from  the  touch  of 
contamination.'  * 

"  When  Mr.  Lowndes  took  his  seat  in  the  House,  it  was  apparent  to  all 
that  his  frail  and  diseased  frame  betokened  an  early  death,  though  he  was 
then  only  in  the  forty-first  year  of  his  age.  He  was  considerably  above  six 
feet  in  height,  and  was  much  stooped  in  person.  There  was  nothing  striking 
in  his  countenance  to  indicate  great  and  varied  intellectual  powers.  As  a 
speaker  he  was  persuasive  and  convincing.  Though  earnest  and  decided  In 
the  discussion  of  great  questions,  he  never  uttered  a  *word  which  could  give 
personal  offence  to  his  opponents  or  leave  a  sting  behind.  His  eloquence 
partook  of  his  own  gentle  and  unpretending  nature.  His  voice  had  become 
feeble  and  husky,  and  when  he  rose  to  speak,  the  members  of  the  House, 
without  distinction  of  party,  clustered  around  him  so  that  they  might  hear 
every  word  which  fell  from  his  lips.  Towards  his  antagonists  he  was  the 
fairest  debater  ever  known  in  Congress.  It  was  his  custom  to  state  their 
arguments  so  strongly  and  clearly  that  John  Randolph,  on  one  occasion, 
exclaimed :  l  He  will  never  be  able  to  answer  himself.'  He  possessed  all  the 
varied  information  necessary  to  the  character  of  a  great  American  statesman ; 

*  Benton's  Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate,  Vol.  I,  p.  19. 


EMINENT   MEN   IN    CONGRESS.  27 

and  this,  not  merely  in  regard  to  general  principles,  but  to  minute  practical 
details. 

"On  one  occasion  it  became  his  duty,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Commerce,  in  the  House,  to  present  a  history  of  the  origin,  progress  and 
character  of  our  trade  with  the  East  Indies.  This  he  did  with  such  fulness 
and  precision  that  Mr.  Silsbee,  a  well-informed  and  much-respected  member 
of  the  House,  and  afterwards  a  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  declared  in  his 
place,  that  although  he  had  been  engaged  in  that  trade  for  many  years,  the 
gentleman  from  South  Carolina  had  communicated  to  the  House  important 
information  and  shed  new  light  on  the  subject  which  had  never  been  known 
to  him.  On  another  occasion,  two  young  members  made  a  wager  that  Mr. 
Lowndes  could  not  promptly  state  the  process  of  manufacturing  a  common 
pin.  On  propounding  the  question  to  him,  he  at  once  stated  the  whole 
process  in  minute  detail. 

"  Mr.  Lowndes'  great  influence, — for  he  was  the  undisputed  leader  in  the 
House — arose  in  no  small  degree  from  the  conviction  of  its  members  that  he 
never  had  a  sinister  or  selfish  purpose  in  view,  but  always  uttered  the  gen 
uine  sentiments  of  his  heart.  Mr.  Lowndes  had  not  the  least  jealousy  in  his 
nature.  In  his  social  intercourse  with  his  fellow-members  he  was  ever  ready 
and  willing  to  impart  his  stores  ot  information  on  any  subject,  without  feeling 
the  least  apprehension  that  these  might  be  used  to  anticipate  what  he  himself 
intended  to  say,  or  in  debate  against  himself.  His  health  continuing  to 
decline,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  House,  and  by  the  advice  of  his  physicians, 
embarked  in  October,  1822,  from  Philadelphia  in  the  ship  Moss,  with  his  wife 
and  daughter,  for  London.  He  died  on  the  passage,  on  the  27th  of  that 
month,  and  was  buried  at  sea. 

"His  death  was  announced  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  21st 
of  January,  1823,  by  Mr.  James  Hamilton,  his  successor.  This  was  the  first 
occasion  on  which  such  honors  had  been  paid  to  the  memory  of  any  one  not 
a  member  of  the  House  at  the  time  of  his  decease.  Among  the  eulogies  pro 
nounced  was  one  by  John  W.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  who  had  been  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  during  the  session  immediately  preceding.  He  had 
been  an  active  and  able  opponent  of  Mr.  Lowndes  throughout  the  debates 
and  proceedings  on  the  Missouri  question,  which  had  for  two  years  convulsed 
the  House  and  the  country,  until  its  settlement  at  the  close  of  the  last  session. 
Coming  from  a  political  antagonist,  it  so  graphically  presents  the  true  charac 
ter  of  Mr.  Lowndes,  that  I  am  tempted  to  copy  a  portion  of  it.  After  refer 
ring  to  his  death,  as  '  the  greatest  misfortune  which  had  befallen  the  Union ' 
since  he  had  held  a  seat  in  its  councils,  he  proceeds :  '  The  highest  and  best 
hopes  of  this  country  looked  to  William  Lowndes  for  their  fulfillment.  The 
most  honorable  office  in  the  civilized  world— the  Chief  Magistracy  of  this  free 
people — would  have  been  illustrated  by  his  virtues  and  talents.  During  nine 
years'  service  in  this  House,  it  was  my  happiness  to  be  associated  with  him 
on  many  of  its  most  important  committees.  He  never  failed  to  shed  new 
light  on  all  subjects  to  which  he  applied  his  vigorous  and  discriminating  mind 


28  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

His  industry  in  discharging  the  arduous  and  responsible  duties  constantly 
assigned  him,  was  persevering  and  efficient.  To  manners  the  most  unas 
suming,  to  patriotism  the  most  disinterested,  to  morals  the  most  pure,  to 
attainments  of  the  first  rank  in  literature  and  science,  he  added  the  virtues  of 
decision  and  prudence,  so  happily  combined,  so  harmoniously  united,  that  we 
knew  not  which  most  to  admire,  the  firmness  with  which  he  pursued  his  pur 
pose  or  the  gentleness  with  which  he  disarmed  opposition.  His  arguments 
were  made  not  to  enjoy  the  triumph  of  victory,  but  to  convince  the  judg 
ment  of  his  hearers;  and  when  the  success  of  his  efforts  was  most  signal, 
his  humility  was  most  conspicuous.  You,  Mr.  Speaker,  will  remember  his 
zeal  in  sustaining  the  cause  of  our  country  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  late 
war.' 

'•The  whole  House,  with  one  accord,  responded  to  the  truthfulness  of 
these  sentiments  so  happily  expressed  by  Mr.  Taylor.  And  yet,  strange  to 
say,  the  published  debates  of  Congress  contain  but  a  meagre  and  imperfect 
sketch,  and  offer  no  report  at  all  of  the  speeches  of  this  great  and  good  man. 
His  fame  as  a  parliamentary  speaker,  like  that  of  the  great  commoner,  Charles 
James  Fox,  must  mainly  rest  upon  tradition  now  fast  fading  away.  The 
editors  of  the  National  Intelligencer  truly  remark  that,  'of  all  the  distin 
guished  men  who  have  passed  periods  of  their  lives  in  either  House  of  Con 
gress,  there  is  certainly  no  one  of  anything  like  equal  ability  who  has  left 
fewer  traces  on  the  page  of  history  or  on  the  records  of  Congress  than  Wil 
liam  Lowndes,  the  eminent  Representative  in  Congress  for  several  years  of 
the  State  of  South  Carolina.'  The  reason  which  they  assign  why  so  few  of 
his  eloquent  speeches  are  to  be  found  on  record  is  attributable,  in  part,  to  his 
unfeigned  diffidence,  which  placed  less  than  their  true  value  upon  his  own 
exertions,  and  in  part  to  an  objection  which  he  had,  on  principle,  to  the  prac 
tice  of  writing  out  speeches  for  publication,  either  before  or  after  the  delivery. 
Little  or  no  reliance  could  be  placed  on  the  reporters  of  that  day.  The  art 
even  of  shorthand  writing  was  almost  unknown  in  this  country,  and  the  pub 
lished  sketches  prepared  by  the  so-called  reporters,  were  calculated  to  injure 
rather  than  to  elevate  the  character  of  the  speaker. 

"  How  much  has  been  lost  to  the  country  by  the  scruples  of  Mr.  Lowudes 
may  be  imagined  from  the  '  little  gem '  of  a  speech  written  out  by  him  at  the 
personal  request  of  Mr.  Silsbee,  then  a  member  of  the  House,  on  the  bill  for 
the  relief  of  the  family  of  Commodore  Perry,  but  never  published  until  more 
than  twenty  years  after  his  death.  It  does  not  appear  in  the  annals  of  1821 
that  he  made  any  speech  on  this  occasion.  It  may  be  added,  to  show  the 
incapacity  of  the  reporters  of  that  day,  that  there  is  no  other  mention  of  his 
speech  against  the  bankrupt  bill,  commenced  on  February  21st,  and  con 
cluded  on  March  5th,  1822,  though  listened  to  with  rapt  attention  by  the 
House,  except  that  he  did  speak  on  these  two  days.  From  physical  ex 
haustion  he  was  unable  to  say  all  he  had  intended  on  this  important  subject. 
His  name  does  not  even  appear  in  the  index  as  a  speaker  on  this  bill. 

"  I  have  written  much  more  than  I  should  otherwise  have  done,  to  repair 


EMINENT    MEN    IN    CONGRESS.  39 

injustice  done  to  the  character  of  the  ablest,  purest,  and  most  unselfish  jafertejp^v. 
man  of  his  day."*  / 

UNIVERSITY 

Of  John  Randolph  and  John  Sergeant,  ^.^Bjjichanan  thi 
records  his  recollections : 


John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  was  the  most  conspicuous,  though  far  from  the 
most  influential  member  of  the  House,  when  I  first  took  my  seat.  He  en 
tered  the  House  in  1799,  and  had  continued  there,  with  the  exception  of  two 
terms,  from  that  early  period.  His  style  of  debate  was  in  perfect  contrast  to 
that  of  Mr.  Lowndes.  He  was  severe  and  sarcastic,  sparing  neither  friend 
nor  foe,  when  the  one  or  the  other  laid  himself  open  to  the  shafts  of  his 
ridicule.  He  was  a  fine  belles-lettres  scholar,  and  his  classical  allusions  were 
abundant  and  happy.  He  had  a  shriD  and  penetrating  voice,  and  could  be 
heard  distinctly  in  every  portion  of  the  House.  He  spoke  with  great  delib 
eration,  and  often  paused  for  an  instant  as  if  to  select  the  most  appropriate 
word.  His  manner  was  confident,  proud,  and  imposing,  and  pointing,  as  he 
always  did,  his  long  forefinger  at  the  object  of  attack,  he  gave  peculiar  em 
phasis  to  the  severity  of  his  language.  He  attracted  a  crowded  gallery  when 
it  was  known  he  would  address  the  House,  and  always  commanded  the 
undivided  attention  of  his  whole  audience,  whether  he  spoke  the  words  of 
wisdom,  or,  as  he  often  did,  of  folly.  For  these  reasons  he  was  more  feared 
than  beloved,  and  his  influence  in  the  House  bore  no  proportion  to  the  bril 
liancy  of  his  talents.  He  was  powerful  in  pulling  down  an  administration,  but 
had  no  skill  in  building  anything  up.  Hence  he  was  almost  always  in  the 
opposition,  but  was  never  what  is  called  a  business  member.  To  me  he  was 
uniformly  respectful,  and  sometimes  complimentary  in  debate.  I  well  remem 
ber  Mr.  Sergeant  putting  me  on  my  guard  against  Mr.  Randolph's  friendship." 

"Mr.  Sergeant  entered  the  House  in  December,  1815,  and  had  continued 
to  be  a  member  since  that  day.  As  a  lawyer,  he  stood  in  the  front  rank 
among  the  eminent  members  of  the  bar  of  Philadelphia,  at  a  period  when  its 
members  were  greatly  distinguished  throughout  the  country  for  ability  and 
learning.  His  personal  character  was  above  reproach.  From  his  first  ap 
pearance  he  maintained  a  high  rank  in  the  estimation  of  the  House.  As  a 
debater,  he  was  clear  and  logical,  and  never  failed  to  impart  information. 
His  fault  was  that  of  almost  every  member  of  Congress  who  had  become  a 

*  In  the  debate  on  Chilton's  Kesolutions,  in  1825,  Mr.  Sergeant  said  : 
"At  the  head  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  in  1816,  was  one  who  could  not  be 
remembered  without  feelings  of  deep  regret  at  the  public  loss  occasioned  by  his  early  death. 
He  possessed,  in  an  uncommon  degree,  the  confidence  of  this  House,  and  he  well  deserved 
it.  With  so  much  accurate  knowledge,  and  with  powers  which  enabled  him  to  delight  and 
instruct  the  House,  there  was  united  so  much  gentleness  and  kindness,  and  such  real,  unaf 
fected  modesty,  that  you  were  prepared  to  be  subdued  before  he  exerted  his  commanding 
powers  of  argument.  I  mean  William  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina.'"— Anton's  Debates,  Vol. 
IX,  730. 


30  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

member  after  a  long  and  successful  training  at  the  bar.  He  was  too  exhaustive 
in  his  arguments,  touching  every  point  in  the  question  before  the  House  without 
discriminating  between  those  which  were  vital  and  those  which  were  sub 
ordinate.  His  manner  was  cold  and  didactic,  and  his  prolixity  sometimes 
fatigued  the  House.  In  his  social  intercourse  with  the  members,  he  was  cold 
but  not  repulsive.  The  high  estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  arose  from  the 
just  appreciation  of  his  great  abilities,  and  of  his  pure  and  spotless  private 
character.  There  was  nothing  ad  captandum  about  him.  He  was  regarded 
by  his  constituents  in  Philadelphia  with  pride  and  affection,  who  generally 
spoke  of  him  as  '  our  John  Sergeant.'  " 

The  first  debate  in  which  Mr.  Buchanan  took  part  related  to 
a  bill,  introduced  by  General  Smith  of  Maryland,  making 
appropriations  for  the  Military  Establishment.  This  discussion, 
which  took  place  on  the  9th  and  llth  of  January,  1822,  was  an 
excited  one,  from  the  inner  motive  of  the  opposition  to  the  bill, 
which  was  aimed  at  the  supposed  aspirations  of  Mr.  Calhoun, 
the  Secretary  of  War.  In  reference  to  the  Secretary  Mr. 
Buchanan  said :  "  I  have  no  feeling  of  partiality  for  the  Secre 
tary  of  War,  nor  of  prejudice  against  him.  I  view  him  merely 
as  a  public  character,  and,  in  that  capacity,  I  conscientiously 
believe  that  he  has  done  his  duty."  After  a  sharp  reply  from 
Mr.  Randolph,  the  bill  was  passed  by  a  very  large  majority,  the 
members  of  the  so-called  "  Radical "  party  alone  voting  against 
it.  There  very  soon  occurred  another  debate  which  is  of  greater 
importance,  since  it  marks  the  direction  which  Mr.  Buchanan's 
mind  was  beginning  to  take  on  the  subject  of  Federal  powers 
and  State  Rights.  This  was  the  occasion  of  the  introduction 
of  a  Bankrupt  bill. 

Prior  to  this  time,  Congress  had  but  once  exercised  the  con 
stitutional  power  "  to  establish  uniform  laws  on  the  subject  of 
bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States."  This  was  in  the 
Bankrupt  law  of  1800,  which  was  repealed  in  1804.  Of  the 
power  of  Congress  to  legislate  on  the  subject  of  "  bankruptcy  " 
there  can  of  course  be  no  doubt,  since  it  is  expressly  conferred. 
But  there  has  always  been  a  doubt  respecting  the  true  construc 
tion  of  the  terms  "bankruptcy"  and  "bankrupt."  Following 
the  English  system,  the  Act  of  1800  rejected  the  idea  that  these 
terms  include  all  "  insolvents,"  of  all  occupations,  and  confined 
the  meaning  to  "  traders,"  or  mercantile  insolvents.  Here, 


BECOMES    A    LEADING    DEBATER.  31 

therefore,  was  one  very  serious  question  in  interpretation  to  be 
encountered ;  for  although  the  measure,  of  which  some  account 
is  now  to  be  given,  contemplated,  as  it  was  first  introduced, 
none  but  commercial  insolvents,  it  finally  turned  upon  an 
amendment  which  would  have  made  it  applicable  to  all  classes 
of  insolvent  debtors.  In  either  aspect,  too,  it  brought  into 
view  the  contrasted  functions  of  -the  Federal  and  the  State 
courts,  in  the  enforcement  and  collection  of  private  debts. 

The  close  of  the  war,  in  1815,  was  followed  by  extensive 
financial  embarrassment  among  the  commercial  classes.  The 
merchants  of  Philadelphia  suffered  severely  during  the  five 
years  which  succeeded  the  peace,  and  it  was  by  one  of  their 
Representatives,  Mr.  John  Sergeant,  that  a  bankrupt  bill,  retro 
spective  as  well  as  prospective  in  its  operation,  was  introduced 
in  the  House,  on  the  llth  of  December,  1821.  On  the  22d  of 
January,  1822,  the  debate  was  opened  by  Mr.  Sergeant,  as 
Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  His  speech  was  exceed 
ingly  able,  and  even  pathetic,  for  he  spoke  for  a  large  class  ot 
ruined  men.  The  discussion  continued  until  the  12th  of  March, 
Mr.  Sergeant  standing  almost  alone  in  advocacy  of  the  bill,  in 
opposition  to  George  Tucker  and  Philip  P.  Barbour  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  to  Mr.  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina.  The  latter, 
although  opposed  to  the  bill,  did  not  accord  with  the  strict  con- 
structionists  of  Virginia.  Thus  far,  the  proposed  measure 
included  only  commercial  insolvents.  But  on  the  12th  of 
March,  a  member  from  Kentucky  offered  an  amendment  that 
included  all  insolvent  debtors,  which  was  adopted.  This,  of 
course,  changed  the  aspect  of  the  whole  subject,  and  whether 
so  intended  or  not,  finally  defeated  the  bill.  Mr.  Buchanan 
spoke  in  opposition  to  the  bill  on  the  day  the  amendment  was 
adopted.  He  did  not  question  the  power  of  Congress  to  pass  a 
bankrupt  law.  Nor  did  he  contend  that  the  "bankruptcy" 
referred  to  in  the  Constitution,  necessarily  included  only  com 
mercial  insolvents.  But  there  is  very  perceptible  in  his  speech 
on  this  occasion  a  tendency  to  that  line  of  politics  which  he 
afterwards  adopted  and  always  adhered  to,  and  which  may  be 
described  as  a  forbearance  from  exercising  Federal  powers  of 
acknowledged  constitutional  validity,  in  modes  and  upon  occa 
sions  which  may  lead  to  an  absorption  of  State  jurisdictions. 


32  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

Thus  he  said :  "  The  bill,  as  it  stood  before  the  amendment, 
went  far  enough.  It  would,  even  then,  have  brought  the  oper 
ation  of  the  law  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  Courts  into 
the  bosom  of  every  community.  The  bill  as  it  now  stands  will 
entirely  destroy  the  symmetry  of  our  system,  and  make  those 
courts  the  arbiters,  in  almost  every  case,  of  contracts  to  which 
any  member  of  society  who  thinks  proper  to  become  a  bankrupt 
may  be  a  party.  It  will  at  once  be,  in  a  great  degree,  a  judicial 
consolidation  of  the  Union.  This  was  never  intended  by  the 

friends  of  the  Constitution The  jurisdiction  of  Federal 

Courts  is  now  chiefly  confined  to  controversies  existing  between 
the  citizens  of  different  States.  This  bill,  if  it  should  become  a 
law,  will  amount  to  a  judicial  consolidation  of  the  Union." 

Of  the  general  tenor  of  this  sweeping  measure,  Mr.  Buchanan 
said: 

"Let  a  bankrupt  be  presented  to  the  view  of  society,  who  has  become 
wealthy  since  his  discharge,  and  who,  after  having  ruined  a  number  of  his 
creditors,  shields  himself  from  the  payment  of  his  honest  debts  by  his  certifi 
cate,  and  what  effects  would  such  a  spectacle  be  calculated  to  produce  ?  Ex 
amples  of  this  nature  must  at  length  demoralize  any  people.  The  contagion 
introduced  by  the  laws  of  the  country  would,  for  that  very  reason,  spread 
like  a  pestilence,  until  honesty,  honor,  and  faith  will  at  length  be  swept  from 
the  intercourse  of  society.  Leave  the  agricultural  interest  pure  and  uncor- 
rupted,  and  they  will  forever  form  the  basis  on  which  the  Constitution  and 
liberties  of  your  country  may  safely  repose.  Do  not,  I  beseech  you,  teach 
them  to  think  lightly  of  the  solemn  obligation  of  contracts.  No  government 
on  earth,  however  corrupt,  has  ever  enacted  a  bankrupt  law  for  farmers ;  it 
would  be  a  perfect  monster  in  this  country,  where  our  institutions  depend 
altogether  upon  the  virtue  of  the  people.  We  have  no  constitutional  power 
to  pass  the  amendment  proposed  by  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky;  and  if 
we  had,  we  never  should  do  so,  because  such  a  provision  would  spread  a 
moral  taint  through  society  which  would  corrupt  it  to  its  very  core." 


The  next  important  discussion  in  which  Mr.  Buchanan  took 
part  was  on  a  bill  relating  to  the  Cumberland  Road.  Before 
he  entered  Congress,  a  national  turnpike  had  been  built  by  the 
Federal  Government,  extending  from  Cumberland  in  the  State 
of  Maryland  to  Wheeling  in  the  State  of  Virginia.  It  crossed 
a  narrow  part  of  Maryland,  passed  through  a  corner  of  Penn 
sylvania,  and  touched  but  a  small  part  of  Virginia.  The  prin- 


CUMBERLAND    ROAD.  33 

cipal  interest  felt  in  this  work  was  in  the  Western  States.  It 
encountered  much  opposition  in  Pennsylvania,  where  a  turn 
pike  road  had  been  built,  under  State  authority,  from  Philadel 
phia  to  Pittsburgh,  which  was  kept  in  repair  by  tolls,  and 
which  paid  a  small  dividend  to  its  stockholders.  A  national 
road,  supported  by  the  Federal  Government,  and  taking  the 
travel  from  the  Pennsylvania  road  was  considered  in  that  State 
as  a  grievance.  Moreover,  whenever  the  question  of  appro 
priating  money  for  the  continued  support  of  this  national  road, 
or  the  alternative  of  imposing  tolls,  arose  in  Congress,  the 
question  of  constitutional  power  to  establish  such  means  of 
communication  necessarily  arose  at  every  stage  of  the  legisla 
tion.  That  legislation  is  of  interest  now,  inasmuch  as  the 
course  taken  by  Mr.  Buchanan  illustrates  the  development  of 
his  opinions  upon  the  constitutional  question. 

Of  the  last  appropriation  for  continuing  the  Cumberland 
Road,  there  remained  a  balance  in  the  Treasury  of  less  than 
$10,000.  In  the  General  Appropriation  Bill  of  this  session 
(1822),  provision  was  made  for  the  repair  of  the  road.  A  mem 
ber  from  New  Jersey  moved  to  increase  the  amount.  On  this 
amendment  there  was  an  animated  discussion,  in  which  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  appears  to  have  considered  that  this  public  work  was  so 
beneficial  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  Union,  that  Congress 
might  well  appropriate  the  money  needed  for  its  support.  "  The 
truth  is,"  he  said,  "  we  are  all  so  connected  together  by  our  in 
terests,  as  to  place  us  in  a  state  of  mutual  dependence  upon  each 
other,  and  to  make  that  which  is  for  the  interest  of  any  one 
member  of  the  Federal  family  beneficial,  in  most  instances,  to  all 
the  rest.  We  never  .can  be  divided  without  first  being  guilty 
of  political  suicide.  The  prosperity  of  all  the  States  depends  aa 
much  upon  their  Union,  as  human  life  depends  upon  that  of 
the  soul  and  body."  It  is  quite  obvious  that  this  kind  of 
reasoning  was,  however  true  in  the  general,  too  broad  and 
sweeping  to  justify  the  appropriation  of  money  from  the  Fed 
eral  Treasury  for  a  public  work  which  could  claim  no  other 
than  an  incidental  and  remote  relation  to  the  prosperity  of  all 
the  States.  Every  appropriation  of  money  by  Congress  must 
rest  upon  some  specific  power  of  the  Federal  Constitution ;  and 
although  Congress  has  a  specific  power  u  to  regulate  commerce 

L— 3 


34  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

among  the  several  States,"  and  while  it  may  be  admitted  that 
commerce  includes  intercourse,  it  has  been  from  the  first,  and 
still  is,  a  serious  question  whether  this  grant  of  the  power  of 
commercial  regulation  includes  a  power  to  establish  and  maintain 
the  means  by  which  commerce  is  carried  on,  and  by  which 
intercourse  may  be  facilitated,  unless  such  means  fall  within  the 
designation  of  "  post-roads,"  and  are  established,  primarily  at 
least,  for  the  transmission  of  mails.  The  appropriation  pro- 
•  posed  for  the  continued  support  of  the  Cumberland  Road  failed, 
and  then  came  the  question,  in  a  separate  bill,  of  imposing  tolls 
for  the  support  of  the  road.  Mr.  Buchanan  voted  for  this  bill, 
as  did  most  of  his  colleagues  from  Pennsylvania,  and  it  passed 
both  Houses.  But  on  the  4th  of  May  (1822),  the  President, 
Mr.  Monroe,  returned  the  bill  with  a  very  long  message,  stating 
his  objections  to  it.  From  this  voluminous  message,  we  may 
extract,  although  with  some  difficulty,  two  positions ;  first,  that 
in  Mr.  Monroe's  opinion,  Congress  had  no  power  to  raise  money 
by  erecting  toll-gates  and  collecting  tolls,  and  that  the  States 
cannot  individually  grant  such  a  power  to  Congress  by  their 
votes  in  Congress,  or  by  any  special  compact  with  the  United 
States ;  secondly,  that  Congress  having  an  unlimited  power  to 
raise  money  by  taxation  general  and  uniform  throughout  the 
United  States,  its  absolute  discretion  in  the  appropriation  of 
the  money  so  raised  is  restricted  only  by  the  duty  of  appropria 
ting  to  the  purposes  of  the  common  defence,  and  of  general,  not 
local,  benefit.  The  first  of  these  positions  wrill  be  conceded  by 
every  one.  The  second  admits  of  some  doubt.  Its  soundness 
depends  upon  the  true  interpretation  of  the  first  of  the  enu 
merated  powers  of  the  Federal  Constitution^that  which  contains 
the  grant  of  the  taxing  power.*  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter 
upon  the  discussion  of  controverted  questions  of  constitutional 
interpretation.  But  all  students  of  the  Federal  Constitution  are 
aware  that  the  grammatical  construction  of  the  clause  to  which 
Mr.  Monroe  referred,  admits  of,  and  has  been  claimed  to  admit 
of,  two  interpretations.  Read  by  itself,  and  without  reference  to 
the  other  enumerated  powers,  this  clause  has  been  supposed  by 

*  Art.  I.,  §  8.— u  To  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts 
and  provide  for  the  common  defence  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States ;  but  all 
duties,  imposts,  and  excises  s'acll  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States." 


CUMBERLAND    ROAD.  35 

some  persons  to  grant  an  unlimited  power  to  tax  for  any  pur 
pose  that  in  the  judgment  of  Congress  will  promote  the  general 
welfare  of  the  United  States,  provided  only  that  the  taxation 
is  uniform.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  contended  that 
the  clause  is  not  a  broad,  independent,  and  specific  power  to 
tax  for  any  object  that  will  promote  the  general  welfare  of 
the  United  States,  but  that  it  "is  limited  to  the  promotion 
of  the  general  welfare  through  the  exercise  of  some  one  or 
more  of  the  other  enumerated  powers  of  the  Constitution,  each 
of  which  must  receive  its  own  scope  from  a  just  interpretation 
before  the  people  of  the  United  States  can  be  taxed  for  the 
means  of  exercising  that  power.  Viewed  in  the  latter  sense, 
the  clause  contains  a  grant  of  the  power  of  taxation,  general 
and  universal  in  its  nature,  but  limited  as  to  its  objects  by  the 
objects  of  each  of  the  other  enumerated  powers.  Viewed  in 
the  former  sense,  it  becomes  a  separate  and  independent  power 
to  tax  for  any  object  that  will  promote  the  general  welfare, 
without  reference  to  the  exercise  of  any  of  the  specific  powers 
of  the  Constitution  which  form  the  objects  for  which  the  Fed 
eral  Government  was  created. 

Mr.  Monroe's  veto  message  on  this  occasion  was  sustained  in 
the  House  by  a  vote  of  68  to  72,  and  the  bill  consequently 
failed.  The  vote  of  the  House,  however,  is  to  be  considered 
as  a  concurrence  in  Mr.  Monroe's  objection  that  Congress  can 
not  establish  toll-gates  and  collect  tolls,  and  not  as  an  affirmance 
of  the  general  views  which  he  expressed  on  the  taxing  power. 
But  upon  Mr.  Buchanan  this  message  produced  a  strong  effect. 
It  was  the  first  time  that  his  mind  had  been  brought  sharply  to 
the  consideration  of  the  questions  in  what  mode  "  Internal  Im 
provements,"  as  they  were  called,  can  be  effected  by  the  Gen 
eral  Government,  and  consequently  he  began  to  perceive  the 
dividing  line  between  the  Federal  and  the  State  powers. 
Although  he  had  voted  for  the  bill  imposing  tolls  upon  the 
Cumberland  Eoad,  influenced  probably  by  the  desire  to  dimin 
ish  its  injurious  competition  with  the  Pennsylvania  road,  he 
took  occasion  at  the  next  session  to  retract  the  error  of  which 
he  had  been  convinced  by  Mr.  Monroe's  message.  When  a  bill 
was  introduced  at  the  next  session,  making  an  appropriation  for 
the  preservation  and  repair  of  the  Cumberland  Eoad,  he  moved 


30  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

as  an  amendment  that  the  United  States  retrocede  the  road  to 
the  three  States  through  which  it  passed,  on  condition  that  they 
would  keep  it  in  repair  and  collect  no  more  tolls  than  such  as 
would  be  necessary  for  that  purpose.  Being  now  convinced 
that  Congress  could  not  impose  the  tolls,  he  thought  the  only 
alternative  was  to  cede  the  road  to  the  States,  since  it  could  not 
be  supported  from  the  Federal  Treasury  without  producing 
inequality  and  injustice.  His  amendment  was  rejected  and  the 
bill  was  passed.*  A  precedent  was  thus  established  for  the  sup 
port  of  the  road  by  Congress.  The  subject  will  again  recur  in 
1829  and  1836.  In  Mr.  Buchanan's  speech  in  1829  will  be 
found  the  expression  of  his  more  matured  constitutional  views 
on  the  whole  subject  of  Internal  Improvements. f 

The  17th  Congress,  which  commenced  its  session  in  December, 
1822,  and  terminated  in  March,  1823,  witnessed  a  protracted  dis 
cussion  on  the  doctrine  of  "  protection,"  which  extended  into 
the  18th  Congress.  The  tariff  of  1823-4  was  the  second  mea 
sure  of  that  kind  after  the  war.  At  that  period  the  prevalent 
doctrine  in  the  New  England  States  was  Anti-protectionist. 
The  city  of  Boston  was  represented  by  Mr.  Benjamin  Gorham, 
a  lawyer  of  remarkable  ability,  the  immediate  predecessor  of 
Mr.  Webster.  His  speech  against  the  new  tariff  was  replied  to 
by  Mr.  Buchanan ;  and  if  the  reply  is  a  fair  indication  of  the 
speech  against  which  it  was  directed,  Mr.  Gorham's  language 
must  have  been  vehement.;):  Mr.  Buchanan  said : 

"  The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  has  declared  this  bill  to  be  an  at 
tempt,  by  one  portion  of  the  Union  for  its  own  peculiar  advantage,  to  impose 
ruinous  taxes  on  another.  He  has  represented  it  as  an  effort  to  compel  the 
agriculturists  of  the  South  to  pay  tribute  to  the  manufacturers  of  the  North  ; 
he  has  proclaimed  it  to  be  a  tyrannical  measure.  He  has  gone  further,  and 
boldly  declared  that  the  people  of  the  South  should  resist  such  a  law,  and  that 
they  ought  to  resist  it.  The  gentlemen  from  Massachusetts  and  Georgia  (Mr. 
Tattnall)  have  proclaimed  it  tyranny,  and  tyranny  which  ouglit  to  be  resisted. 
I  confess  I  never  expected  to  hear  inflammatory  speeches  of  this  kind  within 
these  walls  which  ought  to  be  sacred  to  union ;  I  never  expected  to  hear 
the  East  counselling  the  South  to  resistance,  that  we  might  thus  be  deterred 
from  prosecuting  a  measure  of  policy,  urged  upon  us  by  the  necessities  of 
the  country.  It  was  by  a  combination  between  the  cotton-growers  of  the 

*  February  21, 1823.  t  Post.  j.  Mr,  Gorham's  speech  has  not  been  preserved. 


THE    TARIFF.  37 

South  and  the  manufacturers  of  the  North,  that  the  introduction  of  coarse 
cottons  from  abroad  has  been  in  effect  prohibited  by  the  high  rates  of  duties. 
It  is  ungenerous,  then,  for  the  South  and  the  East  to  sound  the  tocsin  of 
alarm  and  resistance  when  we  wish  indirectly  to  benefit  the  agriculturists 
and  manufacturers  of  the  Middle  and  Western  States  by  the  imposition  of 
necessary  duties.  If  I  know  myself,  I  am  a  politician  neither  of  the  East  nor 
of  the  West,  of  the  North  nor  of  the  South;  I,  therefore,  shall  forever  avoid 
any  expressions,  the  direct  tendency  of  which  must  be  to  create  sectional 
jealousies,  sectional  divisions,  and,  at  length,  disunion — that  worst  and  last  of 
all  political  calamities.  I  will  never  consent  to  adopt  a  general  restrictive 
system,  because  the  agricultural  class  of  the  community  would  then  be  left  at 
the  mercy  of  the  manufacturers.  The  interest  of  the  many  would  thus  be 
sacrificed  to  promote  the  wealth  of  the  few.  The  farmer,  in  addition  to  the 
premium  which  he  would  be  compelled  to  pay  the  manufacturer,  would  have 
also  to  sustain  the  expenses  of  the  Government.  If  this  bill  proposed  a  sys 
tem  which  leads  to  such  abuses,  it  should  not  receive  my  support.  If  I  could, 
for  a  single  moment,  believe  in  the  language  of  the  gentleman  from  Georgia — 
that  this  bill  would  compel  the  agricultural  to  bow  down  before  the  manufac 
turing  interest — I  should  consider  myself  a  traitor  to  my  country  in  giving  it 
any  support." 

In  the  subsequent  Congress,  Mr.  Buchanan  spoke  twice  on 
the  subject  of  the  tariff,  namely,  March  23d  and  April  9th,  1824. 
But  the  foregoing  extract  from  his  speech  in  February,  1823,  is 
sufficient  to  show  how  moderate  and  just  his  views  were  on  the 
subject  of  protection. 

When  Mr.  Buchanan  entered  Congress  in  December,  1821, 
his  professional  income  was  the  largest  that  he  ever  received. 
He  had  then  been  eight  years  at  the  bar,  and  his  emoluments 
from  his  profession,  which  were  less  than  $1,000  for  the  first 
year,  had  become  more  than  $11,000  for  the  year  1821-2. 
They  then  fell  off  somewhat  rapidly,  and  in  the  year  1828  they 
amounted  to  only  a  little  more  than  $2,000. 


CHAPTER     III. 

1824—1825. 

ELECTION  OF  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS — THE  "  BAKGAIN  AND  CORRUPTION  " 
— UNFOUNDED  CHARGE — GENERAL  JACKSON'S  ERRONEOUS  IMPRESSION 
— HIS  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  MR.  BUCHANAN. 

I  NOW  approach  one  of  those  periods  of  intense  political  ex 
citement  which  it  becomes  every  one  who  has  to  write  of 
them  to  treat  in  an  entirely  impartial  and  judicial  spirit.  The 
subject  of  this  chapter  is  the  Presidential  election  of  1824,*  and 
Mr.  Buchanan's  connection  with  it.  The  famous  "  coalition  " 
between  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams  and  Mr.  Clay,  is  a  topic  that 
involves  so  much  that  is  personal,  that  one  must  needs  divest 
one's  self  of  all  preconceived  opinions,  and  must  regard  the 
whole  matter  with  that  indifference  which  the  present  age 
already  feels,  and  which  is  solicitous  only  to  do  no  injustice  to 
individual  reputations.  At  the  same  time,  the  whole  case 
should  be  plainly  stated  ;  for  it  touches  a  provision  of  the  Con 
stitution,  by  which  its  framers  supplied  a  means  for  filling  the 
office  of  President,  in  the  event  of  there  being  no  choice  through 
the  electoral  colleges. 

In  the  year  1824,  there  were  261  electoral  votes  in  the  Union, 
a  majority  being  131.  The  candidates  at  tfte  popular  election 
were  General  Jackson,  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  Mr.  Craw 
ford,  and  Mr.  Clay.  Neither  of  them  was  the  candidate  of  a 
distinctively  organized  political  party.  General  Jackson  was  a 
member  of  the  Senate,  from  the  State  of  Tennessee.  Mr. 
Adams  was  Secretary  of  State,  under  President  Monroe.  Mr. 
Crawford,  who  had  formerly  been  a  Senator  from  Georgia, 
was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Mr.  Clay  was  a  Representative 

*  The  phrase  "  Presidential  Election  "  is  an  awkward  and  incorrect  one.  But  it  has 
been  sanctioned  by  long  usage,  and  I  adopt  it  because  of  its  convenience. 


ELECTION    OF    JOHN    QUINCY   ADAMS.  39 

from  Kentucky,  and  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House  at  the 
beginning  of  the  session.  Neither  of  these  candidates  having 
received  a  majority  of  the  electoral  votes,  the  election  of  a 
President  devolved  on  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  which 
body  each  State  would  have  one  vote.  But  as  the  Constitution 
required  that  the  choice  of  the  House  be  confined  to  the  three 
highest  candidates  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  by  the  electors, 
and  as  Mr.  Clay  was  not  one  of  the  three,  he  was  excluded. 
He  and  his  friends,  however,  had  it  in  their  power  to  make 
either  General  Jackson  or  Mr.  Adams  President;  and  Mr. 
Clay  at  all  times  had  great  control  over  his  friends.  How  he 
would  cast  his  vote,  and  how  he  would  lead  his  followers  who 
were  members  of  the  House  to  cast  theirs,  became  therefore  an 
intensely  exciting  subject  of  speculation  both  in  Washington 
and  throughout  the  country.  For  a  short  time  it  was  supposed 
that  Mr.  Clay  and  the  other  members  from  Kentucky  would  be 
governed  by  a  resolution  adopted  by  both  branches  of  the  Legis 
lature  of  that  State,  requesting  their  members  of  Congress  to 
vote  for  General  Jackson.  This  resolution  had  been  adopted  in 
the  Kentucky  House  of  Representatives  on  the  31st  of  Decem 
ber  (1824),  by  a  majority  of  73  to  11 ;  and  in  the  Senate  of  the 
State  it  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  18  to  12.  It  spoke  what  was 
the  undoubted  wish  of  the  people  of  Kentucky,  whose  first 
choice  for  the  office  of  President  was  Mr.  Clay  himself,  but 
whose  preference  for  General  Jackson  to  Mr.  Adams  was  ex 
plicitly  declared  by  their  Legislature.*  General  Jackson  had 
received  the  unanimous  electoral  votes  of  eight  States :  New  Jer 
sey,  Pennsylvania,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
Mississippi,  Indiana,  and  Alabama.  Mr.  Adams  had  received 
the  unanimous  electoral  votes  of  the  six  New  England  States. 
If  the  Representatives  of  these  various  States  in  Congress  should 
vote  as  their  States  had  voted,  it  would  require  but  five  addi 
tional  States  to  elect  General  Jackson,  while  seven  would  be 
needed  to  elect  Mr.  Adams.  Of  the  remaining  States  which 
had  not  unanimously  given  their  electoral  votes  to  General 
Jackson  or  to  Mr.  Adams,  it  appears  that  General  Jackson 

*  Mr.  Crawford  was  regarded  as  out  of  the  question,  both  because  he  had  less  than  one- 
half  of  the  electoral  votes,  and  because  a  recent  paralytic  affection  was  supposed  to  have 
rendered  him  incapable  of  performing  the  duties  of  the  office. 


40  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

received  one  of  the  electoral  votes  of  New  York,  Mr.  Adams 
received  twenty-six,  and  Mr.  Crawford  five.  Delaware  had 
given  one  of  its  electoral  votes  to  Mr.  Adams  and  two  to 
Mr.  Crawford.  General  Jackson  had  seven  of  the  electoral 
votes  of  Maryland,  Mr.  Adams  three,  and  Mr.  Crawford  one. 
Virginia  had  given  all  of  her  electoral  votes,  twenty-four,  to 
Mr.  Crawford.  Louisiana  had  given  three  of  her  electoral  votes 
to  General  Jackson,  and  two  to  Mr.  Adams.  The  electoral 
votes  of  Illinois  had  gone  two  for  General  Jackson,  and  one 
for  Mr.  Adams.  Which  of  these  doubtful  States  would  be  won 
in  the  great  contest  for  General  Jackson,  and  which  for  Mr. 
Adams,  was  now  the  all-absorbing  topic,  and  the  result  depended 
very  much  upon  the  course  of  Mr.  Clay. 

Among  the  scandals  which  hung  around  this  election,  it  was 
afterward  said  that  Mr.  Buchanan,  while  the  matter  was  pend 
ing  before  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  winter  of 
1824-5,  had,  as  an  agent  or  friend  of  Mr.  Clay,  approached 
General  Jackson  and  sought  to  secure  his  promise  to  make  Mr. 
Clay  Secretary  of  State,  in  consideration  of  his  receiving  Mr. 
Clay's  vote  and  influence  in  the  House.  There  was  not  much 
intrinsic  probability  in  this  imputation,  for  the  relations 
between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Buchanan  were  not  such  as  would 
naturally  have  led  to  the  selection  of  the  latter  as  Mr.  Clay's 
agent  in  such  a  negotiation,  even  if  Mr.  Clay  had  been  capable 
of  making  such  an  attempt  to  obtain  from  General  Jackson  a 
promise  to  make  him  Secretary  of  State,  while  the  election  of  a 
President  was  pending  in  the  House.  But  inasmuch  as  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  nearly  twenty  years  afterward,  was  quoted  in  sup 
port  of  this  statement,  it  is  proper  that  I  shbuld  lay  before  the 
reader  Mr.  Buchanan's  own  explicit  account  of  what  actually 
took  place.  It  will  be  seen  hereafter  that  General  Jackson,  who 
always  believed  that  there  had  been  a  corrupt  political  bargain 
between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Adams,  was  led  afterwards  to  think 
that  Mr.  Buchanan  had  at  the  time  of  the  election  entertained 
the  same  belief,  and  yet  that  Mr.  Buchanan  had  refrained  from 
denouncing  the  bargain  as  he  should  have  done,  because  he  had 
himself  mado  the  same  kind  of  attempt  for  Mr.  Clay,  in  the 
conversation  which  he  had  with  General  Jackson  before  the 
election  took  place.  Mr.  Buchanan's  own  account  of  his  inter- 


THE  "BARGAIN  AND  CORRUPTION."  41 

view  with  General  Jackson  shows  very  clearly  that,  instead  of 
seeking  an  interview  with  General  Jackson  for  the  purpose  of  pro 
posing  to  him  to  make  a  bargain  with  Mr.  Clay  about  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State,  his  sole  object  was  to  obtain  from  General 
Jackson  a  denial  of  a  prevailing  rumor  that  he  had  said  he 
would  continue  Mr.  Adams  in  that  office,  if  elected  President. 

At  the  time  of  this  occurrence,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  a  com 
paratively  young  member  of  Congress,  in  the  beginning  of  his 
fourth  session.  Speaking  of  himself  in  the  third  person,  he 
says  in  a  memorandum  now  before  me,  "  He  [Buchanan]  had 
never  personally  known  either  General  Jackson  or  Mr.  Clay 
until  about  the  opening  of  this  Congress,  when  the  one  took 
his  seat  as  a  Senator  from  Tennessee,  and  the  other  was  elected 
Speaker  of  the  House.  Having  great  confidence  in  the  sound 
political  principles  and  exalted  character  of  General  Jackson, 
and  greatly  preferring  him  to  any  of  the  other  candidates,  he 
[Buchanan]  had  taken  a  very  active  part  before  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  in  securing  for  him  their  electoral  vote.  Still,  he 
was  at  the  same  time  a  warm  admirer  of  Mr.  Clay." 

The  prevalent  rumor  that  General  Jackson  had  said  he  would 
continue  Mr.  Adams  in  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  in  case 
of  his  election  to  the  Presidency,  was  supposed  to  derive  some 
color  of  probability  from  their  known  friendly  relations,  and 
from  the  defence  which  Mr.  Adams  had  made  of  the  General's 
conduct  in  the  Seminole  war.  It  was  a  rumor  that  greatly  dis 
turbed  General  Jackson's  friends  and  supporters  in  Pennsyl 
vania.  They  regarded  Mr.  Adams'  constitutional  views  as 
much  too  latitudinarian  for  the  leading  position  in  General 
Jackson's  cabinet ;  and  they  feared  that  the  General's  announce 
ment  of  such  a  purpose  would  stand  in  the  way  of  his  election 
by  the  House  of  Representatives.  Mr.  Buchanan  fully  shared 
this  anxiety  of  his  Pennsylvania  constituents  and  political 
friends ;  and  with  the  approbation  and  advice  of  a  leading  gen 
tleman  among  this  class  of  General  Jackson's  supporters,  Mr. 
Buchanan  determined  to  ascertain  from  the  General  himself 
whether  there  was  any  foundation  for  the  rumor.*  He  h'rst 

*  The  person  here  alluded  to  was  the  Hon.  Molton  C.  Holers,  Chairman  of  the  State 
Central  Committee  at  Harrisburg,  and  Secretary  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  after 
wards  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State. 


42  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

endeavored  to  obtain  the  information  from  Major  Eaton,  the 
colleague  of  General  Jackson  in  the  Senate,  and  his  most 
intimate  friend.  Major  Eaton  declined  to  make  the  inquiry. 
Mr.  Buchanan  then  determined  to  make  it  himself.  What  fol 
lows  is  from  Mr.  Buchanan's  own  account  of  the  interview, 
which  lies  before  me  in  his  handwriting : 

Calling  at  the  General's  lodgings  in  ';  the  Seven  Buildings,"  Mr.  Buchanan 
accompanied  him,  on  his  own  invitation,  in  a  walk  as  far  as  the  War  Depart 
ment,  where  the  General  had  to  call  on  public  business.  After  a  suitable 
introduction  and  reference  to  the  rumor  afloat,  Mr.  Buchanan  requested  him 
to  state  whether  he  had  ever  declared  that  in  case  he  should  be  elected  Presi 
dent  he  would  appoint  Mr.  Adams  Secretary  of  State.  To  this  he  replied  by 
saying  that  whilst  he  thought  well  of  Mr.  Adams,  he  had  never  said  or  inti 
mated  that  he  would  or  would  not  make  this  appointment.  With  this 
answer,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  entirely  satisfied,  and  so  expressed  himself.  The 
object  of  his  mission  was  thus  accomplished.  The  General's  answer  was 
positive  and  emphatic.  It  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  his  only 
auditor,  who  requested  permission  to  repeat  it,  and  he  gave  it  without 
reserve. 

This,  however,  was  not  the  whole  of  the  conversation ;  and 
in  order  to  explain  how  this  conversation  became  afterwards  dis 
torted  into  the  appearance  of  an  application  by  Mr.  Buchanan 
to  General  Jackson  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Clay,  it  is  necessary  to 
advert  to  something  which  took  place  between  Mr.  Buchanan 
and  Mr.  Philip  S.  Markley,  another  Representative  from  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  before  Mr.  Buchanan  spoke  to  General 
Jackson.  Mr.  Markley  had  been  a  devoted  advocate  of  Mr. 
Clay  for  the  Presidency.  He  urged  Mr.  Buchanan  to  see  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  and  to  persuade  him  either  to^say  that  Mr.  Clay 
should  be  Secretary  of  State,  or  to  remain  absolutely  silent  as 
between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Adams ;  "  for  then,"  as  he  re 
marked,  "  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  would  be  placed  upon  the  same 
footing  with  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  fight  them  with 
their  own  weapons."  If  Mr.  Buchanan  had  made  any  proposi 
tion  to  General  Jackson  respecting  Mr.  Clay,  there  might  have 
been  some  foundation  for  the  subsequent  charge  that  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  approached  the  General  as  an  emissary  of  Mr.  Clay. 
But,  in  point  of  fact,  Mr.  Buchanan  did  nothing  of  the  kind. 
After  the  General  had  given  him  the  assurance  that  he  had 


UNFOUNDED  CHARGES.  43 

never  said  lie  would  or  would  not  appoint  Mr.  Adams  Secretary 
of  State,  and  before  they  parted,  Mr.  Buchanan  mentioned,  as 
an  item  of  current  news,  what  lie  had  heard  Mr.  Marldey  say. 
It  does  not  appear  to  have  produced  upon  General  Jackson,  at 
the  time,  any  impression  that  Mr.  Buchanan  wished  him  to 
hold  out  any  encouragement  to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  that  in 
the  event  of  his  election  he  would -make  Mr.  Clay  Secretary  of 
State.  On  the  contrary,  from  what  General  Jackson  said  in 
answer  to  Mr.  Buchanan's  sole  inquiry,  it  is  apparent  that  Mr. 
Buchanan  obtained  the  only  answer  that  he  sought  to  obtain, 
namely,  that  the  General  had  not  said  that  he  would  or  would 
not  appoint  Mr.  Adams  as  his  Secretary  of  State.  Mr. 
Buchanan  continues  his  account  of  the  interview  as  follows : 

"  When  I  parted  from  the  General,  I  felt  conscious  that  I  had  done  my 
duty,  and  no  more  than  my  duty,  towards  him  and  my  party,  as  one  of  his 
most  ardent  and  consistent  political  friends.  Indeed  the  idea  did  not  enter 
my  imagination  at  the  time  that  the  General  could  have  afterwards  inferred 
from  any  thing  I  said,  that  I  had  approached  him  as  the  emissary  of  Mr. 
Clay,  to  propose  to  elect  him  President,  provided  that  he  (the  General) 
would  agree  to  appoint  him  Secretary  of  State.  It  is  but  justice  to  observe 
that  the  General  stated,  in  his  subsequent  publication,  that  I  did  not  represent 
myself  to  be  the  friend  and  agent  of  Mr.  Clay.  Surely,  if  Mr.  Clay  had 
desired  or  intended  to  have  made  such  a  bargain,  he  would  have  selected  as 
his  agent  an  old  political  and  personal  friend.  Events  passed  on,"  Mr. 
Buchanan  continues;  "then  came  the  letter  of  Mr.  George  Kremer  to  the 
Columbian  Observer,  of  the  25th  of  January,  1825,  charging  the  existence  of 
a  corrupt  bargain  between  Messrs.  Adams  and  Clay;  his  avowal  of  its 
authorship,  the  appeal  of  Mr.  Clay  to  the  House  of  Representatives  against 
the  charges  it  contained,  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  subject,  and,  on 
the  same  day,  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  as  President  of  the  United  States 
by  the  House  of  Representatives;  Mr.  Adams  receiving  the  vote  of  thirteen 
States,  including  that  of  Kentucky,  General  Jackson  of  seven  States,  and 
Mr.  Crawford  of  four  States.  During  all  the  debates  and  proceedings  of  the 
House,  on  Mr.  Clay's  appeal  against  the  charges  of  Mr.  Kremer,  it  was  never 
intimated  to  me,  in  the  most  distant  manner,  by  any  human  being,  that  I  was 
expected  to  be  a  witness  to  sustain  this  charge,  or  had  any  connection  with 
the  subject  more  than  any  other  member  of  the  House. 

"  The  conduct  of  General  Jackson,  after  his  defeat,  was  admirable.  He 
bore  it  with  so  much  dignity  and  magnanimity,  and  perfect  self-control,  as  to 
elicit  strong  commendations,  even  from  his  political  opponents.  At  President 
Monroe's  levee,  on  the  evening  of  the  election,  where  he  and  Mr.  Adams 
were  both  present,  it  was  repeatedly  remarked,  from  the  courtesy  and  kind- 


44  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

ness  of  his  manner  and  conversation,  contrasted  with  the  coldness  and  reserve 
of  Mr.  Adams,  that  a  stranger  might  have  inferred  he  had  been  the 
successful  and  Mr.  Adams  the  defeated  candidate." 

The  election  of  Mr.  Adams  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
was  followed  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress  by  a  corres 
pondence  between  Mr.  Buchanan  and  General  Jackson,  com 
mencing  in  the  spring  of  1825  and  extending  to  August,  1827. 
This  correspondence  shows,  first,  the  terms  on  which  General 
Jackson  and  Mr.  Buchanan  parted  in  Washington  in  the  spring 
of  1825;  and  in  the  next  place  it  fixes  the  time  and  mode  in 
which  the  idea  was  first  presented  to  the  mind  of  General  Jack 
son  that  Mr.  Buchanan  came  to  him  in  December,  1824,  as  a 
friend  of  Mr.  Clay.  The  reader  will  observe  that,  while  the 
election  of  Mr.  Adams  was  a  recent  event,  while  the  country 
was  ringing  with  the  charge  of  a  "  corrupt  coalition  "  between 
Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Clay,  and  down  to  the  29th  of  January, 
1827,  during  the  whole  of  which  period  General  Jackson's 
mind  was  peculiarly  excited  by  what  he  may  have  believed 
concerning  the  means  by  which  his  rival  had  become  Presi 
dent,  there  is  no  trace  in  this  correspondence  of  any  feeling 
on  his  part  that  Mr.  Buchanan  had  ever  been  in  any  way 
connected  with  the  supposed  bargain,  or  with  any  effort 
to  make  a  similar  bargain  between  General  Jackson  and 

O 

Mr.  Clay,  or  that  Mr.  Buchanan  knew  of  any  important  fact 
that  would  tend  to  support  the  charge  of  a  bargain  between 
Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Clay.  It  was  not  until  the  summer  of 
1827,  nearly  three  years  after  the  conversation  between  General 
Jackson  and  Mr.  Buchanan,  that  the  General  appears  to  have 
had  an  erroneous  impression  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  purpose  in 
seeking  that  interview. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN    TO    GENERAL   JACKSON.] 

MAY  29,  1825. 
MY  DEAR  GENERAL  : — 

I  write  this  letter  from  Mercersburg,  being  now  on  a  visit  to  my  mother 
and  the  family.  I  have  no  news  of  any  importance  to  communicate,  but  both 
inclination  and  duty  conspire  to  induce  me  to  trouble  you  occasionally  with  a 
few  lines,  whilst  you  must  be  gratefully  remembered  by  every  American 
citizen  who  feels  an  interest  in  the  character  of  his  country's  glory. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GEN.  JACKSON.       45 

You  have  imposed  additional  obligations  upon  me  by  the  uniform  kindness 
and  courtesy  with  which  you  have  honored  me. 

In  Pennsylvania,  amongst  a  vast  majority  of  the  people,  there  is  but  one 
sentiment  concerning  the  late  Presidential  election.  Although  they  submit 
patiently,  as  is  their  duty,  to  the  legally  constituted  powers,  yet  there  is  a 
fixed  and  determined  resolution  to  change  them  as  soon  as  they  have  the  con 
stitutional  power  to  do  so.  In  my  opinion,  your  popularity  in  Pennsylvania 
is  now  more  firmly  established  than  eve"r.  Many  persons  who  heretofore 
supported  you  did  it  cheerfully  from  a  sense  of  gratitude,  and  because  they 
thought  it  would  be  disgraceful  to  the  people  not  to  elevate  that  candidate  to 
the  Presidential  Chair,  who  had  been  so  great  a  benefactor  of  the  country. 
The  slanders  which  had  been  so  industriously  circulated  against  your  character 
had,  nevertheless,  in  some  degree  affected  their  minds,  although  they  never 
doubted  either  your  ability  or  patriotism,  yet  they  expressed  fears  concerning 
your  temper.  These  have  been  all  dissipated  by  the  mild  prudence  and  dig 
nity  of  your  conduct  last  winter,  before  and  after  the  Presidential  election. 
The  majority  is  so  immense  in  your  favor  that  there  is  little  or  no  newspaper 
discussion  on  the  subject.  I  most  sincerely  and  fervently  trust  and  hope  that 
the  Almighty  will  preserve  your  health  until  the  period  shall  again  arrive 
when  the  sovereign  people  shall  have  the  power  of  electing  a  President. 

There  never  was  a  weaker  attempt  made  than  that  to  conciliate  the  good 
opinion  of  Pennsylvania  in  favor  of  the  administration  by  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  Rush,  although  no  appointment  could  have  produced  the  effect  desired ; 
yet,  if  the  President  had  selected  Mr.  Sergeant,  he  would  have  chosen  a  man 
who  had  been  his  early  and  consistent  friend,  and  one  whose  character  for 
talents  and  integrity  stands  high  with  all  parties  in  this  State.  Mr.  Rush  was 
a  candidate  for  the  office  of  elector  on  the  Crawford  ticket.  I  verily  believe 
his  appointment  will  not  procure  for  the  administration,  out  of  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  twenty  new  friends  throughout  the  State.  In  that  city  their 
additional  strength  is  limited  to  John  Binns  and  a  few  of  his  devoted  followers. 

I  hope  Mrs.  Jackson,  ere  this,  has  been  restored  to  her  accustomed  health. 
When  I  left  her,  I  felt  some  apprehensions  in  relation  to  the  issue  of  her 
disease.  Please  to  present  to  her  my  kindest  and  best  respects,  and  believe 
me  to  be  ever  your  sincere  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

HERMITAGE,  June  25,  1825. 
DEAR  SIR; — 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  kind  letter  of  the 
29th  ult.,  which  has  just  reached  me. 

That  respect  which  I  formed  for  your  character  on  our  first  acquaintance 
increased  with  our  friendly  intercourse,  and  to  you  was  only  extended  what 
I  viewed  a  debt  due  to  your  merit  as  a  gentleman  of  intelligence  and  urban- 


46  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

ity.  It  is,  therefore,  a  source  of  much  gratification  to  me  to  receive  a  letter 
from  you,  detailing  the  friendly  feelings  of  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  toward 
me. 

It  is  gratifying  to  hear,  through  you,  that  the  confidence  and  support 
which  the  majority  of  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  expressed  for  me,  by 
their  vote  on  the  Presidential  question,  will  not  be  withdrawn  by  the  artful 
and  insidious  efforts  of  my  enemies.  This  is  another  evidence  of  the  firmness 
and  indulgence  of  the  freemen  of  Pennsylvania.  This  organized  plan  of 
calumny  and  slander,  levelled  against  me  by  the  unprincipled  and  wicked,  will 
not  owe  its  defeat  to  any  effort  of  mine,  unless  it  be  that  which  always 
attends  truth  and  a  conscious  rectitude  of  conduct,  when  submitted  to  an  un 
trammelled  and  honest  public.  The  continued  good  opinion,  therefore,  of  my 
fellow-citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  lays  me  under  additional  obligations,  whilst  it 
connects  my  name  with  another  guaranty  of  the  wisdom  of  our  government 
— I  mean  in  furnishing  to  posterity  another  example  of  the  weakness  of  . 
demagogues  when  endeavoring  to  advance  to  power  upon  the  destruction  of ' 
innocence. 

It  is  much  to  the  honor  of  the  good  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  that  they 
calmly  submit  to  the  legally  constituted  power;  this  all  good  citizens  will  do, 
who  love  a  government  of  laws,  although  they  show  much  disapprobation  at 
the  means  by  which  that  power  was  obtained,  and  are  determined  to  oppose 
the  men  who  obtained  power  by  what  they  believe  illicit  means.  The  great 
constitutional  corrective  in  the  hands  of  the  people  against  usurpation  of 
power,  or  corruption  by  their  agents,  is  the  right  of  suffrage ;  and  this,  when 
used  with  calmness  and  deliberation,  will  prove  strong  enough.  It  will  per 
petuate  their  liberties  and  rights,  and  will  compel  their  representatives  to  dis 
charge  their  duties  with  an  eye  single  to  the  public  interest,  for  whose  secu 
rity  and  advancement  government  is  constituted. 

I  have  not  yet  been  so  fortunate  as  to  fall  in  with  Mr.  Frazer,  although  I 
have  made  inquiry  for  him.  Should  I  meet  with  him,  be  assured  it  will  be  a 
gratification  to  me  to  extend  to  him  those  attentions  due  to  any  of  your 
friends. 

I  regret  very  much  that  the  bad  health  of  Mrs.  J.  prevented  me  from 
passing  through  your  hospitable  town.  I  assure  you^ould  we  have  done  so,' 
it  would  have  afforded  Mrs.  J.  and  myself  much  pleasure.  Mrs.  J.'s  health 
is  perfectly  restored.  So  soon  as  I  got  her  to  breathe  the  mountain  air  of 
Pennsylvania,  she  mended  by  the  hour. 

We  are  also  blessed,  in  this  section  of  the  country,  with  the  promise  of 
fine  crops.  Our  cotton  promises  a  good  crop.  This  is  six  days  earlier  than 
ever  known  in  this  section  of  country. 

Mrs.  J".  joins  me  in  kind  salutations  to  you,  with  our  best  wishes  for  your 
happiness.  Your  friend, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    GEN.  JACKSON.  47 

[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

HERMITAGE,  April  8,  1826. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  received,  by  due  course  of  mail,  your  friendly  letter  of  the  8th  ult,  trans 
mitting  a  resolution  passed  by  the  Convention  at  Harrisburg,  in  which  it  is 
declared  "  that  their  confidence  in  me  is  unimpaired."  This  resolution  adds 
another  to  the  many  obligations  which  I  owe  to  the  Republicans  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  which  shall  be  cherished  as  long  as  the  feelings  of  gratitude  and 
the  sentiments  of  patriotism  have  a  place  in  my  heart.  What  greater  con 
solation  could  be  offered  to  my  declining  years  than  the  reflection  that  my 
public  conduct,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  through  which  it  has  led  me, 
can  still  be  honored  with  testimonials  so  distinguished  as  this  from  the 
enlightened  and  patriotic  Pennsylvanians ;  I  desire  no  greater. 

I  have  noted  your  remarks  relative  to  Mr.  Molton  C.  Rogers — every  in 
formation  I  have  received  concerning  him  corroborates  your  account  of  him, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  he  fully  merits  the  high  character  he  sustains. 

We  have  received  the  result  of  the  Panama  question  in  the  Senate.  From 
the  whole  view  of  the  subject  I  have  been  compelled  to  believe  that  it  is  a 
hasty,  unadvised  measure,  calculated  to  involve  us  in  difficulties,  perhaps  war, 
without  receiving  in  return  any  real  benefit.  The  maxim  that  it  is  easier  to 
avoid  difficulties  than  to  remove  them  when  they  have  reached  us,  is  too  old 
not  to  be  true ;  but  perhaps  this  and  many  other  good  sayings,  are  becoming 
inapplicable  in  the  present  stage  of  our  public  measures,  which  seem  to  be  so 
far  removed  from  our  (illegible}  that  even  the  language  of  Washington  must 
be  transposed  in  order  to  be  reconciled  to  the  councils  of  wisdom.  I  hope  I 
may  be  wrong — it  is  my  sincere  wish  that  this  Panama  movement  may  ad 
vance  the  happiness  and  glory  of  the  country — but  if  it  be  not  a  commitment 
of  our  neutrality  with  Spain,  and  indirectly  with  other  powers,  as,  for 
example,  Brazil,  I  have  misconstrued  very  much  the  signification  of  the  an 
athemas  which  have  been  pronounced  upon  the  Assembly  at  Verona,  as  well 
as  the  true  sense  of  the  principles  which  form  international  law.  Let  the 
primary  interests  of  Europe  be  what  they  may,  or  let  our  situation  vary  as 
far  as  you  please  from  that  which  we  occupied  when  the  immortal  Wash 
ington  retired  from  the  councils  of  his  country,  I  cannot  see,  for  my  part, 
how  it  follows  that  the  primary  interests  of  the  United  States  will  be 
safer  in  the  hands  of  others  than  in  her  own ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  it 
can  ever  become  necessary  to  form  treaties,  alliances,  or  any  connections 
with  the  governments  of  South  America,  which  may  infringe  upon  the 
principles  of  equality  among  nations  which  is  the  basis  of  their  independ 
ence,  as  well  as  all  their  international  rights.  The  doctrine  of  Washington 
is  as  applicable  to  the  present,  as  to  the  then  primary  interests  of  Europe, 
so  far  as  our  own  peace  and  happiness  are  concerned,  and  I  have  no  hesi 
tation  in  saying,  so  far  as  the  true  interests  of  South  America  are  concerned 
— maugre  the  discovery  of  Mr.  Adams,  that  if  Washington  was  now  with  us, 


48  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

he  would  unite  with  him  in  sending  this  mission  to  Panama.  No  one  feels 
more  for  the  cause  of  the  South  Americans  than  I  do,  and  if  the  proper  time 
had  arrived,  I  trust  that  none  would  more  willingly  march  to  their  defence. 
Bat  there  is  a  wide  difference  between  relieving  them  from  a  combination 
of  league  powers,  and  aiding  them  in  forming  a  confederation  which  can  do 
no  good,  as  far  as  I  am  apprised  of  its  objects,  and  which  we  all  know,  let 
its  objects  be  the  best,  will  contain  evil  tendencies. 

Believe  me  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

HERMITAGE,  Oct.  15,  1826. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : — 

I  was  very  much  gratified  on  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  21st  ult., 
which  reached  me  yesterday,  and  thank  you  for  the  information  it  contains. 
I  want  language  to  express  the  gratitude  I  feel  for  the  unsolicited,  but  gen 
erous  support  of  the  great  Republican  State  of  Pennsylvania— did  I  lack  a 
stimulus  to  exert  all  my  faculties  to  promote  the  best  interests  of  my 
country,  this  alone  would  be  sufficient.  Who  could  abandon  the  path  of 
Republican  virtue  when  thus  supported  by  the  voluntary  approbation  of  the 
enlightened  and  virtuous  citizens  of  such  a  State  as  Pennsylvania?  I 
answer,  none  whose  minds  have  been  matured  in  the  schools  of  virtue,  re 
ligion  and  morality. 

I  am  happy  to  learn  that  Mr.  Cheves  has  become  your  neighbor  and 
a  citizen — he  is  a  great  blessing  to  any  society — he  has  a  well-stored  mind 
of  useful  information,  which  he  will  employ  to  the  benefit  of  his  country  and 
the  happiness  of  the  society  to  which  he  belongs.  Please  present  me  to 
him  respectfully. 

I  regret  to  learn  that  the  drought  has  visited  your  section  of  country,  and 
your  crops  are  not  abundant ;  still,  so  long  as  we  have  a  supply  of  breadstuff's 
and  other  substantiate,  we  ought  to  be  thankful  and  happy.  When  we  con 
trast  our  situation  with  Ireland  and  England,  we  ought  to  view  ourselves  as 
the  chosen  people  of  God,  who  has  given  us  such  la  happy  government  of 
laws  and  placed  us  in  such  a  climate  and  fertile  soil.  We  ought  not  only  to 
be  thankful,  but  we  ought  to  cherish  and  foster  this  heavenly  boon  with 
vestal  vigilance. 

Mrs.  J.  joins  me  in  kind  salutations  and  respects  to  you. 
I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 


CORRESPONDENCE   WITH    GEN.  JACKSON.  49 

[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

HERMITAGE,  Jan.  29,  1827. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

Your  favor  of  the  19th  has  been  before  me  for  some  time,  but  observing 
in  the  papers  the  obituary  notice  of  your  brother,  whose  illness  took  you  from 
the  city,  I  have  delayed  acknowledging  its  receipt  until  advised  of  your  re 
turn.  I  pray  you  to  accept  my  sincere  condolence  for  the  serious  loss  you 
have  sustained  in  the  death  of  your  brother. 

I  suspect  the  Administration  begins  to  perceive  the  necessity  of  public 
confidence,  without  which  it  is  an  arduous  undertaking  to  execute  the  solemn 
duties  confided  by  the  Constitution  to  the  Chief  Magistrate.  The  Panama 
"  bubble  "  and  the  loss  of  the  trade  with  the  British  West  Indies  are  the  result 
of  this  defect  in  the  Cabinet,  for  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  such  reputed 
diplomatists  would  have  committed  errors  so  obvious,  had  not  some  influence 
stronger  than  the  public  good  operated  upon  their  minds.  My  hope,  how 
ever,  is  that  the  wisdom  of  Congress  may  remedy  these  blunders,  and  that 
my  friends  the  "  factious  opposition "  may,  in  your  own  language,  never 
forget  the  support  due  to  the  country. 

I  had  predicted,  from  the  movements  of  (illegible)  and  Rochester,  that 
the  Panama  subject  was  done  with,  and  that  the  charge  of  "factious 

opposition"  would  be  hushed,  but  it  appears  I  was  mistaken. is  to 

be  the  theatre  on  which  these  mighty  projects  are  to  be  unfolded.    Alas ! 
what  folly  and  weakness  ! 

Present  me  to  my  friend  Mr.  Kremer,  and  believe  me, 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

In  the  spring  of  1827,  Mr.  Carter  Beverley,  of  Virginia,  was 
on  a  visit  to  General  Jackson  at  the  "  Hermitage."  The  con 
versation  turned  on  the  incidents  which  preceded  the  election 
of  Mr.  Adams,  and  General  Jackson  gave  some  account  of  his 
interview  with  Mr.  Buchanan  in  December,  1821,  speaking  of 
Mr.  Buchanan,  however,  not  by  name,  but  as  u  a  leading  mem 
ber  of  Congress."  Mr.  Beverley  wrote  an  account  of  this  con 
versation  to  a  friend  in  North  Carolina,  who  published  his 
letter.  Mr.  Beverley  afterward  wrote  to  General  Jackson, 
saying  that  his  letter  was  not  intended  for  publication,  but 
asking  if  its  statements  were  correct.  General  Jackson,  without 
seeing  Mr.  Beverley's  published  letter,  then  wrote  an  answer  to 
Mr.  Beverley,  which  was  published,  and  in  which  he  stated 
that  "  a  leading  member  of  Congress "  had,  as  the  agent  or 

I.— 4 


50  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BU  CHAN  AX. 

confidential  friend  of  Mr.  Clay,  proposed  to  him  to  engage  to 
make  Mr.  Clay  Secretary  of  State,  and  that  he  emphatically 
declined  to  do  so.  Subsequently,  in  another  publication,  Gen 
eral  Jackson  gave  the  name  of  Mr.  Buchanan  as  the  member 
who  had  thus  approached  him.  The  public  was  thus  (in  1827) 
electrified  by  a  statement,  coming  from  General  Jackson  him 
self,  that  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  been  charged  with  purchasing  his 
appointment  by  Mr.  Adams  as  Secretary  of  State,  by  his 
promise  to  make  Mr.  Adams  President,  had  attempted,  through 
Mr.  Buchanan,  to  negotiate  the  same  kind  of  corrupt  bargain 
with  General  Jackson,  on  the  like  promise  to  make  General 
Jackson  President.  It  is  very  easy  to  see  how  this  mistake 
first  arose  in  the  General's  mind.  Recollecting  the  information 
which  Mr.  Buchanan  had  given  him  of  the  over-zealous  and 
imprudent  conversation  of  Mr.  Markley,  who  was  a  known 
partisan  of  Mr.  Clay,  —  information  which  Mr.  Buchanan 
assigned  as  a  reason  why  the  General  should  disavow  the 
rumor  that  he  had  promised  to  appoint  Mr.  Adams  Secretary, 
— General  Jackson  had  evidently  come  to  misunderstand  the 
object  of  Mr.  Buchanan  in  mentioning  what  Mr.  Markley  had 
said.  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  (1827)  there 
was  an  angry  and  excited  controversy  going  on,  respecting  the 
supposed  bargain  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Adams;  that 
Mr.  Clay  was  publishing,  and  that  General  Jackson  was  pub 
lishing  ;  that  General  Jackson  undoubtedly  believed  that 
there  had  been  an  improper  understanding  between  Mr. 
Adams  and  Mr.  Clay,  and  it  was  very  natural  for  him  to 
take  up  the  idea  that  Mr.  Buchanan,  by  mentioning  what 
Mr.  Markley  had  said,  stood  ready,  as  a  friend  of  Mr.  Clay, 
to  propose  and  carry  out  a  similar  bargain  with  himself. 
Apart  from  Mr.  Buchanan's  denial,  there  seems  to  be  an  intrin. 
sic  improbability  that  one  who  had  been  an  earnest  supporter 
of  General  Jackson  in  the  popular  election,  and  who  feared  that 
even  a  rumor  of  his  intended  appointment  of  Mr.  Adams 
would  injure  the  General  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
who  knew  that  it  would  greatly  injure  him  in  Pennsylvania,  if 
it  were  not  contradicted,  should  have  exerted  himself  to  get 
from  the  General  a  promise  to  make  Mr.  Clay  Secretary  of 
State.  Promises,  or  rumors  of  promises,  in  regard  to  this 


GENERAL    JACKSON'S    ERRONEOUS    IMPRESSION.          51 

appointment,  were  the  very  things  which  Mr  Buchanan  was 
interested  to  prevent.  It  was  very  unfortunate  that  General 
Jackson  did  not  afterwards  and  always  see,  that  the  mention  by 
Mr.  Buchanan  of  Mr.  Markley's  wishes,  was  intended  to  present 
to  his  (the  General's)  mind  the  importance  of  his  denial  of  the 
rumor  that  he  had  said  he  would  appoint  Mr.  Adams.  In  all 
that  scene  of  intrigue — and  apart  •from  any  thing  said  or  done 
by  the  principal  persons  concerned  in  that  great  struggle,  there 
was  intrigue — General  Jackson  acted  with  the  rigid  integrity 
that  belonged  to  his  character.  Mr.  Buchanan  acted  with  no 
less  integrity.  He  wished  to  prevent  General  Jackson's  cause 
from  being  injured  in  the  House  and  in  the  country,  by  un 
founded  rumors  with  which  the  heated  atmosphere  of  Washing 
ton  was  filled  ;  and  he  could  have  had  no  motive  for  seeking  to 
make  Mr.  Clay  Secretary  of  State,  at  the  expense  of  exposing 
General  Jackson  to  the  same  kind  of  rumor  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Clay  which  he  was  anxious  to  counteract  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Adams. 

After  the  publication  of  General  Jackson's  letter  to  Mr. 
Beverley,  Mr.  Buchanan  wrote  to  a  friend  as  follows : 

[MR.    BUCHANAN    TO    MR.    INGHAM.] 

LANCASTER,  July  12, 1827. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  received  yours  yesterday  evening,  and  hasten  to  give  it  an  immediate 
answer.  With  you,  I  regret  the  publication  of  General  Jackson's  letter  to 
Mr.  Beverley.  It  may  do  harm,  but  cannot  do  good.  The  conversation  which 
I  held  with  the  General  will  not  sustain  his  letter,  although  it  may  furnish  a 
sufficient  reason  for  his  apprehensions.  My  single  purpose  was  to  ascertain 
from  him  whether  he  had  ever  declared  he  would  appoint  Mr.  Adams  Secre 
tary  of  State  in  case  he  were  elected  President.  As  to  the  propriety  and 
policy  of  propounding  this  question  to  him,  I  had  reflected  much,  and  had 
taken  the  advice  of  a  distinguished  Jackson  man,  then  high  in  office  in  Penn 
sylvania.  I  had  no  doubt  at  the  time  that  my  question,  if  answered  at  all, 
would  be  answered  in  the  negative ;  but  I  wished  it  to  come  from  himself 
that  he  stood  uncommitted  upon  this  subject. 

In  my  interview  with  the  General  (which,  by  the  way,  was  in  the  street), 
I  stated  the  particulars  of  a  conversation  between  Philip  S.  Markley  and  my 
self,  as  one  reason  why  he  should  answer  the  question  which  I  had  pro 
pounded.  Out  of  my  repetition  of  this  conversation  the  mistake  must  have 
arisen.  This  conversation  would  be  one  link  in  the  chain  of  testimony,  but 
of  itself  it  is  altogether  incomplete. 


52  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

How  General  Jackson  could  have  believed  I  came  to  him  as  an  emissary 
from  Mr.  Clay  or  his  friends  to  make  a  corrupt  bargain  with  him  in  their 
behalf,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  determine.  He  could  not  have  received  the  impres 
sion  until  after  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  had  actually  elected  Mr.  Adams,  and 
Adams  had  appointed  Clay  Secretary  of  State.  Although  I  continued  to  be 
upon  terms  of  the  strictest  intimacy  with  General  Jackson  whilst  he  con 
tinued  at  Washington,  and  have  corresponded  with  him  occasionally  since,  he 
has  never  adverted  to  the  subject.  From  the  terms  of  his  letters  to  me,  I 
never  could  have  suspected  that  he  for  a  moment  supposed  me  capable  of 
becoming  the  agent  in  such  a  negotiation.  The  idea  that  such  was  his 
impression  never  once  flitted  across  my  mind. 

When  regularly  called  upon,  I  need  not  tell  you  that  I  shall  speak  the 
truth.  If  the  matter  be  properly  managed,  it  will  not  injure  General  Jack 
son  ;  but  I  can  readily  conceive  that  such  a  course  may  be  taken  in  rela 
tion  to  it  by  some  of  our  friends,  as  will  materially  injure  his  prospects. 

From  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


At  about  this  time,  Mr.  Clay  publicly  disclaimed  all  knowl 
edge  respecting  the  interview  between  Mr.  Buchanan  and  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  and  the  latter  then  wrote  to  Mr.  Buchanan  the 
following  explanatory  letter : 

[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

HERMITAGE,  July  15,  1827. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

You  will  see  from  the  enclosed  publication  of  Mr.  Clay  repelling  the  state 
ment  made  by  me  respecting  the  propositions  said  to  have  been  made  by  his 
friends  to  mine  and  to  me,  and  intended  to  operate  upon  the  last  election  for 
President,  that  it  becomes  necessary  for  the  public  to  be  put  in  possession  of 
the  facts.  In  doing  this  you  are  aware  of  the  position  which  you  occupy, 
and  which,  I  trust,  you  will  sustain  when  properly  ^called  on.  Ever  since 
the  publication,  and  the  inquiry  before  the  House  of  Representatives  in  Jan 
uary  and  February,  1825,  questions  have  been  propounded  from  various 
sources  calculated  to  draw  from  me  the  information  I  had  upon  that  unpleasant 
subject.  Many,  no  doubt  with  sinister  views,  placing  me  in  selfish  connec 
tion  with  the  facts  from  my  accustomed  silence,  have  sought  to  fortify  the 
character  of  Mr.  Clay.  But  in  a  number  of  cases,  where  inquiry  seemed  to 
be  prompted  by  a  frank  and  generous  desire  to  obtain  the  truth,  I  felt  myself 
bound  to  answer  in  a  corresponding  spirit,  and  accordingly  the  statement 
made  by  you  to  me  has  been  on  several  occasions  repeated,  as  it  was  to  Mr. 
Beverley,  who  visited  me  at  my  house,  where  he  found  a  number  of  his  friends 
and  relatives. 


MR.  CLAF  SUSTAINS  MR.   BUCHAN 

Having  remained  all  night,  in  the  morning,  conversing  61 
question  so  often  put  to  me  before  was  asked  by  Mr.  Beverley.  It  was 
answered.  Mr.  Beverley  went  to  Nashville  and  wrote  to  his  friend  in  North 
Carolina,  who  it  appears  published  his  letter.  On  the  15th  of  May  last,  he 
wrote  me  from  Louisville,  requesting  to  be  informed  whether  the  statement 
made  by  him  was  correct,  and  observing  that  his  letter  was  not  intended  for 
publication.  Not  having  seen  the  letter,  as  published,  there  was  no  safe 
alternative  for  me  but  that  adopted,  of  making  the  statement,  as  you  will  see 
in  the  enclosed  paper. 

I  shall  now,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Clay's  appeal,  give  my  authority,  accompanied 
by  the  statement  you  made  to  Major  John  H.  Eaton  and  to  Mr.  Kremer,  and 
leave  Mr.  Clay  to  his  further  inquiries.  He  can  not  be  indulged  by  me  in  a 
paper  war,  or  newspaper  discussion.  Had  his  friends  not  voted  out  Mr. 
McDuffie's  resolutions  when  Mr.  Clay  threw  himself  upon  the  House,  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  these  statements  would  have  been  made  manifest,  and 
the  public  mind  now  at  rest  upon  the  subject.  That  they  did,  will  appear, 
reference  being  had  to  the  National  Journal  of  the  5th  of  February,  1825. 
You  will  recollect  that  Mr.  McDuffie  moved  to  instruct  the  Committee  to 
inquire  whether  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  had  hinted  that  they  would  fight  for 
those  who  paid  best,  and  whether  overtures  were  said  to  have  been  made  by 
the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  offering  him  the  appointment  of  Secretary  of  State 
for  his  influence,  and  to  elect  Mr.  Adams,  and  whether  his  friends  gave  this 
information  to  the  friends  of  General  Jackson  and  hinted  that  if  the  friends  of 
Jackson  would  close  with  them,  &c.,  &c.,  giving  the  Committee  the  power 
to  examine  on  oath. 

I  have  no  doubt,  when  properly  called  on,  you  will  come  forth  and  offer  me 
the  statement  made  to  Major  Eaton,  then  to  Mr.  Kremer,  and  then  to  me, 
and  give  the  names  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  who  made  it  to  you. 

I  will  thank  you  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  this  letter  on  its  reaching 
you. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

Early  in  August,  1827,  Mr.  Buchanan  published  a  card  in 
the  Lancaster  Journal,  embodying  the  recollections  which  I 
have  given,  but  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  reproduce ;  and 
after  a  brief  but  inconclusive  reply  from  Mr.  Markley,  the 
matter  passed  out  of  the  public  mind.  Later  in  the  same  year 
(1827)  Mr.  Clay  published  an  elaborate  vindication  of  his  con 
duct,  in  the  course  of  which  he  thus  refers  to  Mr.  Buchanan  : 

"  In  G-eneral  Jackson's  letter  to  Mr.  Beverley,  of  the  6th  of  June  last,  he 
admits  that  in  inferring  my  privity  to  the  proposition  which  he  describes  as 


54  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

borne  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  he  may  have  done  me  injustice ;  and,  in  his  address 
to  the  public  of  the  18th  of  July  last,  giving  up  the  name  of  this  gentleman 
as  his  only  witness,  he  repeats  that  he  possibly  may  have  done  me  injustice, 
in  assuming  my  authority  for  that  proposition.  He  even  deigns  to  honor  me 
with  a  declaration  of  the  pleasure  which  he  will  experience  if  I  should  be 
able  to  acquit  myself!  Mr.  Buchanan  has  been  heard  by  the  public;  and  I 
feel  justified  in  asserting  that  the  first  impression  of  the  whole  nation  was, 
as  it  is  yet  that  of  every  intelligent  mind  unbiased  by  party  prejudice,  that 
his  testimony  fully  exonerated  me,  and  demonstrated  that  General  Jackson, 
to  say  no  more,  had  greatly  misconceived  the  purport  of  the  interview  be 
tween  them.  And  further :  that  so  far  as  any  thing  improper  was  disclosed 
by  Mr.  Buchanan  touching  the  late  Presidential  election,  it  affected  General 
Jackson  and  his  friends  exclusively.  He  having  manifestly  injured  me, 
speculation  was  busy,  when  Mr.  Buchanan's  statement  appeared,  as  to  the 
course  which  the  General  would  pursue,  after  his  gratuitous  expression  of 
sympathy  with  me.  There  were  not  wanting  many  persons  who  believed 
that  his  magnanimity  would  prompt  him  publicly  to  retract  his  charge,  and  to 
repair  the  wrong  which  he  had  done  me.  I  did  not  participate  in  that  just 
expectation,  and  therefore  felt  no  disappointment  that  it  was  not  realized. 
Whatever  other  merits  he  may  possess,  I  have  not  found  among  them,  in  the 
course  of  my  relations  with  him,  that  of  forbearing  to  indulge  vindictive 
passions.  His  silent  contemplation  of,  if  not  his  positive  acquiescence  in,  the 
most  extraordinary  interpretation  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  statement  that  ever  was 
given  to  human  language,  has  not  surprised  me.  If  it  had  been  possible  for 
him  to  render  me  an  act  of  spontaneous  justice  by  a  frank  and  manly  avowal 
of  his  error,  the  testimony  now  submitted  to  the  public  might  have  been  un 
necessary. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN    TO    MR.  INGHAM.] 

LANCASTER,  August  9,  1827. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

Ere  this  can  reach  you,  you  will  have  seen  General  Jackson's  letter  to  the 
public,  in  which  he  has  given  up  my  name.  It  will  at  once  strike  you  to  be  a 
most  extraordinary  production  as  far  as  I  am  concerned.  My  statement  will 
appear  in  the  Lancaster  Journal  to-morrow,  which  I  shall  send  you.  I  have 
not  suffered  my  feelings  to  get  the  better  of  my  judgment,  but  have  stated  the 
truth  in  a  calm  and  temperate  manner.  If  General  Jackson  and  our  editors 
shall  act  with  discretion,  the  storm  may  blow  over  without  injuring  [any  one]. 
Should  they,  on  the  contrary,  force  me  to  the  wall  and  make  it  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  preservation  of  my  own  character  to  defend  myself,  I  know 
not  what  may  be  the  consequence. 

I  have  stated  the  conversation  between  Markley  and  myself  in  as  strong 
terms  as  the  truth  would  justify,  but  no  stronger.  It  is  in  your  power  to  do 
much  to  give  this  matter  a  proper  direction.  Indeed  I  would  suggest  to  you 


GENERAL    JACKSON'S    ERRONEOUS    IMPRESSION.  55 

the  propriety  of  an  immediate  visit  to  Philadelphia  for  that  purpose.     My 
friends  are  very  indignant,  but  I  believe  I  can  keep  them  right. 

You  will  perceive  that  General  Jackson  has  cited  Mr.  Eaton  as  a  witness. 
I  have  treated  this  part  of  his  letter  with  great  mildness.  In  a  letter  to  me, 
which  I  received  day  before  yesterday,  the  General  intimates  that  George 
Kremer  would  confirm  his  statement.  This  letter  is  imprudent,  and,  in  my 
opinion,  an  improper  one.  It  is  well  it  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  political 
friend. 

You  will  discover  that  your  knowledge  concerning  my  conversation  with 
General  Jackson  was  nearly  correct.  The  friend  who  wrote  me  the  letter  of 
the  27th  December,  1824,  referred  to  in  my  communication,  was  Judge 
Rogers,  then  Secretary  of  State  [of  Pennsylvania]. 

From  your  sincere  friend, 
MR.  INGHAM.  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[MR.    BUCHANAN   TO    GENERAL   JACKSON.] 

LANCASTER,  August  10, 1827. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  received  your  letter  of  the  15th  ultimo  on  Tuesday  last.  Your  address 
to  the  public  also  reached  me  upon  the  same  day,  in  the  Cincinnati  Advertiser. 
This  communication  made  it  necessary  for  me  to  publish  in  detail  the  conversa 
tion  which  I  held  with  you  concerning  the  Presidential  election  on  the  30th 
December,  1824.  I  shall  enclose  to  you  in  this  letter  that  part  of  the  Lancas 
ter  Journal  containing  it.  I  regret,  beyond  expression,  that  you  believed  me 
to  be  an  emissary  from  Mr.  Clay,  since  some  time  before  the  first  Harrisburg 
convention  which  nominated  you,  I  have  ever  been  your  ardent,  decided, 
and,  perhaps  without  vanity  I  may  say,  your  efficient  friend.  Every  person 
in  this  part  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  is  well  acquainted  with  the  fact.  It 
is,  therefore,  to  me  a  matter  of  the  deepest  regret  that  you  should  have  sup 
posed  me  to  be  the  "  friend  of  Mr.  Clay."  Had  I  ever  entertained  a  suspicion 
that  such  was  your  belief,  I  should  have  immediately  corrected  your  impres 
sion. 

I  shall  annex  to  this  letter  a  copy  of  that  which  I  wrote  to  Duff  Green, 
on  the  16th  of  October  last.  The  person  whom  I  consulted  in  Pennsylvania 
was  the  present  Judge  Rogers  of  the  Supreme  Court — then  the  Secretary 
of  State  of  this  Commonwealth. 

The  friends  of  the  Administration  are  making  great  efforts  in  Pennsylvania. 
We  have  been  busily  engaged  during  the  summer  in  counteracting  them. 
Success  has,  I  think,  hitherto  attended  our  efforts.  I  do  not  fear  the  vote  of 
the  State,  although  it  is  believed  every  member  of  the  State  administration, 
except  General  Bernard,  is  hostile  to  your  election.  Your  security  will  be 
in  the  gratitude  and  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

Please  to  present  my  best  respects  to  Mrs.  Jackson,  and  believe  me  to  be, 

very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


56  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

This  subject  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  connection  with  the  Presi 
dential  election  of  1824-5,  and  its  incidents,  passed  out  of  the 
public  mind,  after  the  publication  of  the  letters  which  I  have 
quoted.  But  it  was  again  revived  wrhen  Mr.  Buchanan  became 
a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  185G.  All  that  it  is  needful 
to  say  here  is,  that  for  nearly  three  years  after  the  election  of 
1824-5,  no  impression  seems  to  have  existed  in  the  mind  of 
General  Jackson  that  Mr.  Buchanan's  interview  with  him  in 
December,  1824,  had  any  purpose  but  that  which  Mr.  Buchanan 
has  described ;  but  that  in  1827,  General  Jackson,  in  the  heat 
of  the  renewed  controversies  about  the  supposed  bargain  be 
tween  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Clay,  took  up  the  erroneous  idea 
that  Mr.  Buchanan  could,  if  he  were  to  declare  the  truth,  make 
it  apparent  that  Mr.  Clay  or  his  friends  had  attempted  to  effect 
the  same  kind  of  bargain  with  General  Jackson,  which  attempt 
was  indignantly  repelled.  A  candid  examination  of  the  facts 
is  all  that  is  needful  to  convince  any  one  that  the  General  was 
in  error  in  1827,  and  that  he  was  equally  in  error  at  a  much 
later  period.  "When  he  became  President,  and  for  a  long  time 
thereafter,  his  confidence  in  Mr.  Buchanan  was  manifested  in 
so  many  ways  that  one  is  led  to  believe  that  his  view  in  1827 
of  Mr.  Buchanan's  conduct  in  the  matter  of  the  Presidential 
election  of  1824-5  was  an  exceptional  idiosyncrasy,  resulting 
from  the  excitement  which  his  mind  always  felt  in  regard  to 
that  event,  and  which  was  strongly  renewed  in  him  in  1827. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  advert  to  this  subject  again,  because, 
when  Mr.  Buchanan  was  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in 
1856,  the  whole  story  was  revived  by  persons  who  were  un 
friendly  to  him,  and  who  then  made  use  9f  a  private  letter 
which  was  extracted  from  General  Jackson  in  1845,  in  a  some 
what  artful  manner,  when  he  was  laboring  under  a  mortal  ill 
ness.  But  an  account  of  this  political  intrigue  belongs  to  the 
period  when  it  was  set  on  foot. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

1825—1826. 

BITTER  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JOHN  QUINCT  ADAMS  — 
BILL  FOR  THE  RELIEF  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  OFFICERS — THE 
PANAMA  MISSION — INCIDENTAL  REFERENCE  TO  SLAVERY. 

npHE  circumstances  attending  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  led 
-L  to  the  formation  of  a  most  powerful  opposition  to  his 
administration,  as  soon  as  he  was  inaugurated.  The  friends  of 
General  Jackson,  a  numerous  and  compact  body  of  public  men, 
representing  a  much  larger  number  of  the  people  of  the  Union 
than  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  could  be  said  to  represent,  felt 
that  he  had  been  unfairly  deprived  of  the  votes  of  States  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  which  should  have  been  given  to 
him.  Especially  was  this  the  case,  they  said,  in  regard  to  the 
State  of  Kentucky,  whose  Legislature  had  plainly  indicated  the 
wish  of  a  majority  of  her  people  that  her  vote  in  the  House 
should  be  given  to  General  Jackson;  and  when  it  was 
announced  that  Mr.  Adams,  who  had  received  the  unanimous 
electoral  vote  of  only  six  States,  had  obtained  the  votes  of 
thirteen  States  in  the  House,  while  General  Jackson  had 
obtained  but  seven,  and  when  Mr.  Clay  .had  been  appointed  by 
Mr.  Adams  Secretary  of  State,  there  was  a  bitterness  of  feel 
ing  among  the  supporters  of  General  Jackson,  which  evinced 
at  once  a  fixed  determination  to  elect  him  President  at  the  end 
of  the  ensuing  four  years. 

In  regard  to  the  state  of  parties,  viewed  apart  from  the 
merely  personal  element  of  leadership  and  following,  there 
was  not  much,  in  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Adams's  administration, 
to  distinguish  its  supporters  from  its  opponents.  In  the  course, 
however,  of  that  administration,  those  who  defended  it  from 
the  fierce  assaults  of  the  opposition,  began  to  take  the  name  of 
National  Republicans,  while  the  opponents  of  the  administra 
tion  began  to  call  themselves  Democrats.  Included  in  the 


58  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

opposition  were  the  political  friends  and  followers  of  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  and  the  political  friends  and  followers  of  General  Jack 
son  ;  the  latter  being  distinctly  known  and  classified  as  "  Jack 
son  men."  In  the  Senate  there  wTas  a  number  of  older  men, 
who  were  not  likely  to  form  an  active  element  of  parliamentary 
opposition  or  defence;  such  as  Mr.  Silsbee  of  Massachusetts, 
Mr.  Dickerson  of  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Samuel  Smith  of  Maryland, 
Mr.  William  Smith  of  South  Carolina,  Mr.  Macon  of  Georgia, 
Mr.  Rowan  of  Kentucky,  and  Mr.  Hugh  L.  White  of  Tennes 
see.  The  opposition  in  the  Senate  was  led  by  a  younger  class 
of  men :  Mr.  Van  Buren  of  New  York,  Mr.  Woodbury  of  New 
Hampshire,  Mr.  Tazewell  of  Virginia,  Mr.  Hayne  of  South 
Carolina,  Mr.  Berrien  of  Georgia,  and  Mr.  Benton  of  Missouri.* 
But  it  was  not  in  the  Senate  that  the  great  arena  of  debate 
between  the  assailants  and  the  defenders  of  this  administration 
was  to  be  found  during  the  first  year  or  two  of  its  term.  In 
the  House,  at  the  opening  of  the  19th  Congress,  which  began 
its  session  in  December,  1825,  there  was  an  array  of  combatants 
— ardent,  active  and  able  debaters.  Of  these,  composing  the 
leaders  of  the  opposition,  were  Mr.  Buchanan,  Samuel  D.  Ing- 
ham,  William  C.  Rives,  James  K.  Polk,  John  Forsyth,  George 
McDuffie,  Edward  Livingston,  William  Drayton,  William  S. 
Archer,  Andrew  Stevenson,  Mangum,  Cambreleng,  and  Louis 
McLane.  The  eccentric  John  Randolph  was  also  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  opposition.  The  leading  friends  of  the  admin 
istration  were  Webster,  Sprague,  Bartlett,  John  Davis,  Edward 
Everett,  Burgess,  Taylor,  Letcher,  Wright,  Vinton,  and  Henry 
L.  Storrs. 

Before  the  opposition  had  marshalled  tfieir  forces  for  an 
attack  upon  the  administration,  a  debate  occurred  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  upon  a  subject  that  did  not  involve  party 
divisions.  A  bill  was  introduced  by  a  Pennsylvania  member 
for  the  relief  of  the  surviving  officers  of  the  Revolution.  It 
proposed  an  appropriation  of  only  one  million  of  dollars,  and  it 
was  confined  strictly  to  the  cases  of  the  Revolutionary  officers 
to  whom  half-pay  for  life  had  been  granted  by  Congress  in 

*  At  a  little  later  period,  Mr.  Webster  was  transferred  from  the  House  to  the  Senate, 
and  became  there  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  conspicuous  of  the  friends  of  the  adminis 
tration. 


BILL   FOR  RELIEF  OF  REVOLUTIONARY   OFFICERS.        59 

1780,  who  had  afterwards  accepted  a  commutation  of  five  years' 
full  pay,  in  lieu  of  half-pay  for  life,  and  who  were  paid  in  cer 
tificates  that  were  never  worth  more  than  one-fifth  of  their 
nominal  value,  and  w^hich  were  soon  depreciated  to  about  one- 
eighth.  The  passage  of  this  measure  depended  upon  the  pru 
dence  and  skill  of  those  who  favored  it.  The  mover,  Mr. 
Hemphill  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Dayton,  had  advocated  the 
bill  in  speeches  of  much  discretion,  and  there  was  a  good  pros 
pect  of  its  adoption.  In  this  state  of  things,  an  untoward 
amendment  was  offered  by  a  member  from  Massachusetts, 
which  proposed  to  increase  the  appropriation.  This  had  a 
manifest  tendency  to  defeat  the  bill ;  and  at  this  crisis  Mr. 
Buchanan  came  forward  to  restate  the  case  of  the  officers,  and 
to  replace  the  measure  on  its  true  footing.  He  said : 

"It  is  with  extreme  reluctance  I  rise  at  this  time  to  address  you.  I  have 
made  no  preparation  to  speak,  except  that  of  carefully  reading  the  documents 
which  have  been  laid  upon  our  tables ;  but  a  crisis  seems  to  have  arrived 
in  this  debate,  when  the  friends  of  the  bill,  if  ever,  must  come  forward  in  its 
support.  I  do  not  consider  that  the  claim  of  the  officers  of  the  Revolution 
rests  upon  gratitude  alone.  It  is  not  an  appeal  to  your  generosity  only,  but 
to  your  justice.  You  owe  them  a  debt,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word  ; 
and  of  a  nature  so  meritorious,  that,  if  you  shall  refuse  to  pay  it,  the  nation 
will  be  disgraced.  Formerly,  when  their  claim  was  presented  to  Congress, 
we  had,  at  least,  an  apology  for  rejecting  it.  The  country  was  not  then  in  a 
condition  to  discharge  this  debt  without  inconvenience.  But  now,  after  forty 
years  have  elapsed  since  its  creation,  with  a  treasury  overflowing,  and  a 
national  debt  so  diminished,  that,  with  ordinary  economy,  it  must,  in  a  very 
few  years,  be  discharged,  these  officers,  the  relics  of  that  band  which  achieved 
your  independence,  again  present  themselves  before  you,  and  again  ask  you 
for  justice.  They  do  not  ask  you  to  be  generous — they  do  not  ask  you  to  be 
grateful — but  they  ask  you  to  pay  the  debt  which  was  the  price  of  your  in 
dependence.  I  term  it  a  debt;  and  it  is  one  founded  upon  a  most  solemn 
contract,  with  which  these  officers  have  complied,  both  in  its  letter  and  in 
its  spirit,  whilst  you  have  violated  all  its  obligations. 

"  Let  us  spend  a  few  moments  in  tracing  the  history  of  this  claim.  It 
arose  out  of  the  distresses  of  the  Continental  Army,  during  the  Revolutionary 
War ;  and  the  utter  inability  of  the  government,  at  that  time,  to  relieve  them. 
What,  sir,  was  the  situation  of  that  army,  when  it  lay  encamped  at  the  Val 
ley  Forge  ?  They  were  naked,  and  hungry,  and  barefoot.  Pestilence  and 
famine  stalked  abroad  throughout  the  camp.  The  first  blaze  of  patriotism 
which  had  animated  the  country,  and  furnished  the  army  with  its  officers, 
had  begun  to  die  away.  These  officers  perceived  that  the  contest  would  be 


60  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

long,  and  bloody,  and  doubtful.  They  had  felt,  by  sad  experience,  that  the 
depreciated  pay  which  they  received,  so  far  from  enabling  them  to  impart 
assistance  to  their  wives  and  children,  or  hoard  up  anything  for  futurity,  was 
not  sufficient  to  supply  their  own  absolute  and  immediate  wants.  Placed  in 
this  situation,  they  were  daily  sending  in  their  resignations,  and  abandoning 
the  cause  of  their  country.  In  this  alarming  crisis,  Washington  earnestly 
recommended  to  Congress  to  grant  the  officers  half-pay,  to  commence  after 
the  close  of  the  contest,  as  the  only  remedy  for  these  evils,  within  their 
power.  The  country  was  not  then  able  to  remunerate  the  officers  for  the 
immense  and  unequal  sacrifices  which  they  were  making  in  its  cause.  All 
that  it  could  then  do  was  to  present  them  a  prospect  of  happier  days  to  come, 
on  which  hope  might  rest.  With  this  view,  Congress,  in  May,  1778,  adopted 
a  resolution  allowing  the  officers  who  should  continue  in  service  until  the 
end  of  the  war,  half-pay  for  seven  years.  This  resolution  produced  but  a 
partial  effect  upon  the  army.  The  time  of  its  continuance  was  to  be  but 
short;  and  there  were  conditions  annexed  to  it,  which,  in  many  cases,  would 
have  rendered  it  entirely  inoperative. 

"  In  August,  1779,  Congress  again  acted  upon  this  subject,  and  resolved, 
'  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  several  States  to  grant  half-pay  for  life  to 
the  officers  who  should  continue  in  the  service  to  the  end  of  the  war.'  This 
recommendation  was  disregarded  by  every  State  in  the  Union,  with  one 
exception ;  and  I  feel  proud  that  Pennsylvania  was  that  State.  She  not  only 
granted  half-pay  for  life  to  the  officers  of  her  own  line,  but  she  furnished  them 
with  clothing  and  with  provisions.  Thus,  when  the  General  Government 
became  unable  to  discharge  its  duty  to  her  officers  and  soldiers,  she  volun 
tarily  interposed  and  relieved  their  distresses.  General  Washington,  when 
urging  upon  Congress  the  necessity  of  granting  to  the  officers  half-pay  for 
life,  pointed  to  those  of  the  Pennsylvania  line  as  an  example  of  the  beneficial 
consequences  which  had  resulted  from  that  measure.* 

"  Congress  at  length  became  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  granting  to  the 
Continental  officers  half-pay  for  life.  Without  pay  and  without  clothing,  they 
had  become  disheartened  and  were  about  abandoning  the  service.  The  dark 
est  period  of  the  Eevolution  had  arrived,  and  there  was  but  one  ray  of  hope 
left  to  penetrate  the  impending  gloom  which  hung  ove*  the  army.  The  offi 
cers  were  willing  still  to  endure  privations  and  sufferings,  if  they  could  obtain 
an  assurance  that  they  would  be  remembered  by  their  country,  after  it  should 
be  blessed  with  peace  and  independence.  They  well  knew  Congress  could 
not  relieve  their  present  wants ;  all,  therefore,  they  asked  was  the  promise 
of  a  future  provision.  Congress,  at  length,  in  October,  1780,  resolved,  '  That 
half-pay  for  life  be  granted  to  the  officers  in  the  army  of  the  United  States 
who  shall  continue  in  service  to  the  end  of  the  war.' 


*  Joint  Resolutions  of  13th  and  34th  March,  1779.  See  Journals,  pages  a35,  336,  342. 
1  Smith's  Laws,  487.  Life  of  Joseph  Reed,  President  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council 
of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  II,  p.  65. 


BILL  FOR  RELIEF  OF  REVOLUTIONARY  OFFICERS.          61 

"  Before  the  adoption  of  this  resolution,  so  desperate  had  been  our  condi 
tion,  that  even  Washington  apprehended  a  dissolution  of  the  army,  and  had 
begun  to  despair  of  the  success  of  our  cause.  We  have  his  authority  for  de 
claring  that,  immediately  after  its  adoption,  our  prospects  brightened  and  it 
produced  the  most  happy  effects.  The  state  of  the  army  was  instantly 
changed.  The  officers  became  satisfied  with  their  condition,  and,  under  their 
command,  the  army  marched  to  victory  and  independence.  They  faithfully 
and  patriotically  performed  every  obligation  imposed  upon  them  by  the  sol 
emn  contract  into  which  they  had  entered  with  their  country. 

"  How  did  you  perform  this  contract  on  your  part  ?  No  sooner  had  the 
dangers  of  war  ceased  to  threaten  our  existence — no  sooner  had  peace  re 
turned  to  bless  our  shores,  than  we  forgot  those  benefactors  to  whom,  under 
Providence,  we  owed  our  independence.  We  then  began  to  discover  that  it 
was  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  Republican  institutions  to  grant  pensions 
for  life.  The  jealousy  of  the  people  was  roused,  and  their  fears  excited. 
They  dreaded  the  creation  of  a  privileged  order.  I  do  not  mean  to  censure 
them  for  this  feeling  of  ill-directed  jealou?y,  because  jealousy  is  the  natural 
guardian  of  liberty. 

"In  this  emergency,  how  did  the  Continental  officers  act?  In  such  a 
manner  as  no  other  officers  of  a  victorious  army  had  ever  acted  before.  For 
the  purpose  of  allaying  the  apprehensions  of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  com 
plying  with  the  wishes  of  Congress,  they  consented  to  accept  five  years'  full- 
pay  in  commutation  for  their  half-pay  for  life.  This  commutation  was  to  be 
paid  in  money,  or  securities  were  to  be  given  on  interest  at  six  per  cent,  as 
Congress  should  find  most  convenient. 

"  Did  the  government  ever  perform  this  their  second  stipulation  to  the 
officers  1  I  answer,  no.  The  gentleman  from  Tennessee  was  entirely  mis 
taken  in  the  history  of  the  times,  when  he  asserted  that  the  commutation 
certificates  of  the  officers  enabled  them  to  purchase  farms,  or  commence  trade, 
upon  leaving  the  army.  Congress  had  not  any  funds  to  pledge  for  their  re 
demption.  They  made  requisitions  upon  the  States,  which  shared  the  same 
fate  with  many  others,  and  were  entirely  disregarded.  The  faith  and  the 
honor  of  the  country,  whilst  they  were  intrusted  to  thirteen  independent  and 
jealous  State  sovereignties,  were  almost  always  forfeited.  We  then  had  a 
General  Government  which  had  not  the  power  of  enforcing  its  own  edicts. 
The  consequence  was  that,  when  the  officers  received  their  certificates,  they 
were  not  worth  more  than  about  one-fifth  of  their  nominal  value,  and  they 
very  soon  fell  to  one-eighth  of  that  amount. 

"  Let  gentlemen  for  a  moment  realize  what  must  then  have  been  the  situa 
tion  and  the  feelings  of  these  officers.  They  had  spent  their  best  days  in  the 
service  of  their  country.  They  had  endured  hardships  and  privations  without 
an'  example  in  history.  Destitute  of  everything  but  patriotism,  they  had  lived 
for  years  upon  the  mere  promise  of  Congress.  At  the  call  of  their  country, 
they  had  relinquished  half-pay  for  life,  and  accepted  a  new  promise  of  five 
years'  full-pay.  When  they  had  confidently  expected  to  receive  this  recom- 


C2  LIFE    OP   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

pense,  it  vanished  from  their  grasp.  Instead  of  money,  or  securities  equal  to 
money,  which  would  have  enabled  them  to  embark  with  advantage  in  civil 
employments,  they  obtained  certificates  which  necessity  compelled  most  of 
them  to  sell  at  the  rate  of  eight  for  one.  The  government  proved  faithless,  but 
they  had,  what  we  have  not,  the  plea  of  necessity,  to  justify  their  conduct. 

"  In  1790,  the  provision  which  was  made  by  law  for  the  payment  of  the 
public  debt,  embraced  these  commutation  certificates.  They  were  funded, 
and  the  owner  of  each  of  them  received  three  certificates;  the  first  for  two- 
thirds  of  the  original  amount,  bearing  an  interest  immediately  of  six  per  cent. ; 
the  second  for  the  remaining  third,  but  without  interest  for  ten  years ;  and 
the  third  for  the  interest  which  had  accumulated,  bearing  an  interest  of  only 
three  per  cent. 

"  What  does  this  bill  propose  ?  Not  to  indemnify  the  officers  of  the  Revo- 
lution  for  the  loss  which  they  sustained  in  consequence  of  the  inability  of  the 
government,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  to  comply  with  its  solemn  contract.  Not, 
after  a  lapse  of  more  than  forty  years,  to  place  them  in  the  situation  in  which 
they  would  have  been  placed  had  the  government  been  able  to  do  them  jus 
tice.  It  proposes  to  allow  them  even  less  than  the  difference  between 
what  the  owners  of  the  commutation  certificates  received  under  the  funding 
system,  and  what  these  certificates  when  funded  were  worth  upon  their  face.  • 
My  colleague  has  clearly  shown,  by  a  fair  calculation,  that  the  allowance  will 
fall  considerably  short  of  this  difference.  If  the  question  now  before  the 
committee  were  to  be  decided  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  instead  of 
their  Representatives,  could  any  man,  for  a  moment,  doubt  what  would  be 
their  determination  ? 

"  I  hope  my  friend  from  Massachusetts  will  not  urge  the  amendment  he 
has  proposed.  Judging  from  past  experience,  I  fear,  if  it  should  prevail,  the 
bill  will  be  defeated.  Let  other  classes  of  persons  who  think  themselves 
entitled  to  the  bounty  of  their  country  present  their  claims  to  this  House,  and 
they  will  be  fairly  investigated.  This  is  what  the  surviving  officers  of  the  Revo 
lution  have  done.  Their  case  has  been  thoroughly  examined  by  a  committee, 
who  have  reported  in  its  favor ;  and  all  the  information  necessary  to  enable 
us  to  decide  correctly  is  now  in  our  possession.  I  trust  their  claim  will  be 
permitted  to  rest  upon  its  own  foundation.  They  afre  old,  and  for  the  most 
part  in  poverty ;  it  is  necessary,  if  we  act  at  all,  that  we  act  speedily,  and 
do  them  justice  without  delay.  In  my  opinion,  they  have  a  better  claim  to 
what  this  bill  contemplates  giving  them,  than  any  of  us  have  to  our  eight 
dollars  per  day.  Gentlemen  need  apprehend  no  danger  from  the  precedent ; 
we  shall  never  have  another  Revolutionary  war  for  independence.  We  have 
no  reason  to  apprehend  we  shall  ever  again  be  unable  to  pay  our  just  debts. 
Even  if  that  should  again  be  our  unfortunate  condition,  we  shall  never  have 
another  army  so  patient  and  so  devoted  as  to  sacrifice  every  selfish  considera 
tion  for  the  glory,  the  happiness,  and  the  independence  of  their  country.  I 
shall  vote  against  the  proposed  amendment  because  I  will  do  no  act  which 
may  have  a  tendency  to  defeat  this  bill." 


BILL  FOR  RELIEF  OF  REVOLUTIONARY  OFFICERS.          63 

Mr.  Buchanan  used  to  relate,  in  after  years,  that  at  this  junc 
ture,  the  friends  of  the  bill  were  dismayed  by  the  course  of  Mr. 
Everett,  who  was  then  a  young  member  from  Massachusetts, 
and  who  wished  to  make  and  insisted  upon  making  a  rhetori 
cal  speech.  The  friends  of  the  bill  remonstrated  with  him,  that 
all  had  been  said  that  needed  to  be  said ;  and  that  the  only 
thing  to  be  done  was  to  vote  down"  the  amendment,  after  which 
the  bill  was  almost  certain  to  be  passed.  But  Mr.  Everett  per 
sisted,  and  made  his  speech  while  the  amendment  was  pending.* 
He  "  demanded  "  of  the  House  to  pass  the  bill,  and  by  passing  it 
as  proposed  to  be  amended  by  his  colleague  to  give  the  sur 
vivors  of  the  Revolution  u  all  they  ask  and  more  than  they 
ask."  The  consequence  was  that  the  appropriation  was  in 
creased.  Then  a  member  from  New  York  moved  to  extend  its 
provisions  to  every  militia-man  who  had  served  for  a  certain 
time.  Then  other  amendments  embraced  widows  and  orphans, 
artificers  and  musicians,  the  troops  who  fought  at  Bunker  Hill, 
the  troops  raised  in  Vermont,  those  of  the  battles  of  Saratoga 
and  Bennington,  and  of  the  Southern  battles.  The  enemies  of 
the  original  measure  promoted  this  method  of  dealing  with  it, 
and  finally,  when  thus  loaded  down  with  provisions  not  at  all 
germane  to  its  real  principle,  it  was  recommitted  to  the  Com 
mittee  and  was  therefore  lost. 

The  first  important  subject  of  contention  on  which  the  oppo- 


*The  peroration  of  Mr.  Everett's  speech  was  as  follows  : 

u  The  present  year  completes  the  half  century  since  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ; 
and  most  devoutly  do  I  hope,  that,  when  the  silver  trumpet  of  our  political  jubilee  sounds, 
it  may  be  with  a  note  of  comfort  and  joy  to  the  withered  heart  of  the  war-worn  veteran  of 
the  Revolution.  Our  tardy  provision  will,  indeed,  come  too  late  to  help  him  throngh  the 
hard  journey  of  life  ;  it  will  not  come  too  late  to  alleviate  the  sorrows  of  age,  and  smooth 
the  pillow  of  decline.  It  is  the  fiftieth  year  of  our  Independence.  How  much  shall  we  read, 
how  much  shall  we  hear,  how  much,  perhaps,  we  shall  say  this  year,  about  the  glorious 
exploits  of  our  fathers,  and  the  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe  them.  I  do  not  wish  this  to  be  all 
talk.  I  want  to  do  something.  I  want  a  substantial  tribute  to  be  paid  them.  Praise  is 
sweet  music,  both  to  old  and  young ;  but  I  honestly  confess  that  my  mind  relucts  and  re 
volts,  by  anticipation,  at  the  thought  of  the  compliments  with  which  we  are  going  to  fill  the 
ears  of  these  poor  veterans,  while  we  leave  their  pockets  empty,  and  their  backs  cold.  If 
we  cast  out  this  bill,  I  do  hope  that  some  member  of  this  House,  possessing  an  influence  to 
which  I  cannot  aspire,  will  introduce  another,  to  make  it  penal  to  say  a  word  on  the  fourth 
of  July,  about  the  debt  of  gratitude  which  we  owe  to  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution.  Let  the 
day  and  the  topic  pass  in  decent  silence.  I  hate  all  gag-laws  ;  but  there  is  one  thing  I  am 
willing  to  gag — the  vaporing  tongue  of  a  bankrupt,  who  has  grown  rich,  and  talks  sentiment, 
about  the  obligation  he  feels  to  his  needy  creditor,  whom  he  paid  off  at  2s.  6d.  in  the 
pound." 


64  -    LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

sition  put  forth  their  strength  against  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Adams  related  to  what  was  called  "  The  Panama  Mission."  In 
his  Message  of  December,  1825,  the  President  made  the  follow 
ing  announcement : 

"  Among  the  measures  which  have  been  suggested  to  the  Spanish- 
American  Republics  by  the  new  relations  with  one  another  resulting  from  the 
recent  changes  of  their  condition,  is  that  of  assembling  at  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  a  Congress  at  which  each  of  them  should  be  represented,  to  delib 
erate  upon  objects  important  to  the  welfare  of  all.  The  republics  of  Colom 
bia,  of  Mexico,  and  of  Central  America,  have  already  deputed  plenipotentia 
ries  to  such  a  meeting,  and  they  have  invited  the  United  States  to  be  also 
represented  there  by  their  ministers.  The  invitation  has  been  accepted,  and 
ministers  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  will  be  commissioned  to  attend  at 
those  deliberations,  and  to  take  part  in  them,  so  far  as  may  be  compatible 
with  that  neutrality  from  which  it  is  neither  our  intention  nor  the  desire  of 
the  other  American  States  that  we  should  depart." 

It  was,  beyond  controversy,  the  constitutional  prerogative  of 
the  President,  as  the  organ  of  all  intercourse  with  foreign 
nations,  to  accept  this  invitation,  and  to  name  Ministers  to  the 
proposed  Congress.  The  Senate  might  or  might  not  concur 
with  him  in  this  step,  and  might  or  might  not  confirm  the  nom 
inations  of  the  proposed  Ministers.  He  sent  to  the  Senate  the 
names  of  John  Sergeant  of  Philadelphia,  and  Richard  C.  An 
derson  of  Kentucky,  as  the  Ministers  of  the  United  States  to  the 
proposed  Congress  at  Panama.  The  Senatorial  opposition,  led 
by  Mr.  Benton  and  Mr.  Tazewell,  after  a  long  discussion  in 
secret  session,  took  a  vote  upon  a  resolution  that  it  was  inex 
pedient  to  send  Ministers  to  Panama.  This  was  rejected  by  a 
vote  of  24:  to  19  ;  and  the  nominations  wTerefthen  confirmed  by 
a  vote  of  27  to  17  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Anderson,  and  by  a  vote 
of  2G  to  18  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Sergeant.  The  diplomatic  de 
partment  having  thus  fully  acted  upon  and  confirmed  the  pro 
posed  measure,  it  remained  for  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
initiate  and  pass  the  necessary  appropriation.  The  turn  that 
was  given  to  the  subject  in  the  House  gave  rise  to  an  animated 
debate  on  a  very  important  constitutional  topic,  in  which  Mr. 
Buchanan,  although  opposed  to  the  Mission,  asserted  it  to  be  the 
duty  of  the  House  to  make  the  appropriation,  now  that  the 
Senate  had  confirmed  the  appointment  of  the  Ministers.  This 


THE  PANAMA  MISSION.  65 

debate  began  upon  a  resolution  reported  by  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  that  "  in  the  opinion  of  the  House  it  is  expedi 
ent  to  appropriate  the  funds  necessary  to  enable  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  send  Ministers  to  the  Congress  of  Pan 
ama."  To  this  resolution,  Mr.  McLane  of  Delaware  had  moved 
an  amendment,  which,  if  it  had  been  adopted,  would  have 
placed  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  anomalous  attitude 
of  annexing,  as  a  condition  of  its  grant,  instructions  as  to  the 
mode  in  which  the  diplomatic  agents  of  the  United  States  were 
to  act  in  carrying  out  a  foreign  mission.  Mr.  Buchanan,  who 
was  in  favor  of  the  amendments,  was  also  in  favor  of  making 
the  appropriation  necessary  to  enable  the  President  to  send 
the  Mission ;  and  in  support  of  this  constitutional  duty  of  the 
House,  he  made  an  argument  on  the  llth  of  April  (1826)  which 
drew  from  Mr.  Webster  the  compliment  that  he  had  placed 
this  part  of  the  subject  in  a  point  of  view  which  could  not  be 
improved.*  Mr.  Buchanan  said  : 

"  I  know  there  are  several  gentlemen  on  this  floor,  who  approve  of  the 
policy  of  the  amendments  proposed,  and  wish  to  express  an  opinion  in  their 
favor ;  and  who  yet  feel  reluctant  to  vote  for  them,  because  it  is  their  inten 
tion  finally  to  support  the  appropriation  bill.  They  think,  if  the  amendments 
should  be  rejected,  consistency  would  require  them  to  refuse  any  grant  of 
money  to  carry  this  mission  into  effect.  I  shall,  therefore,  ask  the  attention 
of  the  committee,  whilst  I  endeavor  to  prove  that  there  would  not,  in  any 
event,  be  the  slightest  inconsistency  in  this  course. 

"I  assert  it  to  be  a  position  susceptible  of  the  clearest  proof,  that  the 
House  of  Representatives  is  morally  bound,  unless  in  extreme  cases,  to  vote 
the  salaries  of  Ministers  who  have  been  constitutionally  created  by  the  Presi 
dent  and  Senate.  The  expediency  of  establishing  the  mission  was  one  ques 
tion,  which  has  already  been  decided  by  the  competent  authority ;  when  the 
appropriation  bill  shall  come  before  us,  we  will  be  called  upon  to  decide 
another  and  a  very  different  question.  Richard  C.  Anderson  and  John  Ser- 


*  In  the  course  of  his  speech  on  the  14th  of  April,  Mr.  Webster  said :  "  The  gentleman 
from  Pennsylvania,  with  whom  I  have  great  pleasure  in  concurring  on  this  part  of  the  case, 
while  I  regret  that  I  differ  with  him  on  others,  has  placed  this  question  in  a  point  of  view 
which  can  not  be  improved.  These  officers  do  indeed  already  exist.  They  are  public  minis 
ters.  If  they  were  to  negotiate  a  treaty,  and  the  Senate  should  ratify  it,  it  would  become  a 
law  of  the  land,  whether  we  voted  their  salaries  or  not.  This  shows  that  the  Constitution 
never  contemplated  that  the  House  of  "Representatives  should  act  a  part  in  originating  ne 
gotiations  or  concluding  treaties."  Mr.  Webster  made  further  observations,  in  confirmation 
of  the  views  expressed  by  Mr.  Buchanan  on  the  duty  of  making  the  appropriation.  (Works 
of  Daniel  Webster,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  181.) 
I.— 5 


66  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

geant  have  been  regularly  nominated  by  the  President  of  United  States  to 
be  Envoys  Extraordinary  and  Ministers  Plenipotentiary  '  to  the  Assembly  of 
American  nations  at  Panama.'  The  Senate,  after  long  and  solemn  delibera 
tion,  have  advised  and  consented  to  their  appointment.  These  Ministers  have 
been  created — they  have  been  called  into  existence  under  the  authority  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  That  venerated  instrument  declares,  that 
the  President  '  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concur : 
and  he  shall  nominate,  and,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Sen 
ate,  shall  appoint  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers  and  Consuls,  Judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  whoso 
appointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be  estab 
lished  by  Law.'  What,  then,  will  be  the  question  upon  the  appropriation 
bill  ?  In  order  to  enable  our  Ministers  to  proceed  upon  their  mission,  the 
President  has  asked  us  to  grant  the  necessary  appropriation.  Shall  we  incur 
the  responsibility  of  refusing  ?  Shall  we  thus  defeat  the  mission  which  has 
already  been  established  by  the  only  competent  constitutional  authorities  ? 
This  House  has,  without  doubt,  the  physical  power  to  refuse  the  appropria 
tion,  and  it  possesses  the  same  power  to  withhold  his  salary  from  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  The  true  question  is,  what  is  the  nature  of  our 
constitutional  obligation?  Are  we  not  morally  bound  to  pay  the  salaries 
given  by  existing  laws  to  every  officer  of  the  Government  ?  By  the  act  of  the 
first  May,  1810,  the  outfit  and  salary  to  be  allowed  by  the  President  to  For 
eign  Ministers  are  established.  Such  Ministers  have  been  regularly  appointed 
to  attend  the  Congress  at  Panama.  What  right  then  have  we  to  refuse  to 
appropriate  the  salaries  which  they  have  a  right  to  receive,  under  the  existing 
laws  of  the  land  ? 

"I  admit  there  maybe  extreme  cases,  in  which  this  House  would  be  justi 
fied  in  withholding  such  an  appropriation.  'The  safety  of  the  people  is  the 
supreme  law.'  If,  therefore,  we  should  believe  any  mission  to  be  dangerous, 
either  to  the  existence  or  ±o  the  liberties  of  this  country,  necessity  would 
justify  us  in  breaking  the  letter  to  preserve  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution. 
The  same  necessity  would  equally  justify  us  in  refusing  to  grant  to  the  Presi 
dent  his  salary,  in  certain  extreme  cases,  which  might  easily  be  imagined. 

'•'  But  how  far  would  your  utmost  power  extend  ?  Can  you  re-judge  the 
determination  of  the  President  and  Senate,  and  destroy  the  officers  which 
they  have  created  ?  Might  not  the  President  immediately  send  these  Minis 
ters  to  Panama ;  and,  if  he  did,  would  not  their  acts  be  valid  ?  It  is  certain, 
if  they  should  go,  they  run  the  risk  of  never  receiving  a  salary ;  but  still  they 
might  act  as  Plenipotentiaries.  By  withholding  the  salary  of  the  President, 
you  cannot  withhold  from  him  the  power ;  neither  can  you,  by  refusing  to 
appropriate  for  this  mission,  deprive  the  Ministers  of  their  authority.  It  is 
beyond  your  control  to  make  them  cease  to  be  Ministers. 

"  The  constitutional  obligation  to  provide  for  a  Minister,  is  equally  strong 
as  that  to  carry  into  effect  a  treaty.  It  is  true,  the  evils  which  may  flow 


THE   PANAMA  MISSION.  67 

from  your  refusal  may  be  greater  in  the  one  case  than  the  other.  If  you 
refuse  to  appropriate  for  a  treaty,  you  violate  the  faith  of  the  country  to  a 
foreign  nation.  You  do  no  more,  however,  than  omit  to  provide  for  the  exe 
cution  of  an  instrument  which  is  declared  by  the  Constitution  to  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land.  In  the  case  which  will  be  presented  to  you  by  the 
appropriation  bill,  is  the  nature  of  your  obligation  different  ?  I  think  not. 
The  power  to  create  the  Minister  is  contained  in  the  same  clause  of  the  Con 
stitution  with  that  to  make  the  treaty.  They  are  powers  of  the  same  nature. 
The  one  is  absolutely  necessary  to  carry  the  other  into  effect.  You  cannot 
negotiate  treaties  without  Ministers.  They  are  the  means  by  which  the 
treaty-making  power  is  brought  into  action.  You  are,  therefore,  under  the 
same  moral  obligation  to  appropriate  money  to  discharge  the  salary  of  a 
Minister,  that  you  would  be  to  carry  a  treaty  into  effect. 

"  If  you  ask  me  for  authority  to  establish  these  principles,  I  can  refer  you 
to  the  opinion  of  the  first  President  of  the  United  States— the  immortal 
Father  of  his  Country — who,  in  my  humble  judgment,  possessed  more  prac 
tical  wisdom,  more  political  foresight,  and  more  useful  constitutional  knowl 
edge,  than  all  his  successors. 

"  I  have  thus,  I  think,  established  the  position,  that  gentlemen  who  vote 
for  the  amendments  now  before  the  committee,  even  if  they  should  not 
prevail,  may,  without  inconsistency,  give  their  support  to  the  appropriation 
bill." 

Sound  as  this  was,  it  is  a  little  remarkable  that  Mr.  Buchanan 
should  not  have  considered  that  the  duty  of  voting  the  neces 
sary  appropriation  precluded  the  House  of  Representatives  from 
dictating  what  subjects  the  Ministers  were  to  discuss  or  not  to 
discuss.  Those  who  favored  the  proposed  amendments  founded 
themselves  on  the  legal  maxim  that  he  who  has  the  power  to 
give  may  annex  to  the  gift  whatever  condition  he  chooses. 
This  was  well  answered  by  Mr.  Webster,  that  in  making  appro 
priations  for  such  purposes  the  House  did  not  make  gifts,  but 
performed  a  duty.  The  amendments  were  rejected  on  the  21st 
of  April,  and  on  the  following  day  the  Panama  Appropriation 
Bill  was  passed,  Mr.  Buchanan  voting  with  the  majority.* 

Some  of  the  topics  incidentally  touched  upon  in  the  discur- 

*  The  subsequent  fate  of  this  measure  can  be  related  very  briefly.  Mr.  Anderson  died 
at  Carthagena,  on  his  way  to  the  isthmus  of  Panama.  The  "  Congress  "  adjourned  to  meet 
at  Tacuboya,  a  village  near  the  city  of  Mexico.  Mr.  Poinsett  was  appointed  in  the  place  of 
Mr.  Anderson,  and  Mr.  Sergeant  sailed  for  Vera  Cruz  on  the  2d  of  December,  1826.  He 
arrived  in  Mexico  in  January,  1827,  and  found  a  few  fragments  of  the  "Congress"  floating 
about,  without  action  or  organization.  Bolivar,  who  was  supposed  to  have  originated  the 
project,  had  changed  his  mind.  Mr.  Sergeant  remained  for  six  months  in  Mexico,  and  in 
the  summer  of  1827  returned  home. 


68  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

sive  debate  on  this  Panama  Mission  are  of  little  interest  now. 
But  one  may  be  referred  to,  because  it  related  to  the  dangerous 
topic  of  slavery.  An  apprehension  was  felt  by  those  who  were 
opposed  to  this  measure,  and  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  among  others, 
that  the  Spanish- American  Republics,  more  particularly  Mexico 
and  Colombia,  might  concert  measures  at  this  proposed  Congress 
to  seize  the  West  India  Islands,  and  raise  there  the  standard  of 
emancipation  and  social  revolution.  Those  who  entertained 
this  apprehension,  therefore,  did  not  wish  to  see  the  moral  and 
political  influence  of  this  proposed  Congress  increased  by  the 
participation  of  the  United  States  in  its  proceedings.  It  may 
have  been  an  unfounded  fear ;  but  in  truth,  excepting  in  so  far 
as  the  objects  of  this  assembly  were  understood  and  explained 
by  the  American  Administration  itself,  very  little  was  known 
of  the  purposes  entertained  by  its  original  projectors.  It  was 
certainly  not  unnatural,  in  the  then  condition  of  our  own  coun 
try,  and  of  the  "West  Indies,  in  regard  to  the  matter  of  slavery, 
that  public  men  in  the  United  States  should  have  been  cautious 
in  regard  to  this  exciting  topic.  At  all  events,  it  was  intro 
duced  incidentally,  in  the  discussion  on  the  proposed  Mission, 
and  Mr.  Buchanan  thus  expressed  himself  upon  it : 

''Permit  me  here,  for  a  moment,  to  speak  upon  a  subject  to  which  I  have 
never  before  adverted  upon  this  floor,  and  to  which,  I  trust,  I  may  never 
again  have  occasion  to  advert.  I  mean  the  subject  of  slavery.  I  believe  it 
to  be  a  great  political  and  a  great  moral  evil.  I  thank  God,  my  lot  has  been 
cast  in  a  State  where  it  does  not  exist.  But,  while  I  entertain  these  opinions, 
I  know  it  is  an  evil  at  present  without  a  remedy.  It  has  been  a  curse 
entailed  upon  us  by  that  nation  which  now  makes  it  a  subject  of  reproach  to 
our  institutions.  It  is,  however,  one  of  those  moral  evils,  from  which  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  escape,  without  the  introduction  of  evils  infinitely  greater. 
There  are  portions  of  this  Union,  in  which,  if  you  emancipate  your  slaves, 
they  will  become  masters.  There  can  be  no  middle  course.  Is  there  any 
man  in  this  Union  who  could,  for  a  moment,  indulge  in  the  horrible  idea  of 
abolishing  slavery  by  the  massacre  of  the  high-minded,  and  the  chivalrous 
race  of  men  in  the  South.  I  trust  there  is  not  one.  For  my  own  part  I 
would,  without  hesitation,  buckle  on  my  knapsack,  and  march  in  company 
with  my  friend  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Everett)  in  defence  of  their  cause."  * 

*  This  allusion  to  Mr.  Everett  requires  some  explanation.  On  the  9th  of  March,  1826, 
he  made  a  speech  on  the  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
said: 

"  I  am  not  one  of  thoee  citizens  of  the  North  who  think  it  immoral  and  irreligious 


INCIDENTAL  •  REFERENCE    TO    SLAVERY.  69 

to  join  in  putting  down  a  servile  insurrection  at  the  South.  I  am  no  soldier,  my  habits 
and  education  are  very  un-military ;  but  there  is  no  cause  in  which  I  would  sooner  buckle 
a  knapsack  to  my  back,  and  put  a  musket  on  my  shoulder,  than  that.  I  would  cede  the 
whole  continent  to  any  one  who  would  take  it — to  England,  to  France,  to  Spain  ;  I  would 
see  it  sunk  in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  before  I  would  see  any  part  of  this  fair  America  con 
verted  into  a  Continental  Hayti,  by  that  awful  process  of  bloodshed  and  desolation,  by  which 
alone  such  a  catastrophe  could  be  brought  on.  The  great  relation  of  servitude,  in  some  form 
or  other,  with  greater  or  less  departures  from  the  theoretic  equality  of  man,  is  inseparable 
from  our  nature.  I  know  no  way  by  which  the  form  of  this  servitude  shall  be  fixed,  but  by 
political  institution.  Domestic  slavery,  though,  I  confess,  not  that  form  of  servitude  which 
seems  to  be  most  beneficial  to  the  master— certainly  not  that  which  is  most  beneficial  to  the 
servant— is  not,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  set  down  as  an  immoral  and  irreligious  relation.  I 
cannot  admit  that  Religion  has  but  one  voice  to  the  slave,  and  that  this  voice  is, 'Rise 
against  your  master.'  No,  Sir,  the  New  Testament  says, l  Slaves  obey  your  masters,'  and 
though  I  know  full  well  that,  in  the  benignant  operations  of  Christianity,  which  gathered 
master  and  slave  around  the  same  communion  table,  this  unfortunate  institution  disappeared 
in  Europe,  yet  I  cannot  admit  that,  while  it  subsists,  and  where  it  subsists,  its  duties  are  not 
pre-supposed  and  sanctioned  by  religion.  I  certainly  am  not  called  upon  to  meet  the  charges 
brought  against  this  institution,  yet  truth  obliges  me  to  say  a  word  more  on  the  subject.  I 
know  the  condition  of  the  working  classes  in  other  countries,  and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  say 
ing  that  I  believe  the  slaves  of  this  country  are  better  clothed  and  fed,  and  less  hardly 
worked,  than  the  peasantry  of  some  of  the  most  prosperous  States  of  the  continent  of 
Europe." 


CHAPTER    V. 

1827—1829. 


GREAT  INCREASE  OP  GENERAL  JACKSON'S  POPULARITY  —  "RETRENCH 
MENT"  MADE  A  POLITICAL  CRY  —  DEBATE  ON  THE  TARIFF  —  BU 
CHANAN  ON  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS  —  THE  INTERESTS  OF  NAVIGA 
TION  —  THE  CUMBERLAND  ROAD  AGAIN  DISCUSSED  —  INELIGIBILITY  OF 
A  PRESIDENT. 


20th  Congress,  which  assembled  in  December,  1827, 
-L  opened  with  a  great  increase  in  the  forces  of  the  opposi 
tion.  The  elections  in  the  autumn  of  1826  evinced  an  extraor 
dinary  growth  of  General  Jackson's  popularity.  Mr.  Adams 
found  himself  in  a  minority  in  both  branches  of  Congress.  In 
the  House,  the  opponents  of  his  administration  numbered  111 
members,  its  friends  94.  It  is  quite  probable,  however,  that 
but  for  the  indiscretion  of  certain  members  who  have  ranked  as 
friends  of  the  administration,  the  angry  and  criminating  discus 
sion  of  the  subject  of  "  retrenchment,"  which  was  deprecated 
by  the  wisest  men  of  the  opposition,  but  into  which  they  were 
forced,  would  not  have  occurred.  It  was  precipitated  by  the 
defiant  attitude  of  two  or  three  members  who  should  have 
allowed  the  cool  leaders  of  the  opposition  to  strangle  it,  as  they 
were  at  first  disposed  to  do.  But  once  commenced,  it  drew  into 
bitter  strife  the  excited  elements  of  party  and  personal  warfare, 
and  went  on  through  nearly  a  whole  session  with  little  credit 
to  some  who  participated  in  it,  but  in  the  end  to  the  great  and 
not  altogether  just  damage  of  the  administration. 

It  happened  that  on  the  22d  of  January  (1828)  a  member 
from  Kentucky,  Mr.  Chilton,  an  earnest  "  Jackson  man,"  who 
had  formerly  been  a  clergyman  but  was  now  a  politician,  intro 
duced  in  the  House  certain  resolutions  instructing  the  Commit 
tee  of  Ways  and  Means  to  report  what  offices  could  be  abolished, 
what  salaries  reduced,  and  other  modes  of  curtailing  the.  ex 
penses  of  the  government.  It  is  apparent  that  this  could  not  have 


INCREASE  OF  GEN.    JACKSON'S   POPULARITY.  71 

been  a  step  taken  by  concert  with  the  leaders  of  the  opposition. 
A  party  that  was  daily  growing  in  strength,  and  that  was  almost 
morally  certain  to  overthrow  the  party  of  the  administration,  and 
to  elect  the  next  President,  could  have  had  no  motive  for  shack 
ling  themselves  with  a  legislative  measure  reducing  the  number 
of  offices  or  the  salaries  of  the  officers  that  must  be  retained. 
They  could  not  know  in  advance  how  they  could  carry  on  the 
government,  and  it  would  be  mere  folly  for  them  to  put  laws  on 
the  statute-book  framed  while  they  were  not  charged  with  the 
duties  of  administration,  and  suggested  only  as  a  topic  for  ex 
citing  popular  discontent  against  those  who  were  responsible 
neither  for  the  existing  number  of  offices  nor  for  the  salaries 
paid  to  them.  "  Retrenchment,"  as  a  popular  cry,  was  not  a 
movement  which  the  leading  men  of  the  opposition  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  either  needed  or  desired  to  initiate. 
Mr.  McDuffie,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means,  and  a  vehement  opponent  of  the  administration,  objected 
to  Mr.  Chilton's  resolutions  at  the  outset.  So  did  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  ;  and  the  latter  often  said,  in  subsequent  years,  that 
they  would  have  been  crushed  out  of  all  consideration,  if  the 
friends  of  the  administration  had  left  them  in  the  hands  of  its 
opponents.  They  were  moved  by  an  inconsiderable  member, 
who  was  one  of  the  stragglers  of  the  opposition  forces,  and  they 
were  met  by  administration  members  who  were  about  equally 
inconsiderable,  in  a  tone  of  challenge  and  defiance.  In  vain 
did  Mr.  McDuffie  and  Mr.  Buchanan  contend  that  the  present 
was  no  time  to  discuss  the  expenditures  of  the  government.  In 
vain  did  the  most  considerable  and  important  friends  of  the 
administration  deprecate  an  unprofitable,  intolerant,  and  useless 
debate.  The  mover  of  the  resolutions  would  not  be  silenced, 
and  the  few  indiscreet  supporters  of  the  administration,  who 
demanded  that  their  discussion  should  go  on,  would  not  permit 
them  to  receive  their  proper  quietus  by  the  application  of  "  the 
previous  question."  Never  was  a  deliberative  body  drawn,  in 
spite  of  the  unwillingness  of  its  best  members  on  both  sides, 
into  a  more  unseemly  and  profitless  discussion. 

Among  the  friends  of  General  Jackson  who  deprecated  and 
endeavored  to  put  a  stop  to  this  discussion  was  Mr.  Edward 
Livingston  of  Louisiana,  the  oldest  member  of  the  House,  and 


72  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

a  person  of  great  distinction.  lie  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  the 
House  to  end  the  whole  matter  by  referring  the  resolutions  to  a 
committee  without  further  debate.  This  was  not  acceded  to  by 
the  friends  of  the  administration,  who  wished  to  continue  the 
discussion.  Mr.  Edward  Everett,  then  a  young  member  from 
Massachusetts,  moved  an  adjournment  after  Mr.  Livingston's 
effort  to  terminate  the  whole  discussion,  in  order  to  make  a 
speech,  which  he  delivered  on  the  1st  of  February.  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  said  in  reply  to  him :  "  This  debate  would  have  ended 
on  Thursday  last,  after  the  solemn  appeal  for  that  purpose, 
which  was  made  to  the  House  by  the  venerable  gentleman  from 
Louisiana,  had  not  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  himself 
prevented  it  by  moving  an  adjournment.  That  gentleman 
ought  to  know  that  he  can  never  throw  himself  into  any  debate 
without  giving  it  fresh  vigor  and  importance." 

In  the  course  of  this  speech,  Mr.  Buchanan  made  some  allu 
sion  to  the  alleged  "  bargain  and  corruption "  by  which  Mr. 
Adams  had  been  made  President ;  and  he  thus  touched  upon 
the  only  important  consideration  that  could  be  said  to  belong 
to  the  circumstances  of  that  election  : 


"  Before,  however,  I  commence  my  reply  to  that  gentleman,  I  beg  leave 
to  make  a  few  observations  on  the  last  Presidential  election.  I  shall  purposely 
pass  over  every  charge  which  has  been  made,  that  it  was  accomplished  by 
bargain  and  sale  or  by  actual  corruption.  If  that  were  the  case,  I  have  no 
knowledge  of  the  fact,  and  shall  therefore  say  nothing  about  it.  I  shall  argue 
this  question  as  though  no  such  charges  had  ever  been  made.  So  far  as  it 
regards  the  conduct  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  ought  to  pursue, 
at  the  approaching  election,  I  agree  entirely  with  the  eloquent  gentleman  from 
Virginia  [Mr.  Randolph]  (I  cannot  with  propriety  call  him  my  friend),  that 
it  can  make  no  difference  whether  a  bargain  existed  or  not.  Nay,  in  some 
aspects  in  which  the  subject  may  be  viewed,  the  danger  to  the  people  would 
be  the  greater,  if  no  corruption  had  existed.  It  is  true,  that  this  circumstance 
ought  greatly  to  influence  our  individual  opinions  of  the  men  who  now  wield 
the  destinies  of  the  Republic ;  but  yet  the  precedent  would  be  at  least  equally 
dangerous  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  If  flagrant  and  gross  corruption 
had  existed,  every  honest  man  would  start  from  it  with  instinctive  horror,  and 
the  people  would  indignantly  hurl  those  men  from  the  seats  of  power,  who 
had  thus  betrayed  their  dearest  interests.  If  the  election  were  pure,  there  is, 
therefore,  the  greater  danger  in  the  precedent.  I  believe,  in  my  soul,  that 
the  precedent  which  was  established  at  the  last  Presidential  election,  ought 


"RETRENCHMENT"  MADE  A  POLITICAL  CRY.  73 

to  be  reversed  by  the  people,  and  this  is  one  of  my  principal  reasons  for 
opposing  the  re-election  of  the  present  Chief  Magistrate. 

"  Let  us  examine  this  subject  more  closely.  General  Jackson  was  returned 
by  the  people  of  this  country  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  a  plu 
rality  of  electoral  votes.  The  distinguished  individual  who  is  now  the  Secre 
tary  of  State,  was  then  the  Speaker  of  this  House.  It  is  perfectly  well  known, 
that,  without  his  vote  and  influence,  Mr.  Adams  could  not  have  been  elected 
President.  After  the  election,  we  beheld  that  distinguished  individual,  and 
no  man  in  the  United  States  witnessed  the  spectacle  with  more  regret  than  I 
did,  descending — ye?,  Sir,  I  say  descending — from  the  elevated  station  which 
you  now  occupy,  into  the  cabinet  of  the  President  whom  he  had  elected. 

"  'Quantum  mutatus  ab  illo.' 

"In  the  midnight  of  danger,  during  the  darkest  period  of  the  late  war, 
'  his  thrilling  trump  had  cheered  the  land.'  Although  among  the  great  men 
of  that  day  there  was  no  acknowledged  leader  upon  this  floor,  yet  I  have 
been  informed,  upon  the  best  authority,  that  he  was  '  primus  inter  pares.'  I 
did  wish,  at  a  future  time,  to  see  him  elevated  still  higher.  I  am  one  of  the 
last  men  in  the  country  who  could  triumph  over  his  fallen  fortunes.  Should 
he  ever  return  to  what  I  believe  to  be  correct  political  principles,  I  shall  will 
ingly  fight  in  the  same  ranks  with  him  as  a  companion — nay,  after  a  short 
probation,  I  should  willingly  acknowledge  him  as  a  leader.  What  brilliant 
prospects  has  that  man  not  sacrificed ! 

"  This  precedent,  should  it  be  confirmed  by  the  people  at  the  next  election, 
will  be  one  of  most  dangerous  character  to  the  Republic.  The  election  of 
President  must,  I  fear,  often  devolve  upon  this  House.  We  have  but  little 
reason  to  expect  that  any  amendment,  in  relation  to  this  subject,  will  be  made 
to  the  Constitution  in  our  day.  There  are  so  many  conflicting  interests  to 
reconcile,  so  many  powers  to  balance,  that,  when  we  consider  the  large 
majority  in  each  branch  of  Congress,  and  the  still  larger  majority  of  States, 
required  to  amend  the  Constitution,  the  prospect  of  any  change  is  almost 
hopeless.  I  believe  it  will  long  remain  just  as  it  is.  What  an  example,  then, 
will  this  precedent,  in  the  pure  age  of  the  Republic,  present  to  future  times ! 
The  people  owe  it  to  themselves,  if  the  election  must  devolve  upon  this 
House,  never  to  sanction  the  principle  that  one  of  its  members  may  accept, 
from  the  person  whom  he  has  elected,  any  high  office,  much  less  the  highest 
in  his  gift.  Such  a  principle,  if  once  established,  must,  in  the  end,  destroy 
the  purity  of  this  House,  and  convert  it  into  a  corrupt  electoral  vote.  If  the 
individual  to  whom  I  have  alluded,  could  elect  a  President  and  receive  from 
him  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  from  the  purest  motives,  other  men  may, 
and  hereafter  will,  pursue  the  same  policy  from  the  most  corrupt.  '  If  they 
do  these  things  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done  in  the  dry  1 ' 

"  This  precedent  will  become  a  cover  under  which  future  bargains  and 
corrupt  combinations  will  be  sanctioned,  under  which  the  spirit  of  the  Con 
stitution  will  be  sacrificed  to  its  letter." 


74  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

It  is  not  needful  to  describe  the  topics  of  this  discussion. 
Mr.  Chilton's  resolutions,  after  being  somewhat  amended,  were 
sent  to  a  Select  Committee  on  Retrenchment.  The  result 
was  a  majority  and  a  minority  report,  of  which  six  thousand 
copies  were  printed  and  circulated  through  the  country.  I  turn 
from  this  subject  to  matters  of  more  importance. 

Mr.  Buchanan's  position  in  this  Congress  required  him  to 
exert  his  powers  as  a  debater  more  than  ever  before.  The 
House  of  Representatives  was  at  this  time  a  body  in  which  real 
debate  was  carried  on  upon  some  subjects,  however  the  discus 
sion  on  "  retrenchment "  may  be  characterized.  Its  discussions 
on  the  tariff,  commencing  on  the  4th  of  March  and  terminating 
on  the  15th  of  May,  were  conducted  with  great  ability.  Among 
the  best  speeches  on  the  tariff  bill  of  this  session,  there  is  one 
by  Mr.  Pel  eg  Sprague  of  Maine,  and  one  by  Mr.  Buchanan. 
Both  exhibit  a  great  deal  of  research.  Mr.  Buchanan's  speech, 
begun  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  2d  of  April,  in 
answer  to  Mr.  Sprague,  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  business 
debate.  The  details  on  which  these  two  gentlemen  differed, 
and  on  which  the  debate  between  them  and  others  chiefly 
turned,  are  of  little  interest  now ;  nor  does  any  tariff  debate 
afford  much  development  of  permanent  principles.  So  varying 
are  the  circumstances  which  from  time  to  time  give  rise  to  an 
application  of  the  doctrines  that  are  indicated  by  the  terms 
"  free-trade  "  and  "  protection."  Still  there  may  be  found  in 
this  tariff  speech  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  matter  which  is  of  some  in 
terest  in  his  personal  history  as  an  American  statesman,  because 
it  shows  that  he  had  now  risen  to  the  rank  of  a  statesman,  and 
because  it  gives  his  general  views  of  whafc  had  at  this  time 
become  known  as  "  the  American  System." 

Mr.  Buchanan,  on  this  occasion,  felt  that  he  was  combating 
a  disposition  to  favor  certain  interests  at  the  expense  of  others. 
In  the  debate  on  the  tariff  of  1824,  when  Mr.  Clay  developed 
his  views  on  the  subject  of  protection,  and  Mr.  Webster  found 
fault  with  the  details  of  a  measure  which  he  said  could  not  be 
properly  characterized  as  an  American  System,  Mr.  Buchanan 
had  shown  that  while  he  was  ready  to  accede  to  a  tariff  for  the 
incidental  protection  of  our  own  manufactures,  he  was  not  dis 
posed  to  carry  the  doctrines  of  protection  so  far  as  to  injure  the 


DEBATE    ON   THE    TARIFF.  75 

agricultural  classes ;  but  that  in  imposing  the  duties  necessary 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  government,  he  should  take  care 
to  benefit  indirectly  both  the  manufacturing  and  the  producing 
interests.  In  1828  the  proposed  alterations  of  the  tariff  aimed 
at  a  more  uniform  operation  of  the  customs  duties  upon  all  the 
great  interests  of  the  country.  A  motion  made  by  Mr.  Sprague, 
to  strike  from  the  bill  an  additional  duty  of  five  cents  per  gallon 
on  molasses,  and  twenty-five  dollars  per  ton  on  hemp,  led  to  a 
discussion  on  the  navigating  interests,  as  affected  by  such  an 
amendment,  and  the  whole  subject  of  what  was  meant  by 
protection  and  "  the  American  system  "  came  up  afresh.  The 
following  extracts  from  Mr.  Buchanan's  speech  afford  fair  speci 
mens  of  his  manner  of  dealing  with  this  subject : 

I  shall  cheerfully  submit  to  the  public  judgment  whether  the  bill,  although 
I  dislike  the  minimum  principle  which  it  contains,  does  not  afford  sufficient 
protection  to  the  manufacturers  of  woolens.  I  think  it  does ;  but  I  wish  to 
be  distinctly  understood,  in  relation  to  myself,  that  I  always  stand  ready,  in 
a  fair  spirit,  to  do  everything  in  my  power  to  promote  the  passage  of  a  just 
and  judicious  tariff,  which  shall  be  adequate  for  their  protection;  and  that, 
for  the  sake  of  conciliation,  and  to  effect  this  purpose,  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice 
individual  opinion  to  a  considerable  extent. 

What,  Sir,  is  the  American  System  ?  Is  it  the  system  advocated  by  the 
gentleman  from  Maine,  which  would  build  up  one  species  of  domestic  industry 
at  the  expense  of  all  the  rest,  which  would  establish  a  prohibition  and  conse 
quent  monopoly  in  favor  of  the  woolen  manufacturer  whilst  it  denied  all  pro 
tection  to  the  farmer  ?  Certainly  not.  The  American  System  consists  in 
affording  equal  and  just  legislative  protection  to  all  the  great  interests  of  the 
country.  It  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  It  does  not  distinguish  between  the 
farmer  who  plows  the  soil  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  manufacturer  of  wool  in  New 
England.  Being  impartial,  it  embraces  all.  There  is,  in  one  respect,  a  strik 
ing  difference  between  the  farmer,  the  merchant,  and  the  manufacturer.  The 
farmer  eating  the  bread  of  toil,  but  of  independence,  scarcely  ever  complains. 
If  he  suffers,  he  suffers  in  silence ;  you  rarely  hear  him,  upon  this  floor,  asking 
redress  for  his  grievances.  He  relies  with  that  confidence  which  belongs  to 
his  character  upon  the  justice  of  his  country,  and  does  not  come  here  with 
importunate  demands.  The  case  is  different  in  regard  to  the  manufacturer 
and  the  merchant.  When  they  feel  themselves  aggrieved — when  they  re 
quire  the  aid  of  your  legislation,  then  complaints  ring  throughout  the  country, 
from  Georgia  to  Maine.  They  never  cease  to  ask,  until  they  obtain.  And  shall 
this  contented  and  uncomplaining  disposition  of  the  great  agricultural  interest, 
be  used  as  an  argument  upon  this  floor  against  affording  it  relief?  I  trust 
not. 


76  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

The  gentleman  from  Maine  has  shown  himself  to  be  a  true  disciple  of  the 
Harrisburg  Convention  School.  Even  that  convention,  although  the  chief 
objects  of  their  regard  appeared  to  be  wool  and  woolens,  recommended  fur 
ther  protection  to  iron,  hemp,  flax,  and  the  articles  manufactured  from  them, 
and  to  domestic  distilled  spirits.  The  gentleman  from  Maine  has  moved  to 
strike  from  the  bill  additional  duties  which  it  proposes  upon  the  importation 
of  foreign  hemp  and  molasses ;  and  in  his  speech,  he  has  argued  against  any 
additional  duties  either  upon  iron,  or  steel,  or  flax,  or  foreign  spirits.  In  his 
opinion,  therefore,  the  American  System  can  embrace  no  other  interest 
except  that  of  the  growers  and  manufacturers  of  wool. 

[Here  Mr.  Sprague  explained.  He  said  his  observations  upon  the  other 
items,  besides  those  he  had  moved  to  strike  from  the  bill,  were  only  intended 
to  illustrate  what  would  be  their  effect  on  the  navigating  interest.] 

Mr.  Buchanan  resumed.  I  perceive,  from  the  gentleman's  explanation,  I 
did  not  misunderstand  his  argument.  If  this  be  the  American  System,  I 
should  like  to  know  it  as  soon  as  possible ;  for  then  I  shall  be  opposed  to  it. 
I  venture  to  assert  that,  if  those  with  whom  the  gentleman  from  Maine  usually 
acts  upon  this  floor  have  embraced  the  opinions  which  he  has  avowed,  it  is  a 
vain,  a  culpable  waste  of  time  to  proceed  further  with  this  discussion.  Let 
the  bill  at  once  go  to  the  tomb  of  all  the  Capulets.  If  the  New  England 
manufacturer  must  be  protected,  whilst  the  Pennsylvania  farmer  is  aban 
doned — if  this  be  the  American  System,  instead  of  being  a  mourner  at  its 
funeral,  I  shall  rejoice  that  it  has  met  the  fate  which  it  deserved,  and  has 
been  consigned  to  an  early  grave. 

The  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  has  given  us  what,  in  my  opinion,  is  the 
correct  version  of  the  American  System.  They  have  declared  that  "  the  best 
interests  of  our  country  demand  that  every  possible  exertion  should  be  made 
to  procure  the  passage  of  an  act  of  Congress  imposing  such  duties  as  will 
enable  our  manufacturers  to  enter  into  fair  competition  with  foreign  manu 
facturers,  and  protect  the  farmer,  the  growers  of  hemp  and  wool,  and  the  dis 
tiller  of  spirits  from  domestic  materials,  against  foreign  competition.  The 
people  of  Pennsylvania  do  not  ask  for  such  a  tariff  as  would  secure  to  any 
one  class,  or  to  any  section  of  the  country,  a  monopol^.  They  want  a  system 
of  protection  which  will  extend  its  blessings,  as  well  as  its  burdens,  as  equally 
as  possible  over  every  part  of  the  Union ;  to  be  uniform  in  its  operation  upon 
the  rich  as  well  as  the  poor."  They  have  therefore  instructed  their  Senators, 
and  requested  their  Representatives,  "  to  procure,  if  practicable,  the  establish 
ment  of  such  a  tariff  as  will  afford  additional  protection  to  our  domestic  man 
ufactures,  especially  of  woolen  and  fine  cotton  goods,  glass,  and  such  other 
articles  as,  in  their  opinion,  require  the  attention  of  Congress,  so  as  to  enable 
our  citizens  fairly  to  compete  with  foreign  enterprise,  capital,  and  experience, 
and  give  encouragement  to  the  citizens  of  the  grain-growing  States,  by  laying 
an  additional  duty  upon  the  importation  of  foreign  spirits,  flax,  china  ware, 
hemp,  wool,  and  bar  iron." 


DEBATE    OX    THE  TARIFF.  77 

This  resolution  speaks  a  language  which  I  am  proud  to  hear  from  the 
Legislature  of  my  native  State. 

If  it  be  the  disposition  of  a  majority  of  the  members  of  this  committee  to 
strike  out  of  the  bill  iron,  hemp,  foreign  spirits  and  molasses,  no  Representa 
tive  from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  who  regards  either  the  interest  or  the 
wishes  of  his  constituents,  will  dare  to  vote  for  what  would  then  remain. 
The  time  has  forever  past  when  such  a  measure  could  have  received  our  sanc 
tion.  We  shall  have  no  more  exclusive  tariffs  for  the  benefit  of  any  one  por 
tion  of  the  Union.  The  tariff  of  1824  partook  much  of  this  character ;  it 
contained  no  additional  duty  on  foreign  spirits  or  molasses,  and  only  added 
five  dollars  per  ton  to  the  duty  on  foreign  hemp.  So  far  as  the  grain-growing 
States  expected  to  derive  peculiar  benefits  from  that  measure,  they  have 
been,  in  a  great  degree,  disappointed. 

What  was  the  course  which  gentlemen  pursued  in  relation  to  the  woolen 
bill  of  the  last  session  ?  I  endeavored  to  introduce  into  it  a  small  protection 
for  our  hemp  and  domestic  spirits.  We  were  then  told  that  my  attempt 
would  endanger  the  fate  of  the  bill ;  that  the  period  of  the  session  was  too 
late  to  introduce  amendments ;  and  that  if  we  would  then  extend  protection 
to  the  manufacturers  of  wool,  a  similar  protection  should,  at  a  future  time,  be 
extended  to  the  agricultural  interest  of  the  grain-growing  States.  My  re 
spectable  colleague  [Mr.  Forward]  has  informed  the  committee  that  he  voted 
for  the  bill  of  the  last  session  under  that  delusion.  How  sadly  the  picture  is 
now  reversed !  When  an  interest  in  New  England,  which  has  been  estimated 
at  40,000,000  of  dollars,  is  at  stake,  and  is  now  about  to  sink,  as  has  been 
alleged,  for  want  of  adequate  protection,  it  seems  that  gentlemen  from  that 
portion  of  the  Union  would  rather  consign  it  to  inevitable  destruction  than 
yield  the  protection  which  the  present  bill  will  afford  to  the  productions  of 
the  Middle  and  Western  States.  If  they  are  prepared  to  act  upon  a  policy 
so  selfish,  let  them  at  once  declare  it,  and  not  waste  weeks  upon  a  bill  which 
can  never  become  a  law. 

The  gentleman  from  Maine  endeavored  to  sustain  his  motives  by  attempt 
ing  to  prove  that,  if  the  duties  proposed  by  the  bill  should  be  imposed  upon 
hemp  and  molasses,  it  would  injure,  nay,  probably  destroy  the  navigation  of 
the  country.  Indeed  he  pronounced  its  epitaph.  It  is  gone !  Five  cents 
I  per  gallon  upon  molasses,  and  twenty-five  dollars  per  ton  upon  hemp  will 
sink  our  navigating  interest ;  will  sweep  our  vessels  from  the  ocean !  When 
I  compare  the  storm  of  eloquence  and  of  argument  which  the  gentleman  has 
employed  to  strike  out  hemp  and  molasses  from  this  bill,  with  the  object  to  be 
attained,  he  reminded  me — 

"  Of  ocean  into  tempest  tost 
To  waft  a  feather  or  to  drown  a  fly." 

An  additional  duty  of  five  cents  per  gallon  on  molasses  and  twenty-five  dol 
lars  per  ton  upon  hemp  will  consign  the  navigation  of  the  country  to  inevitable 
and  almost  immediate  destruction !  This  is  the  kind  of  argument  which  the 
gentleman  has  thought  proper  to  address  to  the  committee. 


78  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

The  gentleman  from  Maine  has  said  that  our  navigation  goes  abroad  un 
protected  to  struggle  against  the  world ;  and  he  has  expatiated  at  length 
upon  this  part  of  the  subject.  I  trust  I  shall  be  able  to  prove,  without  fatigu 
ing  the  committee,  that  no  interest  belonging  to  this  or  any  other  country 
ever  received  a  more  continued  or  a  more  efficient  protection  than  the  navi 
gation  of  the  United  States.  I  heartily  approve  this  policy.  I  would  not, 
if  I  could,  withdraw  from  it  an  atom  of  the  protection  which  it  now  enjoys. 
I  shall  never  attempt  to  array  the  great  and  leading  interests  of  the  country 
against  each  other.  I  am  neither  the  exclusive  advocate  of  commerce,  of 
manufactures,  or  of  agriculture.  The  American  System  embraces  them  all 
I  am  the  advocate  of  all.  When,  therefore,  I  attempt  to  show  to  the  com 
mittee  the  protection  which  has  been  extended  by  this  government  to  its 
navigation,  I  do  it  in  reply  to  the  argument  of  the  gentleman  from  Maine, 
and  not  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  that  important  interest. 

Mr.  Buchanan  then  entered  upon  an  elaborate  historical  ex 
amination  of  the  care  for  the  interests  of  our  navigation  that, 
had  been  exerted  by  Congress  from  1789  to  the  time  when  he 
was  speaking.*  On  the  subject  of  the  navy,  as  likely  to  be  af 
fected  by  measures  that  were  complained  of  for  a  tendency  to 
depress  the  commercial  marine,  he  said : 

"The  gentleman  from  Maine  has  used  a  most  astonishing  argument 
against  any  further  protection  to  hemp  and  flax  and  iron.  We  ought  not 
farther  to  encourage  our  farmers  to  grow  flax  and  hemp,  nor  our  manufac 
turers  to  produce  iron.  And  why?  Because  you  will  thus  deprive  the 
navigating  interest  of  the  freight  which  they  earn,  by  carrying  these  articles 
from  Russia  to  this  country.  Can  the  gentleman  be  serious  in  contending 
that,  for  the  sake  of  affording  freight  to  the  ship-owners,  we  ought  to  depend 
upon  a  foreign  country  for  a  supply  of  these  articles  ?  This  argument  strikes 
at  the  root  of  the  whole  American  System.  Upon  the  same  principle  we 
ought  not  to  manufacture  any  article  whatever  at  home,  because  this  will 
deprive  our  ships  of  the  carriage  of  it  from  abroad.  *This  principle,  had  it 
been  adopted  in  practice,  would  have  left  us  where  we  were  at  the  close  of 
the  American  Revolution.  We  should  still  have  been  dependent  upon  for 
eign  nations  for  articles  of  the  first  necessity.  This  argument  amounts  to  a 
proclamation  of  war,  by  our  navigation,  against  the  agriculture  and  manufac 
tures  of  the  country.  You  must  not  produce,  because  we  will  then  lose  the 
carriage,  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  argument.  Am  I  then  to  be  seri- 

*  Mr.  Buchanan's  speech  extended  through  two  sessions  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole. 
After  some  amendments  by  the  Senate,  the  bill  was  finally  passed,  and  was  approved  by  the 
President  May  19, 1828.  The  speech  may  be  found  in  Galcj  &  Seaton's  Register  of  Debates, 
Vol.  IV,  Part  2,  page  2089,  et  seq. 


BUCHANAN    ON   INTERNAL    IMPROVEMENTS.  79 

ously  told,  that  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  our  ship-owners,  our  farmers 
ought  to  be  deprived  of  the  markets  of  their  own  country,  for  those  agricul 
tural  productions  which  they  can  supply  in  abundance  ?  I  did  not  expect  to 
have  heard  such  an  argument  upon  this  floor. 

"  By  encouraging  domestic  industry,  whether  it  be  applied  to  agriculture 
or  manufactures,  you  promote  the  best  interests  of  your  navigation.  You 
furnish  it  with  domestic  exports  to  scatter  over  the  world.  This  is  the  true 
American  System.  It  protects  all  interests;  it  abandons  none.  It  never 
arrays  one  against  another.  Upon  the  principles  of  the  gentleman,  we  ought 
to  sacrifice  all  the  other  interests  of  the  country  to  promote  our  navigation. 
This  is  asking  too  much. 

"  The  gentleman  from  Maine  seems  to  apprehend  great  danger  to  the  navy 
from  the  passage  of  this  bill.  He  appears  to  think  it  will  fall  with  so  much 
oppression  upon  our  navigation  and  fisheries,  that  these  nurseries  of  seamen 
for  the  navy  may  be  greatly  injured,  if  not  altogether  destroyed. 

"In  regard  to  the  value  and  importance  of  a  navy  to  this  country,  I  cor 
dially  agree  with  the  gentleman  from  Maine.  Every  prejudice  of  my  youth 
was  enlisted  in  its  favor,  and  the  judgment  of  riper  years  has  strengthened 
and  confirmed  those  early  impressions.  It  is  the  surest  bond  of  our  Union, 
The  Western  States  have  a  right  to  demand  from  this  government  that  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  shall  be  kept  open,  both  in  war  and  in  peace.  If 
you  should  not  afford  them  a  free  passage  to  the  ocean,  you  cannot  expect  to 
retain  them  in  the  Union;  they  are,  therefore,  as  much,  if  not  more,  inter 
ested  in  cherishing  the  navy  than  any  other  portion  of  the  Republic.  The 
feeling  in  its  favor  contains  in  it  nothing  sectional — it  is  general.  We  are  all 
interested  in  its  preservation  and  extension.  Unlike  standing  armies,  a  navy 
never  did,  nor  ever  will,  destroy  the  liberties  of  any  country.  It  is  our  most 
efficient  and  least  dangerous  arm  of  defence. 

"  To  what,  then,  does  the  argument  of  the  gentleman  lead  ?  Although 
iron,  and  hemp,  and  flax,  and  their  manufactures,  are  essential  to  the  very 
existence  of  a  navy,  yet  he  would  make  us  dependent  for  them  upon  the 
will  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  or  the  King  of  Sweden.  A  statesman  would 
as  soon  think  of  being  dependent  on  a  foreign  nation  for  gunpowder,  or  can 
non,  or  cannon-balls,  or  muskets,  as  he  would  for  the  supply  of  iron,  or  flax, 
or  hemp,  for  our  navy.  Even  if  these  articles  could  not  be  produced  as 
cheaply  in  this  as  in  other  countries,  upon  great  national  principles,  then 
domestic  production  ought  to  be  encouraged,  even  if  it  did  tax  the  com 
munity.  They  are  absolutely  necessary  for  our  defence.  Without  them, 
what  would  become  of  you,  if  engaged  in  war  with  a  great  naval  power  ? 
You  would  then  be  as  helpless  as  if  you  were  deprived  of  gunpowder  or 
of  cannon.  Without  them,  your  navy  would  be  perfectly  useless.  Shall  we, 
then,  in  a  country  calculated  by  nature  above  all  others  for  their  productio^ 
refuse  to  lend  them  a  helping  hand  ?  I  trust  not. 

"  The  gentleman  from  Maine  has  said  much  about  our  fisheries,  and  the 
injurious  effects  which  the  present  bill  will  have  upon  them.  From  this  argu- 


80  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

ment,  I  was  induced  again  to  read  the  bill,  supposing  that  it  might  possibly 
contain  some  latent  provision,  hostile  to  the  fisheries,  which  I  had  not  been 
able  to  detect.  Indeed,  one  might  have  supposed,  judging  merely  from  the 
remarks  of  the  gentleman,  without  a  reference  to  the  bill,  that  it  aimed  a 
deadly  blow  against  this  valuable  branch  of  our  national  industry.  I  could 
find  nothing  in  it,  which  even  touched  the  fisheries.  They  have  ever  been 
special  favorites  of  our  legislation.  I  shall  not  pretend  to  enumerate,  because 
the  task  might  seem  invidious,  the  different  acts  of  Congress  affording  them 
protection.  They  are  numerous.  The  gentleman  has,  in  my  opinion,  been 
very  unfortunate  in  his  complaints  that  they  have  not  been  sufficiently  pro 
tected.  From  the  origin  of  this  government,  they  have  been  cherished,  in 
every  possible  manner,  by  our  legislation.  For  their  benefit  we  have  adopted 
a  system  of  prohibitions,  of  drawbacks,  and  of  bounties,  unknown  to  our 
laws  in  relation  to  any  other  subject.  They  have  grown  into  national  impor 
tance,  and  have  become  a  great  interest  of  the  country.  They  should  con 
tinue  to  be  cherished,  because  they  are  the  best  nurseries  of  our  seamen.  I 
would  not  withdraw  from  them  an  atom  of  the  protection  which  they  have 
received;  on  the  contrary,  I  should  cheerfully  vote  them  new  bounties,  if  new 
bounties  were  necessary  to  sustain  them.  They  are  the  very  last  interest  in 
the  country  which  ought  to  complain. 

"The  gentleman,  whilst  he  strenuously  opposed  any  additional  protection 
to  domestic  iron,  and  domestic  hemp,  surely  could  not  have  remembered,  that 
the  productions  of  the  fisheries  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the  home  market.  The 
duties  in  their  favor  are  so  high  as  to  exclude  foreign  competition.  We  do 
not  ask  such  prohibitory  duties  upon  foreign  iron,  flax,  or  hemp.  We  demand 
but  a  moderate  increase ;  and  yet  the  fisheries,  which  are  protected  by  pro 
hibitory  duties,  meet  us  and  deny  to  us  this  reasonable  request. 


That  Mr.  Buchanan's  opposition  to  the  administration  of  Mr. 
John  Quincy  Adams  was  not  carried  on  in  the  spirit  of  a  partisan 
is  evinced  by  his  action  on  an  appropriation  asked  for  to  enable 
the  Executive  to  continue  and  complete  a  system  of  surveys, 
preparatory  to  a  general  plan  of  internal  improvements.  There 
was  much  opposition  to  this  appropriation,  especially  on  the 
part  of  those  who  denied  the  power  of  the  General  Government 
to  make  such  public  works  as  were  then  classed  as  "  internal 
improvements."  Mr.  Buchanan  met  their  objections  as  fol 
lows  : 

Mr.  Buchanan  expressed  his  dissent  from  the  opinions  avowed  by  the 
two  gentlemen  who  had  preceded  him.  The  true  question  ought  to  be  dis 
tinctly  stated.  The  act  of  1824  sanctioned  the  policy,  not  of  immediately 
entering  upon  a  plan  of  internal  improvement,  but  of  preparing  for  it,  by 


CUMBERLAND    ROAD.  81 

obtaining  surveys,  plans,  and  estimates  in  relation  to  the  various  roads  and 
canals  that  were  required  throughout  the  country.  The  sum  of  $30,000  had 
been  appropriated,  not  for  a  single  year,  but  for  a  specific  purpose,  which 
purpose  had  not  yet  been  accomplished.  Many  surveys  were  now  in  pro 
gress,  which  were  not  more  than  half  completed,  and  the  question  was 
whether  the  House  would  withdraw  the  mean3  of  completing  them.  A  dis 
cussion  of  the  general  policy  of  the  plan  was  out  of  place  on  an  appropriation 
bill.  Whatever  might  be  decided  as  to  carrying  such  a  system  of  internal 
improvement  into  effect,  these  surveys  were  of  great  advantage  to  the  Amer 
ican  people.  Should  that  system  never  be  adopted,  this  mass  of  information 
could  not  fail  to  be  useful.  The  constitutional  question  of  power  did  not 
fairly  arise  on  a  proposal  to  employ  the  engineers  already  at  the  disposal  of 
the  War  Department,  in  a  particular  manner. 

Should  the  time  ever  arrive  when  we  have  more  in  the  Treasury  than  we 
know  what  to  do  with,  the  argument  of  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  [Mr. 
Barbour]  might  have  some  force.  But  the  question  now  was,  whether  the 
House  would  arrest  these  surveys  ?  Mr.  B.,  for  one,  would  not  do  it.  He 
would  give  the  administration  the  sum  now  asked,  and  would  hold  them 
responsible  for  its  application. 

There  is  no  more  interesting  part  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  early  Con 
gressional  career  than  his  course  on  the  subject  of  the  Cumber 
land  Road.  We  have  seen  that  when  he  first  had  occasion  to  act  on 
this  subject  as  a  member  of  Congress,  he  was  inclined  to  accept 
the  doctrine  that  Congress  had  power  to  establish  this  road,  and  to 
levy  tolls  for  its  support.  But  he  had  not  then  closely  examined 
this  subject.  Mr.  Monroe's  message  vetoing  the  Cumberland 
Road  bill  of  1822  produced  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  mind  a  decided 
change.  At  a  subsequent  session,  he  endeavored,  but  without 
success,  to  have  the  road  retroceded  to  the  States  through  which 
it  passed,  on  condition  that  they  would  support  it  by  levying 
tolls.*  In  1828-29  he  renewed  this  effort,  and  on  the  29th  of 
January,  1829,  he  made  an  elaborate  speech  upon  the  whole 
subject,  which  is  of  sufficient  interest  and  importance  to  warrant 
its  reproduction  entire.  As  a  constitutional  argument  it  is  valu 
able  ;  and  for  its  independent  attitude  towards  the  people  of  his 
own  State,  it  is  exceedingly  creditable  to  him  as  a  public  man. 

*  Mr.  Buchanan's  proposal  was  not  adopted,  and  on  the  2d  of  March,  1829,  the  President, 
Mr.  Adams,  approved  "  An  act  for  the  continuation  of  the  Cumberland  Road."  Mr.  Buchanan 
voted  against  this  bill,  saying  that  he  did  so  reluctantly,  but  that  now  the  House  had  voted 
to  keep  the  Cumberland  Road  in  repair,  by  erecting  toll-gates  upon  it  under  the  authority  of 
the  Federal  Government,  and  so  long  as  this  pretension  continued  to  be  set  up,  he  would  not 
vote  for  the  construction  of  any  road  intended,  after  its  completion,  to  be  thus  placed  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  as  he  believed  it  to  be  entirely  unconstitutional. 
I.— 6 


82  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  that  the  bill  and  the  amendment  now  before  the  com 
mittee  presented  a  subject  for  discussion  of  the  deepest  interest  to  the  Ameri 
can  people.  It  is  not  a  question  (said  Mr.  B.)  whether  we  shall  keep  the 
road  in  repair  by  appropriations ;  nor  whether  we  shall  expend  other  millions 
in  constructing  other  Cumberland  roads — these  would  be  comparatively  un 
important;  but  it  is  a  question  upon  the  determination  of  which,  in  my  hum 
ble  judgment,  depend  the  continued  existence  of  the  Federal  Constitution  in 
anything  like  its  native  purity.  Let  it  once  be  established  that  the  Federal 
Government  can  enter  the  dominion  of  the  States;  interfere  with  their  domes 
tic  concerns ;  erect  toll-gates  over  r,ll  the  military,  commercial,  and  post-roads 
within  their  territories,  and  define  and  punish,  by  laws  of  Congress,  in  the 
courts  of  the  United  States,  offences  committed  upon  these  roads, — and  the 
barriers  which  were  erected  by  our  ancestors  with  so  much  care,  between 
Federal  and  State  power,  are  entirely  prostrated.  This  single  act  would,  in 
itself,  be  a  longer  stride  towards  consolidation  than  the  Federal  Government 
have  ever  made ;  and  it  would  be  a  precedent  for  establishing  a  construction 
for  the  Federal  Constitution  so  vague  and  so  indefinite,  that  it  might  be  made 
to  mean  anything  or  nothing. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  upon  the  present  occasion,  again  to  agitate  the  ques 
tions  which  have  so  often  been  discussed  in  this  House,  as  to  the  powers  of 
Congress  in  regard  to  internal  improvements.  For  my  own  part,  I  cheerfully 
accord  to  the  Federal  Government  the  power  of  subscribing  stock,  in  com 
panies  incorporated  by  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  making  roads  and  canals ; 
and  I  entertain  no  doubt  whatever  but  that  we  can,  under  the  Constitution, 
appropriate  the  money  of  our  constituents  directly  to  the  construction  of  in 
ternal  improvements,  with  the  consent  of  the  States  through  which  they  may 
pass.  These  powers  I  shall  ever  be  willing  to  exercise,  upon  all  proper  occa 
sions.  But  I  shall  never  be  driven  to  support  any  road,  or  any  canal,  which 
my  judgment  disapproves,  by  a  fear  of  the  senseless  clamor  which  is  always 
attempted  to  be  raised  against  members  upon  this  floor,  as  enemies  to  internal 
improvement,  who  dare  to  vote  against  any  measure  which  the  Committee 
on  Roads  and  Canals  think  proper  to  bring  before  this  House.  It  was  my 
intention  to  discuss  the  power  of  Congress  to  pass  the  bill,  and  its  policy,  sep 
arately.  Upon  reflection  I  find  these  subjects  are  39  intimately  blended,  they 
cannot  be  separated.  I  shall  therefore  consider  them  together. 

"  Before,  however,  I  enter  upon  the  subject,  it  will  be  necessary  to  present 
a  short  historical  sketch  of  the  Cumberland  Road.  It  owes  its  origin  to  a 
compact  between  the  State  of  Ohio  and  the  United  States.  In  1802,  Con 
gress  proposed  to  the  convention  which  formed  the  constitution  of  Ohio,  that 
they  would  grant  to  that  State  one  section  of  land  to  each  township,  for  the 
use  of  schools ;  that  they  would  also  grant  to  it  several  tracts  of  land  on 
which  there  were  salt  springs ;  and  that  five  per  cent,  of  the  net  proceeds  of 
the  future  sale  of  public  lands  within  its  territory  should  be  applied  to  the 
purpose  of  making  public  roads,  *  leading  from  the  navigable  waters  emptying 
into  the  Atlantic  to  the  Ohio,  to  the  said  State,  and  through  the  same.'  The 


CUMBERLAND   ROAD.  33 

act,  however,  distinctly  declares  that  such  roads  shall  be  laid  out  under  the 
authority  of  Congress,  '  with  the  consent  of  the  several  States  through  which 
the  road  shall  pass.'  These  terms  were  offered  by  Congress,  to  the  State  of 
Ohio,  provided  she  would  exempt,  by  an  irrevocable  ordinance,  all  the  land 
which  should  be  sold  by  the  United  States  within  her  territory,  from  every 
species  of  taxation,  for  the  space  of  five  years,  after  the  day  of  sale.  This 
proposition  of  Congress  was  accepted  by  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  it  thus 
became  a  compact,  the  terms  of  which  could  not  be  changed  without  the 
consent  of  both  the  contracting  parties.  By  the  terms  of  the  compact,  this 
five  per  cent,  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  land  was  applicable 
to  two  objects ;  the  first,  the  construction  of  roads  leading  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  State  of  Ohio ;  and  the  second,  the  construction  of  roads  within  that 
State.  In  1803,  Congress,  at  the  request  of  Ohio,  apportioned  this  fund 
between  these  two  objects.  Three  of  the  five  per  cent,  was  appropriated  to 
the  construction  of  roads  within  the  State,  leaving  only  two  per  cent,  appli 
cable  to  roads  leading  from  the  navigable  waters  of  the  Atlantic  to  it. 

"  In  March,  1806,  Congress  determined  to  apply  this  two  per  cent,  fund 
to  the  object  for  which  it  was  destined,  and  passed  '  an  act  to  regulate  the 
laying  out  and  making  of  a  road  from  Cumberland,  in  the  State  of  Mary 
land,  to  the  State  of  Ohio.'  Under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  before  the 
President  could  proceed  to  cut  a  single  tree  upon  the  route  of  the  road,  it  was 
made  necessary  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  States  through  which  it  passed. 
The  Federal  Government  asked  Maryland,  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  for  per 
mission  to  make  it,  and  each  of  them  granted  this  privilege  in  the  same  man 
ner  that  they  would  have  done  to  a  private  individual,  or  to  a  corporation 
created  by  their  own  laws.  Congress,  at  that  day,  asserted  no  other  right 
than  a  mere  power  to  appropriate  the  money  of  their  constituents  to  the  con 
struction  of  this  road,  after  the  consent  of  these  States  should  be  obtained. 
The  idea  of  a  sovereign  power  in  this  government  to  make  the  road,  and  to 
exercise  jurisdiction  over  it,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  it  in  repair,  does  not, 
then,  appear  to  have  ever  entered  the  imagination  of  the  warmest  advocate 
for  Federal  power.  The  federalism  of  that  day  would  have  shrunk  with  horror 
from  such  a  spectre.  There  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  remark  in  the  act  of 
the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  which  was  passed  in  April,  1807,  authorizing 
the  President  of  the  United  States  to  open  this  road.  It  grants  this  power 
upon  condition  that  the  road  should  pass  through  Uniontown  and  Washing 
ton,  if  practicable.  The  grant  was  accepted  upon  this  condition,  and  the 
road  was  constructed.  Its  length  is  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles,  and  its 
construction  and  repairs  have  cost  the  United  States  one  million  seven  hun 
dred  and  sixty-six  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  dollars  and  thirty- 
eight  cents ;  whilst  the  two  per  cent,  fund  which  we  had  bound  ourselves  to 
apply  to  this  purpose,  amounted,  on  the  30th  of  June,  1822,  the  date  of  the 
last  official  statement  within  my  knowledge,  only  to  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty-seven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-six  dollars  and  thirty- 
one  cents,  less  than  one-ninth  of  the  cost  of  the  road.  This  road  has  cost  the 


84  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

United  States  more  than  thirteen  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  per  mile. 
This  extravagant  expenditure  shows  conclusively  that  it  is  much  more  politic  for 
us  to  enlist  individual  interest  in  the  cause  of  Internal  Improvement,  by  sub 
scribing  stock,  than  to  become  ourselves  sole  proprietors.  Any  government, 
unless  under  extraordinary  circumstances,  will  pay  one-third  more  for  con 
structing  a  road  or  canal,  than  would  be  expended  by  individuals  in  accom 
plishing  the  same  object. 

"  I  shall  now  proceed  to  the  argument.  Upon  a  review  of  this  brief  his 
tory,  what  is  the  conclusion  at  which  we  must  arrive  ?  That  this  road  was 
made  by  the  United  States,  as  a  mere  proprietor,  to  carry  into  effect  a  con 
tract  with  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  not  as  a  sovereign.  In  its  construction,  the 
Federal  Government  proceeded  as  any  corporation  or  private  individual  would 
have  done.  We  asked  the  States  for  permission  to  make  the  road  through 
the  territories  over  which  their  sovereign  authority  extended.  After  that 
permission  had  been  obtained,  we  appropriated  the  money  and  constructed 
the  road.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania  even  annexed  a  condition  to  her  grant, 
with  which  the  United  States  complied.  She  also  conferred  upon  the  agents 
of  the  United  States  the  power  of  taking  materials  for  the  construction  and 
repair  of  this  road,  without  the  consent  of  the  owner,  making  a  just  compen 
sation  therefor.  This  compensation  was  to  be  ascertained  under  the  laws  of 
the  State,  and  not  under  those  of  the  United  States.  The  mode  of  proceeding 
to  assess  damages  in  such  cases  against  the  United  States  was  precisely  the 
same  as  it  is  against  corporations,  created  by  her  own  laws,  for  the  purpose 
of  constructing  roads. 

"What,  then,  does  this  precedent  establish?  Simply,  that  the  United 
States  may  appropriate  money  for  the  construction  of  a  road  through  the 
territories  of  a  State,  with  its  consent;  and  I  do  not  entertain  the  least  doubt 
but  that  we  possess  this  power.  What  does  the  present  bill  propose  ?  To 
change  the  character  which  the  United  States  has  hitherto  sustained,  in  rela 
tion  to  this  road,  from  that  of  a  simple  proprietor  to  a  sovereign.  To  declare 
to  the  nation,  that,  although  they  had  to  ask  the  States  of  Maryland,  Penn 
sylvania  and  Virginia,  for  permission  to  make  the  road,  now,  after  it  is  com 
pleted,  they  will  exercise  jurisdiction  over  it,  and  collect  tolls  upon  it,  under 
the  authority  of  their  own  laws,  for  the  purpose  of  l$eeping  it  in  repair.  We 
will  not  ask  the  States  to  erect  toll-gates  for  us.  We  are  determined  to  exer 
cise  that  power  ourselves.  The  Federal  Government  first  introduced  itself 
into  the  States  as  a  friend,  by  permission ;  it  now  wishes  to  hold  possession 
as  a  sovereign,  by  power.  This  road  was  made  in  the  manner  that  one  inde 
pendent  sovereign  would  construct  a  road  through  the  territories  of  another. 
Had  Virginia  been  a  party  to  the  compact  with  Ohio,  instead  of  the  United 
States,  she  would  have  asked  the  permission  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 
to  construct  the  Cumberland  Road  through  their  territories,  and  it  would  have 
been  granted.  But  what  would  have  been  our  astonishment,  after  this  per 
mission,  had  Virginia  attempted  to  assume  jurisdiction  over  the  road  in  Penn 
sylvania,  to  erect  toll-gates  upon  it  under  the  authority  of  her  own  laws,  and 


CUMBERLAND  ROAD.  85 

to  punish  offenders  against  these  laws  in  her  own  courts.    Yet  the  two  cases 
are  nearly  parallel, 

The  right  to  demand  toll,  and  to  stop  and  punish  passengers  for  refusing  to 
pay  it,  is  emphatically  a  sovereign  right,  and  has  ever  been  so  considered 
amongst  civilized  nations.  The  power  to  erect  toll-gates  necessarily  implies, 
1st,  The  stoppage  of  the  passenger  until  he  shall  pay  the  toll;  2d,  His  trial 
and  punishment,  if  he  should,  either  by  force  or  by  fraud,  evade,  or  attempt 
to  evade,  its  payment ;  3d,  A  discretionary  power  as  to  the  amount  of  toll ; 
4th,  The  trial  and  punishment  of  persons  who  may  wilfully  injure  the  road, 
or  violate  the  police  established  upon  it.  These  powers  are  necessarily  im 
plied.  Without  the  exercise  of  them,  you  could  not  proceed  with  safety  to 
collect  the  toll  for  a  single  day.  Other  powers  will  soon  be  exercised.  If 
you  compel  passengers  to  pay  toll,  the  power  of  protecting  them  whilst 
travelling  along  your  road  is  almost  a  necessary  incident.  The  sovereign, 
who  receives  the  toll,  ought  naturally  to  possess  the  power  of  protecting  him 
who  pays  it.  To  vest  the  power  of  demanding  toll  in  one  sovereign,  and  the 
protection  of  the  traveller's  person  in  another,  would  be  almost  an  absurdity. 
The  Federal  Government  would  probably,  ere  long,  exercise  the  power  of 
trying  and  punishing  murders  and  robberies,  and  all  other  offences  committed 
upon  the  road.  To  what  jurisdiction  would  the  trial  and  punishment  of  these 
offences  necessarily  belong  ?  To  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  and  to  them 
alone.  In  Ohio,  in  New  York,  in  Virginia,  and  in  Maryland,  it  has  been  de 
termined  that  State  courts,  even  if  Congress  should  confer  it,  have  no  juris 
diction  over  any  penal  action,  or  criminal  offence,  against  the  laws  of  the 
United  States.  Even  if  these  decisions  were  incorrect,  still  it  has  never  been 
seriously  contended  that  State  courts  were  bound  to  take  jurisdiction  in  such 
cases.  It  must  be  admitted,  by  all,  that  Congress  have  not  the  power  to 
compel  an  execution  of  their  criminal  or  penal  laws  by  the  courts  of  the 
States.  This  is  sufficient  for  my  argument.  Even  if  the  power  existed,  in 
State  courts,  they  never  ought,  unless  upon  extraordinary  occasions,  to  try 
and  to  punish  offences  committed  against  the  United  States.  The  peace  and 
the  harmony  of  the  people  of  this  country  require  that  the  powers  of  the 
two  governments  should  never  be  blended.  The  dividing  line  between  their 
separate  jurisdictions  should  be  clearly  marked ;  otherwise  dangerous  col 
lisions  between  them  must  be  the  inevitable  consequence.  In  two  of  the 
States  through  which  this  road  passes,  it  has  already  been  determined  that 
their  courts  cannot  take  jurisdiction  over  offences  committed  against  the  laws 
of  Congress.  What,  then,  is  the  inevitable  consequence  ?  All  the  penal 
enactments  of  this  bill,  or  of  the  future  bills  which  it  will  become  necessary 
to  pass  to  supply  its  defects,  must  be  carried  into  execution  by  the  Federal 
courts.  Any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  charged  with  the  most  trifling 
offence  against  the  police  of  this  road,  must  be  dragged  for  trial  to  the  Fed 
eral  court  of  that  State  within  whose  jurisdiction  it  is  alleged  to  have  been 
committed.  If  committed  in  Maryland,  the  trial  must  take  place  in  Balti 
more  ;  if  in  Pennsylvania,  at  Clarksburg. 


86  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

The  distance  of  one  hundred  or  two  hundred  miles,  which  he  would  bo 
compelled  to  travel  to  take  his  trial,  and  the  expenses  which  he  must  neces 
sarily  incur,  would,  in  themselves,  be  a  severe  punishment  for  a  more 
aggravated  offence.  Besides,  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  would  be 
harassed  in  attending  as  witnesses  at  such  a  great  distance  from  their  places 
of  abode.  These,  and  many  other  inconveniences,  which  I  shall  not 
enumerate,  would  soon  compel  Congress  to  authorize  the  appointment  of 
justices  of  the  peace,  or  some  other  inferior  tribunals,  along  the  whole  extent 
of  the  Cumberland  Road. 

Can  any  man  lay  his  hand  upon  his  heart  and  say  that,  in  his  conscience, 
he  believes  the  Federal  Constitution  ever  intended  to  bestow  such  powers  on 
Congress  ?  The  great  divisions  of  power,  distinctly  marked  in  that  instru 
ment,  are  external  and  internal.  The  first  are  conferred  upon  the  General 
Government — the  last,  with  but  few  exceptions,  and  those  distinctly  denned, 
remain  in  possession  of  the  States.  It  never — never  was  intended  that  the 
¥ast  and  mighty  machinery  of  this  Government  should  be  introduced  into  the 
domestic,  the  local,  the  interior  concerns  of  the  Slates,  or  that  it  should  spend 
its  power  in  collecting  toll  at  a  turnpike  gate.  I  have  not  been  presenting 
possible  cases  to  the  committee.  I  have  confined  myself  to  what  must  be 
the  necessary  effects  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  now  before  us.  By  what  au 
thority  is  such  a  tremendous  power  claimed  ?  That  it  is  not  expressly  given 
by  the  Constitution,  is  certain.  If  it  exists  at  all,  it  must,  therefore,  be  in 
cidental  to  some  express  power ;  and  in  the  language  of  the  Constitution,  "  be 
necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  that  power  into  execution."  From  the 
very  nature  of  incidental  power,  it  cannot  transcend  the  specific  power  which 
calls  it  into  existence.  The  stream  cannot  flow  higher  than  its  fountain.  This 
principle  applies,  with  peculiar  force,  to  the  construction  of  the  Constitution. 
For  the  purpose  of  carrying  into  effect  any  of  its  specific  powers,  it  would 
be  absurd  to  contend  that  you  might  exercise  another  power,  greater  and 
more  dangerous  than  that  expressly  given.  The  means  must  be  subordinate 
to  the  end.  Were  any  other  construction  to  prevail,  this  Government  would 
no  longer  be  one  of  limited  powers. 

The  present  case  affords  a  striking  and  forcible  illustration  of  this  principle. 
Let  it  be  granted  that  you  have  a  right,  as  proprietor,  by  the  permission  of 
the  States,  to  make  a  road  through  their  territories,  can  it  ever  follow,  as  an 
incident  to  this  mere  power  of  appropriating  the  public  money,  that  you  may 
exercise  jurisdiction  over  this  very  road,  as  a  sovereign?  If  you  could,  the 
iucident  is  as  much  greater  than  the  principal,  as  sovereign  is  superior  to  in 
dividual  power.  It  does  follow  that  you  can  keep  the  road  in  repair,  by  ap 
propriations,  in  the  same  manner  that  you  have  made  it ;  but  this  is  the  utmost 
limit  of  your  power.  What,  Sir?  Exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  road,  for 
its  preservation,  and  for  the  punishment  of  all  offenders  who  travel  upon  it, 
and  that  as  an  incident  to  the  mere  power  of  expending  your  money  upon  its 
construction  !  The  idea  is  absurd. 

Under  the  power  given  to  Congress  "  to  establish  post  offices  and  post 


CUMBERLAND  ROAD.  87 

roads,"  the  Federal  Government  possess  the  undoubted  right  of  converting 
any  road  already  constructed,  within  any  State  of  this  Union,  into  a  post 
road. 

Let  it  also  be  granted,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  they  possess  the 
power,  independently  of  the  will  of  the  States,  to  construct  as  many  post 
roads  throughout  the  Union  as  they  think  proper,  and  to  keep  them  in  re 
pair  ;  does  it  follow  that  they  can  establish  toll-gates  upon  such  roads  ? 
Certainly  not.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  power  conferred  upon  Congress? 
It  is  a  mere  right  to  carry  and  to  protect  the  mails.  It  is  confined  to  a  single 
purpose — to  the  transportation  of  the  mail,  and  the  punishment  of  offences 
which  violate  that  right.  This  is  the  sole  object  of  the  power—  the  sole  pur 
pose  for  which  it  was  called  into  existence.  Over  some  post  roads,  the  mail 
is  carried  once  per  day,  and  over  others  once  per  week.  With  what  justice 
can  it  be  contended  that  this  right  of  passage  for  a  single  purpose — this 
occasional  use  of  the  roads  within  the  different  States  for  post  roads — vests  in 
Congress  the  power  of  closing  up  these  roads  against  all  the  citizens  of  those 
States,  at  all  times,  until  they  have  paid  such  a  toll  as  we  think  proper  to  im 
pose.  Let  me  present  the  naked  argument  of  gentlemen  before  their  own 
eyes.  Congress  have  the  right,  under  the  Constitution,  "  to  establish  post 
offices  and  post  roads."  As  an  incident  they  possess  the  power  of  construct 
ing  post  roads.  As  another  incident  to  this  right  of  passage  for  a  single  pur 
pose  they  possess  the  power  to  assume  jurisdiction  over  all  post  roads  in  the 
different  States,  and  prevent  any  person  from  passing  over  them,  unless  upon 
such  terms  as  they  may  prescribe.  This  would,  indeed,  be  construction  con 
strued.  I  would  like  the  gentleman  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Mercer)  to  furnish 
the  committee  with  an  answer  to  this  argument.  If  I  were  to  grant  to  that 
gentleman  a  right  of  passage,  for  a  particular  purpose  only,  over  a  road 
which  belonged  to  me,  what  would  be  my  surprise  and  my  indignation,  were 
he  to  shut  it  iip,  by  the  erection  of  toll-gates,  and  prohibited  me  from  passing 
unless  I  paid  him  toll. 

Should  Congress  act  upon  the  precedent  which  the  passage  of  this  bill  would 
establish,  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  the  dangers  which  must  follow,  to  the 
States  and  to  the  people  of  this  country.  Upon  this  branch  of  the  question, 
permit  me  to  quote  the  language  of  Mr.  Monroe,  in  his  celebrated  message  of 
May,  1822,  denying  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  erect  toll-gates 
on  the  Cumberland  Road.  "  If,"  said  he,  "  the  United  States  possessed  the 
power  contended  for  under  this  grant,  might  they  not,  on  adopting  the  roads 
of  the  individual  States  for  the  carriage  of  the  mail,  as  has  been  done,  as 
sume  jurisdiction  over  them,  and  preclude  a  right  to  interfere  with,  or  alter 
them  ?  Might  they  not  establish  turnpikes,  and  exercise  all  the  other  acts  of 
sovereignty  above  stated,  over  such  roads,  necessary  to  protect  them  from 
injury,  and  defray  the  expense  of  repairing  them  ?  Surely,  if  the  right  exists, 
these  consequences  necessarily  followed,  as  soon  as  the  road  was  established. 
The  absurdity  of  such  a  pretension  must  be  apparent  to  all  who  examine  it. 
In  this  way,  a  large  portion  of  the  territory  of  every  State  might  be  taken 


88  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

from  it;  for  there  is  scarcely  a  road  in  any  State  which  will  not  be  used  for 
the  transportation  of  the  mail.  A  new  field  for  legislation  and  internal 
government  would  thus  be  opened."  Arguments  of  the  same  nature  would 
apply  with  equal,  if  not  greater  force,  to  those  roads  which  might  be  used  by 
the  United  States  for  the  transportation  of  military  stores,  or  as  the  medium 
of  commerce  between  the  different  States.  I  shall  not  now  enlarge  upon 
this  branch  of  the  subject,  believing  it,  as  I  do,  to  be  wholly  unnecessary. 

There  is  another  view  of  this  subject,  which  I  deem  to  be  conclusive.  The 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  provides  that  "  Congress  shall  have  power 
to  exercise  exclusive  legislation,  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  such  district 
(not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  may,  by  cession  of  particular  States,  and 
the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  exercise  the  like  authority  over  all  places  purchased  by  the 
consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in  which  the  same  shall  be,  for  the 
erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards  and  other  needful  buildings." 
This  is  the  only  clause  in  the  Constitution  which  authorizes  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  to  acquire  jurisdiction  over  any  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  States ; 
and  this  power  is  expressly  confined  to  such  forts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dock 
yards,  and  other  needful  buildings,  as  the  States  may  consider  necessary  for 
the  defence  of  the  country.  You  will  thus,  Sir,  perceive  with  what  jealousy 
our  ancestors  conferred  jurisdiction  upon  this  Government — even  over  such 
places  as  were  absolutely  necessary  for  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  war. 
This  power, — which  is  the  power  of  self-defence — of  self-preservation — the 
power  given  to  this  Government  of  wielding  the  whole  physical  force  of  the 
country  for  the  preservation  of  its  existence  and  its  liberties — does  not  con 
fer  any  implied  jurisdiction  over  the  smallest  portion  of  territory.  An  ex 
press  authority  is  given  to  acquire  jurisdiction,  for  military  and  for  naval  pur 
poses,  and  for  them  alone,  with  the  consent  of  the  States.  Unless  that  con 
sent  has  been  first  obtained,  the  vast  power  of  war  confers  no  incidental 
jurisdiction,  even  over  the  cannon  in  your  national  fortifications.  How,  then, 
can  it  be  contended,  with  the  least  hope  of  success,  that  the  same  Constitution, 
which  thus  expressly  limits  our  power  of  acquiring  jurisdiction,  to  particular 
spots,  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  national  defence,  should,  by  implication,  as 
an  incident  to  the  power  to  establish  post  offices  and  £ost  roads,  authorize  us 
to  assume  jurisdiction  over  a  road  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  in  length,  and 
over  all  the  other  post  roads  in  the  country.  If  this  construction  be  correct, 
all  the  limitations  upon  Federal  power,  contained  in  the  Constitution,  are  idle 
and  vain.  There  is  no  power  which  this  Government  shall  ever  wish  to 
usurp,  which  cannot,  by  ingenuity,  be  found  lurking  in  some  of  the  express 
powers  granted  by  the  Constitution.  In  my  humble  judgment,  the  argument 
in  favor  of  the  constructive  power  to  pass  the  sedition  law  is  much  more 
plausible  than  any  that  can  be  urged  by  the  advocates  of  this  bill,  in  favor  of 
its  passage.  I  beg  gentlemen  to  reflect,  before  they  vote  in  its  favor. 

I  thank  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  (Mr,  Vance)  for  having  reminded  me  of 
the  resolution  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  at  their  last  session, 


CUMBERLAND  ROAD.  89 

which  authorizes  the  Federal  Government  to  erect  toll-gates  upon  this  road, 
within  that  Commonwealth ;  to  "  enforce  the  collection  of  tolls,  and,  gener 
ally,  to  do  and  perform  any  and  every  other  act  and  thing  which  may  be 
deemed  necessary,  to  ensure  the  permanent  repair  and  preservation  of  the 
said  road." 

I  feel  the  most  unfeigned  respect  for  the  Legislature  of  my  native  State. 
Their  deliberate  opinion,  upcn  any  subject,  will  always  have  a  powerful  in 
fluence  over  my  judgment.  It  is  fairly  entitled  to  as  much  consideration  as 
the  opinion  of  this  or  any  other  legislative  body  in  the  Union.  This  resolu 
tion,  however,  was  adopted,  as  I  have  been  informed,  without  much  delibera 
tion  and  without  debate.  It  owes  its  passage  to  the  anxious  desire  which 
that  body  feel  to  preserve  the  Cumberland  Road  from  ruin.  The  constitutional 
question  was  not  brought  into  discussion.  Had  it  been  fairly  submitted  to 
that  Republican  Legislature,  I  most  solemnly  believe  they  would  have  been 
the  last  in  this  Union  to  sanction  the  assumption,  by  this  Government,  of  a 
jurisdiction  so  ultra-Federal  in  its  nature,  and  so  well  calculated  to  destroy  the 
rights  of  the  States. 

But  this  resolution  can  have  no  influence  upon  the  present  discussion.  The 
people  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  never  conferred  upon  their  Legislature 
the  power  to  cede  jurisdiction  over  any  portion  of  their  territory  to  the 
United  States,  or  to  any  other  sovereign.  If  the  Legislatures  of  the  different 
States  could  exercise  such  a  power,  the  road  to  consolidation  would  be  direct. 
If  they  can  cede  jurisdiction  to  this  Government  over  any  portion  of  their 
territories,  they  can  cede  the  whole,  and  thus  altogether  destroy  the  Federal 
system. 

Even  if  the  States  possessed  the  power  to  cede,  the  United  States  have  no 
power  to  accept  such  cessions.  Their  authority  to  accept  cessions  of  juris 
diction  is  confined  to  places  "  for  the  erection  of  forts,  magazines,  arsenals, 
dockyards  and  other  needful  buildings."  Mr.  Monroe,  in  the  message  to 
which  I  have  already  referred,  declares  his  opinion  "  that  Congress  do  not 
possess  this  power ;  that  the  States,  individually,  cannot  grant  it ;  for, 
although  they  may  assent  to  the  appropriation  of  money,  within  their  limits, 
for  such  purposes,  they  can  grant  no  power  of  jurisdiction,  or  sovereignty,  by 
special  compacts  with  the  United  States." 

I  think  it  is  thus  rendered  abundantly  clear  that,  if  Congress  do  not  possess 
the  power,  under  the  Federal  Constitution,  to  pass  this  bill,  the  States  through 
which  the  road  passes  cannot  confer  it  upon  them.  I  feel  convinced  that  even 
the  gentleman  who  reported  this  bill  (Mr.  Mercer)  will  not  contend  that  the 
resolution  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  could  bestow  any  jurisdiction 
upon  the  Government.  I  am  justified  in  this  reference,  because  that  resolu 
tion  is,  in  its  nature,  conditional,  and  requires  that  the  amount  of  tolls  col 
lected  in  Pennsylvania  shall  be  applied,  exclusively,  to  the  repair  of  the  road 
within  that  State ;  and  the  present  bill  contains  no  provision  to  carry  this 
condition  into  effect.  The  gentleman  cannot,  therefore,  derive  his  authority 
to  pass  this  bill  from  a  grant  the  provisions  of  which  he  has  disregarded. 


90  LIFE    OP   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

This  question  has  already  been  settled,  so  far  as  a  solemn  legislative  prece 
dent  can  settle  any  question.  During  the  session  of  1821-2,  a  bill,  similar  in 
its  provisions  to  the  one  now  before  the  committee,  passed  both  Houses  of 
Congress.  The  vote,  on  its  passage  in  this  House,  was  eighty-seven  in  the 
affirmative,  and  sixty-eight  in  the  negative.  Mr.  Monroe,  then  President  of 
the  United  States,  returned  this  bill  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  his 
objections.  So  powerful,  and  so  convincing,  were  his  arguments,  that,  upon 
its  reconsideration,  but  sixty-eight  members  voted  in  the  affirmative,  whilst 
seventy-two  voted  in  the  negative.  Thus,  Sir,  you  perceive,  that  this  House 
have  already  solemnly  declared,  in  accordance  with  the  deliberate  opinion  of 
the  late  President  of  the  United  States,  that  Congress  do  not  possess  the 
power  to  erect  toll-gates  upon  the  Cumberland  Road.  That  distinguished  in 
dividual  was  the  last  of  the  race  of  Revolutionary  Presidents,  and,  from  the 
soundness  of  his  judgment  and  the  elevated  stations  which  he  has  occupied, 
his  opinion  is  entitled  to  the  utmost  respect.  He  was  an  actor  in  many  of  the 
political  scenes  of  that  day  when  the  Constitution  was  framed,  and  when  it. 
went  into  operation,  under  the  auspices  of  Washington — "  all  which  he  saw, 
and  part  of  which  he  was."  He  is,  therefore,  one  of  the  few  surviving 
statesmen  who,  from  actual  knowledge,  can  inform  the  present  generation 
what  were  the  opinions  of  the  past.  The  solemnity  and  the  ability  with 
which  he  has  resisted  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  pass  this  bill 
prove,  conclusively,  the  great  importance  which  he  attached  to  the  subject. 

During  that  session,  I  first  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this  House ;  I  voted 
for  the  passage  of  that  bill.  I  had  not  reflected  upon  the  constitutional 
question,  and  I  was  an  advocate  of  the  policy  of  keeping  the  road  in 
repair  by  collecting  tolls  from  those  who  travelled  upon  it.  After  I  read 
the  constitutional  objections  of  Mr.  Monroe  my  opinion  was  changed, 
and  I  have  ever  since  been  endeavoring,  upon  all  proper  occasions,  to  atone 
for  my  vote,  by  advocating  a  cession  of  the  road  to  the  respective  States 
through  which  it  passes,  that  they  may  erect  toll-gates  upon  it  and  keep  it  in 
repair. 

There  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  this  country — 1  refer  to  the  days  of  the 
first  President  of  the  United  States — when  the  Government  was  feeble,  and 
when,  in  addition  to  its  own  powers,  the  weight  of  Jis  personal  character  was 
necessary  fairly  to  put  it  in  motion.  Jealousy  of  Federal  power  was  then  the 
order  of  the  day.  The  gulf  of  consolidation  then  yawned  before  the  imagina 
tion  of  many  of  our  wisest  and  best  patriots,  ready  to  swallow  up  the  rights  of 
the  States  and  the  liberties  of  the  people.  In  those  days,  this  vast  machine 
had  scarcely  got  into  regular  motion.  Its  power  and  its  patronage  were 
then  in  their  infancy,  and  there  was,  perhaps,  more  danger  that  the  jealousy 
of  the  States  should  destroy  efficiency  of  the  Federal  Government  than  that 
it  should  crush  their  power.  Times  have  changed.  The  days  of  its  feeble 
ness  and  of  childhood  have  passed  away.  It  is  now  a  giant — a  Briareus — 
stretching  forth  its  hundred  arms,  dispensing  its  patronage,  and  increasing 
its  power  over  every  portion  of  the  Union.  What  patronage  and  what 


CUMBERLAND    ROAD.  91 

power  have  the  States  to  oppose  to  this  increasing  influence  ?  Glance  your 
eye  over  the  extent  of  the  Union ;  compare  State  offices  with  those  of  the 
United  States ;  and  whether  avarice  or  ambition  be  consulted,  those  which 
belong  to  the  General  Government  are  greatly  to  be  preferred  to  the  offices 
which  the  States  can  bestow.  Jealousy  of  Federal  power — not  of  a  narrow 
and  mean  character,  but  a  watchful  and  uncompromising  jealousy — is  now 
the  dictate  of  the  soundest  patriotism.  The  General  Government  possesses 
the  exclusive  right  to  impose  duties  upon"  imports — by  far  the  most  produc 
tive  and  the  most  popular  source  of  revenue.  United  and  powerful  efforts  are 
now  making  to  destroy  the  revenue  which  the  States  derive  from  sales  at 
auction.  This  Government  is  now  asked  to  interpose  its  power  between  the 
buyer  and  seller,  and  put  down  public  sales  of  merchandise  within  the  differ 
ent  States — a  subject  heretofore  believed  to  be  within  the  exclusive  jurisdic- 
diction  of  the  State  sovereignties.  Whilst  the  Federal  Government  has  been 
advancing  with  rapid  strides,  the  people  of  the  States  have  seldom  been 
awakened  to  a  sense  of  their  danger.  In  the  late  political  struggle,  they  were 
aroused,  and  they  nobly  maintained  their  own  rights.  This,  I  trust,  will  al 
ways  be  the  case  hereafter.  Thank  Heaven !  whilst  the  people  continue  true 
to  themselves,  the  Constitution  contains  within  itself  those  principles  which 
must  ever  preserve  it.  From  its  very  nature — from  a  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  the  constructive  powers  which  may  be  necessary  and  proper  to  carry  those 
which  are  enumerated  into  effect — it  must  ever  call  into  existence  two  parties, 
the  one  jealous  of  Federal,  the  other  of  State  power  ;  the  one  anxious  to  ex 
tend  Federal  influence,  the  other  wedded  to  State  rights;  the  one  desirous  to 
limit,  the  other  to  extend,  the  power  and  the  patronage  of  the  General  Gov 
ernment.  In  the  intermediate  space  there  will  be  much  debatable  ground ; 
but  a  general  outline  will  still  remain  sufficiently  distinct  to  mark  the  division 
between  the  political  parties  which  have  divided,  and  which  will  probably 
continue  to  divide,  the  people  of  this  country.  Jealousy  of  Federal  power 
had  long  been  slumbering.  The  voice  of  Virginia  sounding  the  alarm  has  at 
length  awakened  several  of  her  sister  States;  and,  although  they  believe  her 
to  be  too  strict  in  her  construction  of  the  Constitution  and  her  doctrines  con 
cerning  State  rights,  yet,  they  are  now  willing  to  do  justice  to  the  steadiness 
and  patriotism  of  her  political  character.  She  has  kept  alive  a  wholesome 
jealousy  of  Federal  power.  If,  then,  there  be  a  party  in  this  country  friendly 
to  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the  people,  I  call  upon  them  to  oppose  the 
passage  of  this  bill.  Should  it  become  a  law,  it  will  establish  a  precedent 
under  the  authority  of  which  the  sovereign  power  of  this  Government  can  be 
brought  home  into  the  domestic  concerns  of  every  State  in  the  Union.  We 
may  then  take  under  our  own  jurisdiction  every  road  over  which  the  mail  is 
carried ;  every  road  over  which  our  soldiers  and  warlike  munitions  may  pass ; 
and  every  road  used  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  commerce  between  the 
several  States.  Once  establish  this  strained  construction  of  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  and  I  would  ask  gentlemen  to  point  out  the  limit  where  this  splen 
did  government  shall  be  compelled  to  stay  its  chariot  wheels.  Might  it  not 
then  drive  on  to  consolidation,  under  the  sanction  of  the  Constitution  ? 


92  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Is  there  any  necessity  for  venturing  upon  this  dangerous  and  doubtful 
measure  ?  I  appeal  to  those  gentlemen  who  suppose  the  power  to  be  clear, 
what  motive  they  can  have  for  forcing  this  measure  upon  us,  who  are  of  a 
different  opinion  ?  Can  it  make  any  difference  to  them  whether  those  toll- 
gates  shall  be  erected  under  a  law  of  the  United  States,  or  under  State 
authority?  Cannot  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  enact  this  bill  into  a  law 
as  well  as  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  ?  Nobody  will  doubt  their  right. 
I  trust  no  gentleman  upon  this  floor  will  question  the  fidelity  of  that  State  in 
complying  with  all  her  engagements.  She  has  ever  been  true  to  every  trust. 
If  she  should  accept  of  the  cession,  as  I  have  no  doubt  she  would,  I  will 
pledge  myself  that  you  shall  never  again  hear  of  the  road,  unless  it  be  that 
she  has  kept  it  in  good  repair,  and  that  under  her  care  it  has  answered  every 
purpose  for  which  it  was  intended. 

I  know  that  some  popular  feeling  has  been  excited  against  myself  in  that 
portion  of  Pennsylvania  though  which  the  road  passes.  I  have  been  repre 
sented  as  one  of  its  greatest  enemies.  I  now  take  occasion  thus  publicly  to 
deny  this  allegation.  It  is  true  that  I  cannot  vote  in  favor  of  the  passage  of 
this  bill,  and  thus,  in  my  judgment,  violate  the  oath  which  I  have  taken  to 
support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  No  man  can  expect  this  from 
me.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  I  have  heretofore  supported  appropriations 
for  the  repair  of  this  road ;  and  should  my  amendment  prevail,  I  shall  vote  in 
favor  of  the  appropriation  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  that  purpose 
which  is  contained  in  this  bill. 

At  a  late  period  in  the  second  session  of  this  Congress, 
February  6,  1829,  a  resolution  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Smyth 
of  Virginia,  proposing  to  amend  the  Constitution  so  as  to  make 
every  President  ineligible  to  the  office  a  second  time.  Whether 
this  was  aimed  at  General  Jackson,  who  had  been  elected  Pres 
ident  in  the  autumn  of  1828,  and  was  to  be  inaugurated  in 
about  thirty  days,  or  whether  it  had  no  special  object,  it  was 
generally  regarded  as  a  subject  for  the  discussion  of  which  the 
remaining  time  of  this  Congress  was  entirely  insufficient. 
Upon  a  motion  to  postpone  the  resolution  to  the  3d  of  March, 
Mr.  Buchanan  said : 

He  should  vote  in  favor  of  the  postponement  of  this  resolution  until  the 
3d  of  March.  He  did  not  think  that  the  great  constitutional  question  which 
it  presented  ought  to  be  decided,  without  more  time  and  more  reflection  than 
it  would  be  possible  to  bestow  upon  it  at  this  late  period  of  the  session.  We 
had  heard  the  able  and  ingenious  argument  of  the  gentleman  from  Vir 
ginia  (Mr.  Smyth)  in  favor  of  the  proposition,  whilst  no  argument  had  been 
urged  upon  the  other  side  of  the  question.  He  said  that  a  more  important 
question  could  not  be  presented  in  a  republic,  than  a  proposition  to  change 


INELIGIBILITY  OF  A  PRESIDENT. 

the  Constitution  in  regard  to  the  election  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Magis 
trate.  "  It  is  better  to  bear  the  ills  we  have,  than  fly  to  others  that  we  know 
not  of,"  unless  the  existing  evils  are  great,  and  we  have  a  moral  certainty 
that  the  change  will  not  be  productive  of  still  greater  evils.  The  Constitu 
tion  has  been  once  changed  since  its  adoption,  and  it  is  now  generally  ad 
mitted  that  the  alteration  was  for  the  worse,  and  not  for  the  better.  This 
change  grew  out  of  the  excitement  of  the  moment.  It  provided  against  the 
existence  of  an  evil  which,  probably,  would  not  again  have  occurred  for  a 
long  period  of  time ;  but  in  doing  so,  it  has  rendered  it  almost  certain  that 
the  election  of  a  President  shall  often  devolve  upon  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  Had  the  Constitution  remained  in  its  original  form  ;  had  each  elector 
continued  to  vote  for  two  persons,  instead  of  one ;  it  could  rarely,  if  ever, 
have  occurred  that  some  one  candidate  would  not  have  received  a  majority  of 
all  the  electoral  votes.  By  this  change,  we  have  thus  entailed  a  great  evil 
upon  the  country. 

The  example  of  Washington,  which  has  been  followed  by  Jefferson,  Madi 
son  and  Monroe,  has  forever  determined  that  no  President  shall  be  more  than 
once  re-elected.  This  principle  is  now  become  as  sacred  as  if  it  were  written 
in  the  Constitution.  I  would  incline  to  leave  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  without  incorporating  it  in  the  Constitution,  to  decide  whether  a 
President  should  serve  longer  than  one  term.  The  day  may  come,  when 
dangers  shall  lower  over  us,  and  when  we  may  have  a  President  at  the  helm 
of  State  who  possesses  the  confidence  of  the  country,  and  is  better  able  to 
weather  the  storm  than  any  other  pilot ;  shall  we,  then,  under  such  circum 
stances,  deprive  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  the  power  of  obtaining 
his  services  for  a  second  term  ?  Shall  we  pass  a  decree,  as  fixed  as  fate,  to 
bind  the  American  people,  and  prevent  them  from  ever  re-electing  such  a 
man  ?  I  am  not  afraid  to  trust  them  with  this  power. 

There  is  another  reason  why  the  House  should  not  be  called  upon  to  decide 
this  question  hastily.  It  is  a  great  evil  to  keep  the  public  mind  excited,  as 
it  would  be,  by  the  election  of  a  new  President  at  the  end  of  each 
term  of  four  years.  Under  the  existing  system,  it  is  probable  that,  as- 
a  general  rule,  a  President,  elected  by  the  people,  will  once  be  re-elected, 
unless  he  shall  by  his  conduct  have  deprived  himself  of  public  confidence. 
This  will,  in  many  instances,  prevent  the  recurrence  of  a  political  storm  more 
than  once  in  eight  years.  These  are  some  of  the  suggestions  which  induce 
me  to  vote  for  the  postponement  of  this  resolution  to  a  day  that  will  render 
it  impossible  for  us  to  act  upon  it  during  the  present  session  of  Congress. 
We  ought  to  have  ample  time  to  consider  this  subject  before  we  act. 


CHAPTEK    VI. 

1829—1831. 


THE  FIRST  ELECTION  OP  GENERAL  JACKSON—  BUCHANAN  AGAIN  ELECTED 
TO  THE  HOUSE  OP  REPRESENTATIVES  —  HE  BECOMES  CHAIRMAN  OP 
THE  JUDICIARY  COMMITTEE  —  IMPEACHMENT  OF  JUDGE  PECK—  BU 
CHANAN  DEFEATS  A  REPEAL  OP  THE  25TH  SECTION  OF  THE  JUDICI 
ARY  ACT—  PROPOSED  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  AS  A  CANDIDATE  FOR  THE 
VICE-PRESIDENCY  —  WISHES  TO  RETIRE  FROM  PUBLIC  LIFE  —  FITNESS 
FOR  GREAT  SUCCESS  AT  THE  BAR. 


JACKSON  was  elected  President  of  the 
United  States  in  the  autumn  of  1828,  by  a  majority  of 
ninety-five  electoral  votes  over  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  and 
was  inaugurated  March  4,  1829.  Mr.  Calhoun  became  Vice- 
President  by  a  majority  of  eighty-one  electoral  votes.  Mr. 
Buchanan  had  entered  into  the  popular  canvass  in  favor  of 
General  Jackson  with  much  zeal  and  activity.  His  efforts  to 
secure  for  the  General  the  popular  vote  of  Pennsylvania,  which 
were  begun  in  the  summer  of  1827,  were  in  danger  of  being 
embarrassed  at  that  time  by  the  General's  misconception  of  the 
purpose  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  interview  with  him,  which  took 
place  in  1824,  while  the  election  of  a  President  was  pending  in 
the  House  of  Representatives.  But  Mr.  Buchanan  conducted 
himself  in  that  matter  with  so  much  discretion  and  forbearance 
that  his  influence  with  General  Jackson's  Pennsylvania  friends 
was  not  seriously  impaired.  When  the  canvass  of  1828  came 
on,  he  was  in  a  position  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  effi 
cient  political  supporters  of  General  Jackson  in  the  State  ;  and 
indeed  it  was  mainly  through  his  influence  that  the  whole  of 
her  twenty-eight  electoral  votes  was  secured  for  the  candidate 
whose  election  he  desired.  Yet  this  commanding  position 
did  not  lead  him  to  expect  office  of  any  kind  in  the  new  ad 
ministration,  nor  does  he  appear  to  have  desired  any.  He  was 


CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  JUDICIARY   COMMITTEE.  95 

re-elected  to  his  old  seat  in  Congress,  and  was  in  attendance 
at  the  opening  of  the  first  session  of  the  21st  Congress  in 
December,  1829.  He  now  became  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee  of  the  House,  and  as  such  had  very  weighty  duties 
to  perform. 

One  of  the  first  of  these  duties,  and  one  that  he  discharged 
with  signal  ability,  required  him  to  introduce  and  advocate  a 
bill  to  amend  and  extend  the  judicial  system  of  the  United 
States,  by  including  in  the  circuit  court  system  the  States  of 
Louisiana,  Indiana,  Mississippi,  Illinois,  Alabama,  and  Mis 
souri,  which  had  hitherto  had  only  district  courts,  and  by 
increasing  the  number  of  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  nine. 
Mr.  Buchanan's  speech  in  explanation  of  this  measure,  de 
livered  January  14,  1S30,  wTas  as  important  a  one  as  has  been 
made  upon  the  subject.  The  measure  which  he  advocated  was 
not  adopted  at  that  time ;  but  his  speech  may  be  resorted  to  at 
all  times  for  its  valuable  discussion  of  a  question  that  has  not 
yet  lost  its  interest, — the  question  of  releasing  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  entirely  from  the  performance  of  circuit  duties. 
Until  I  read  this  speech,  I  was  not  aware  how  wisely  and  compre 
hensively  Mr.  Buchanan  could  deal  with  such  a  question.  The 
following  passages  seem  to  me  to  justify  a  very  high  estimate 
of  his  powers,  as  they  certainly  contain  much  wisdom  : 

Having  thus  given  a  hasty  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  Judiciary  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  circuit  courts  which  this  bill 
proposes  to  extend  to  the  six  new  States  of  the  Union,  I  shall  now  proceed 
to  present  the  views  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  in  relation  to  this 
important  subject.  In  doing  this,  I  feel  that,  before  I  can  expect  the  passage 
of  the  bill,  I  must  satisfy  the  committee,  first,  that  such  a  change  or  modifi 
cation  of  the  present  judiciary  system  ought  to  be  adopted,  as  will  place  the 
Western  States  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  other  States  of  the  Union ; 
and,  second,  that  the  present  bill  contains  the  best  provisions  which,  under 
all  the  circumstances,  can  be  devised  for  accomplishing  this  purpose. 

And  first,  in  regard  to  the  States  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  existing  law  has  already  established  circuit  courts  in 
these  three  States,  and  why  then  should  they  complain  ?  In  answer  to  this 
question,  I  ask  gentlemen  to  look  at  a  map  of  the  United  States,  and  ex 
amine  the  extent  of  this  circuit.  The  distance  which  the  judge  is  compelled 
to  travel,  by  land,  for  the  purpose  of  attending  the  different  circuit  courts,  is, 
of  itself,  almost  sufficient,  in  a  few  years,  to  destroy  any  common  constitu- 


96  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

tion.  From  Columbus,  in  Ohio,  he  proceeds  to  Frankfort,  in  Kentucky; 
from  Frankfort  to  Nashville;  and  from  Nashville,  across  the  Cumberland 
mountain,  to  Knoxville.  When  we  reflect  that,  in  addition  to  his  attendance 
of  the  courts  in  each  of  these  States,  twice  in  the  year,  he  is  obliged  annually 
to  attend  the  Supreme  Court  in  Washington,  we  must  all  admit  that  his  labors 
are  very  severe. 

This  circuit  is  not  only  too  extensive,  but  there  is  a  great  press  of  judicial 
business  in  each  of  the  States  of  which  it  is  composed.  In  addition  to  the 
ordinary  sources  of  litigation  for  the  circuit  courts  throughout  the  Union,  par 
ticular  causes  have  existed  for  its  extraordinary  accumulation  in  each  of 
these  States.  It  will  be  recollected  that,  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  United  States,  the  circuit  courts  may  try  land  causes  between  citizens  of 
the  same  State,  provided  they  claim  under  grants  from  different  States.  In 
Tennessee,  grants  under  that  State  and  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  for  the 
same  land,  often  come  into  conflict  in  the  circuit  court.  The  interfering 
grants  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  are  a  fruitful  source  of  business  for  the 
circuit  court  of  Kentucky.  These  causes,  from  their  very  nature,  are  difficult 
and  important,  and  must  occupy  much  time  and  attention.  Within  the  Vir 
ginia  military  district  of  Ohio,  there  are  also  many  disputed  land  titles. 

Another  cause  has  contributed  much  to  swell  the  business  of  the  circuit 
court  of  Kentucky.  The  want  of  confidence  of  the  citizens  of  other  States 
in  the  judicial  tribunals  of  that  State,  has  greatly  added  to  the  number  of 
suits  in  the  circuit  court.  Many  plaintiffs,  who  could,  with  greater  expedi 
tion,  have  recovered  their  demands  in  the  courts  of  the  State,  were  compelled, 
by  the  impolitic  acts  of  the  State  Legislature,  to  resort  to  the  courts  of  the 
United  States.  Whilst  these  laws  were  enforced  by  the  State  courts,  they 
were  disregarded  by  those  of  the  Union.  In  making  these  remarks,  I  am 
confident  no  representative  from  that  patriotic  State  will  mistake  my  mean 
ing.  I  rejoice  that  the  difficulties  are  now  at  an  end,  and  that  the  people  of 
Kentucky  have  discovered  the  ruinous  policy  of  interposing  the  arm  of  the 
law  to  shield  a  debtor  from  the  just  demands  of  his  creditor.  That  gallant 
and  chivalrous  people,  who  possess  a  finer  soil  and  a  finer  climate  than  any 
other  State  of  the  Union,  will  now,  I  trust,  improve  and  enjoy  the  bounties 
which  nature  has  bestowed  upon  them  with  a  lavfsh  hand.  As  their  ex 
perience  has  been  severe,  I  trust  their  reformation  will  be  complete.  Still, 
however,  many  of  the  causes  which  originated  in  past  years,  are  yet  de 
pending  in  the  circuit  court  of  that  State. 

In  1826,  when  a  similar  bill  was  before  this  House,  we  had  the  most  au 
thentic  information  that  there  were  nine  hundred  and  fifty  causes  then 
pending  in  the  circuit  court  of  Kentucky,  one  hundred  and  sixty  in  the  cir 
cuit  court  for  the  western  district,  and  about  the  same  number  in  that  for  the 
eastern  district  of  Tennessee,  and  upwards  of  two  hundred  in  Ohio.  Upon 
that  occasion,  a  memorial  was  presented  from  the  bar  of  Nashville,  signed  by 
G.  W.  Campbell  as  chairman,  and  Felix  Grundy,  at  present  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States,  as  secretary.  These  gentlemen  are  both  well  known  to  this 


SPEECH  ON  THE  JUDICIARY  ACT.  97 

House,  and  to  the  country.  That  memorial  declares  that  "  the  seventh  cir 
cuit,  consisting  of  Kentucky,  Ohio,  and  Tennessee,  is  too  large  for  the  duties 
of  it  to  be  devolved  on  one  man ;  and  it  was  absolutely  impossible  for  the 
judge  assigned  to  this  circuit  to  fulfil  the  letter  of  the  law  designating  his 
duties.  Such  has  been  the  delay  of  justice  in  the  State  of  Tennessee,  "  that 
some  of  the  important  causes  now  pending  in  their  circuit  courts  are  older 
than  the  professional  career  of  almost  every  man  at  the  bar." 

The  number  of  causes  depending  in  the  seventh  circuit,  I  am  informed, 
has  been  somewhat  reduced  since  1826 ;  but  still  the  evil  is  great,  and  de 
mands  a  remedy.  If  it  were  possible  for  one  man  to  transact  the  judicial 
business  of  that  circuit,  I  should  have  as  much  confidence  that  it  would  be 
accomplished  by  the  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  which  it  is  assigned,  as 
by  any  other  judge  in  the  Union.  His  ability  and  his  perseverance  are  well 
known  to  the  nation.  The  labor,  however,  both  of  body  and  mind,  is  too 
great  for  any  individual. 

Has  not  the  delay  of  justice  in  this  circuit  almost  amounted  to  its  denial  ? 
Are  the  States  which  compose  it  placed  upon  the  same  footing,  in  this  respect, 
with  other  States  of  the  Union  ?  Have  they  not  a  right  to  complain  ? 
Many  evils  follow  in  the  train  of  tardy  justice.  It  deranges  the  whole 
business  of  society.  It  tempts  the  dishonest  and  the  needy  to  set  up  unjust 
and  fraudulent  defences  against  the  payment  of  just  debts,  knowing  that  the 
day  of  trial  is  far  distant.  It  thus  ruins  the  honest  creditor,  by  depriving 
him  of  the  funds  which  he  had  a  right  to  expect  at  or  near  the  appointed 
time  of  payment ;  and  it  ultimately  tends  to  destroy  all  confidence  between 
man  and  man. 

A  greater  curse  can  scarcely  be  inflicted  upon  the  people  of  any  State, 
than  to  have  their  land  titles  unsettled.  What,  then,  must  be  the  condition  of 
Tennessee,  where  there  are  many  disputed  land  titles,  when  we  are  informed, 
by  undoubted  authority,  "  that  some  of  the  important  causes  now  pending 
in  their  circuit  courts  are  older  than  the  professional  career  of  almost  every 
man  at  the  bar."  Instead  of  being  astonished  at  the  complaints  of  the 
people  of  this  circuit,  I  am  astonished  at  their  forbearance.  A  judiciary,  able 
and  willing  to  compel  men  to  perform  their  contracts,  and  to  decide  their  con 
troversies,  is  one  of  the  greatest  political  blessings  which  any  people  can  en 
joy  ;  and  it  is  one  which  the  people  of  this  country  have  a  right  to  expect 
from  their  Government.  The  present  bill  proposes  to  accomplish  this  ob 
ject,  by  creating  a  new  circuit  out  of  the  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
This  circuit  will  afford  sufficient  employment  for  one  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

Without  insisting  further  upon  the  propriety,  nay,  the  necessity,  of  or 
ganizing  the  circuit  courts  of  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  enable  them  to  transact  the  business  of  the  people,  I  shall  now 
proceed  to  consider  the  situation  of  the  six  new  States,  Louisiana,  Indiana, 
Mississippi,  Illinois,  Alabama,  and  Missouri.  Their  grievances  are  of  a  dif 
ferent  character.  They  do  not  so  much  complain  of  the  delay  of  justice,  as 


98  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

that  Congress  has  so  long  refused  to  extend  to  them  the  circuit  court  system, 
as  it  exists  in  all  the  other  States.  As  they  successively  came  into  the  Union, 
they  were  each  provided  with  a  district  court  and  a  district  judge,  possessing 
circuit  court  powers.  The  acts  which  introduced  them  into  our  political  family 
declare  that  they  shall  ll  be  admitted  into  the  Union  on  an  equal  footing  with 
the  original  States,  in  all  respects  whatever."  I  do  not  mean  to  contend  that 
by  virtue  of  these  acts  we  were  bound  immediately  to  extend  to  them  the 
circuit  court  system.  Such  has  not  been  the  practice  of  Congress,  in  regard 
to  other  States  in  a  similar  situation.  I  contend,  however,  that  these  acts  do 
impose  an  obligation  upon  us  to  place  them  "on  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States,"  in  regard  to  the  judiciary,  as  soon  as  their  wants  require 
it,  and  the  circumstances  of  the  country  permit  it  to  be  done.  That  time 
has,  in  my  opinion,  arrived.  Louisiana  has  now  been  nearly  eighteen  years 
a  member  of  the  Union,  and  is  one  of  our  most  commercial  States ;  and  yet, 
until  this  day,  she  has  been  without  a  circuit  court.  It  is  more  than  thirteen 
years  since  Indiana  was  admitted ;  and  even  our  youngest  sister,  Missouri, 
will  soon  have  been  nine  years  in  the  family.  Why  should  not  these  six 
States  be  admitted  to  the  same  judicial  privileges  which  all  the  others  now 
enjoy  ?  Even  if  there  were  no  better  reason,  they  have  a  right  to  demand  it 
for  the  mere  sake  of  uniformity.  I  admit  this  is  an  argument  dictated  by 
State  pride ;  but  is  not  that  a  noble  feeling  ?  Is  it  not  a  feeling  which  will 
ever  characterize  freemen  ?  Have  they  not  a  right  to  say  to  us,  if  the  cir 
cuit  court  system  be  good  for  you,  it  will  be  good  for  us?  You  have  no 
right  to  exclusive  privileges.  If  you  are  sovereign  States,  so  are  we.  By 
the  terms  of  our  admission,  we  are  perfectly  your  equals.  We  have  long 
submitted  to  the  want  of  this  system,  from  deference  to  your  judgment; 
but  the  day  has  now  arrived  when  we  demand  it  from  you  as  our  right. 
But  there  are  several  other  good  reasons  why  the  system  ought  to  be  ex 
tended  to  these  States.  And,  in  the  first  place,  the  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  are  selected  from  the  very  highest  order  of  the  profession.  There  is 
scarcely  a  lawyer  in  the  United  States  who  would  not  be  proud  of  an  eleva 
tion  to  that  bench.  A  man  ambitious  of  honest  fame  ought  not  to  desire  a 
more  exalted  theatre  for  the  display  of  ability  and  usefulness.  Besides,  the 
salary  annexed  to  this  office  is  sufficient  to  comm^hd  the  best  talents  of  the 
country.  I  ask  you,  sir,  is  it  not  a  serious  grievance  for  those  States  to  be 
deprived  of  the  services  of  such  a  man  in  their  courts?  I  ask  you  whether 
it  is  equal  justice,  that  whilst,  in  eighteen  States  of  the  Union,  no  man  can 
be  deprived  of  his  life,  his  liberty,  or  his  property,  by  the  judgment  of  a 
circuit  court,  without  the  concurrence  of  two  judges,  and  one  of  them  a  jus 
tice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  remaining  six  the  fate  of  the  citizen  is  de 
termined  by  the  decision  of  a  single  district  judge?  Who  are,  generally 
speaking,  these  district  judges?  In  asking  this  question,  I  mean  to  treat 
them  with  no  disrespect.  They  receive  but  small  salaries,  and  their  sphere 
of  action  is  confined  to  their  own  particular  districts.  There  is  nothing 
either  in  the  salary  or  in  the  station  which  would  induce  a  distinguished  law- 


SPEECH  ON  THE  JUDICIARY  ACT.  99 

yer,  unless  under  peculiar  circumstances,  to  accept  the  appointment.  And 
yet  the  judgment  of  this  individual,  in  six  States  of  the  Union,  is  final  and 
conclusive,  in  all  cases  of  law,  of  equity,  and  of  admiralty  and  maritime  juris 
diction,  wherein  the  amount  of  the  controversy  does  not  exceed  two 
thousand  dollars.  Nay,  the  grievance  is  incomparably  greater.  His  opinion 
in  all  criminal  cases,  no  matter  how  aggravated  may  be  their  nature,  is  final 
and  conclusive.  A  citizen  of  these  States  may  be  deprived  of  his  life,  or  of 
his  character,  which  ought  to  be  dearer  than  life,  by  the  sentence  of  a  district 
judge ;  against  which  there  is  no  redress,  and  from  which  there  can  be  no 
appeal. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  in  which  the  inequality  and  injustice  of  the 
present  system,  in  the  new  States,  is  very  striking.  In  order  to  produce  a 
final  decision,  both  the  judges  of  a  circuit  court  must  concur.  If  they  be 
divided  in  opinion,  the  point  of  difference  is  certified  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
for  their  decision  ;  and  this,  whether  the  amount  in  controversy  be  great  or 
small.  The  same  rule  applies  to  criminal  cases.  In  such  a  court,  no  man  can 
be  deprived  of  life,  of  liberty,  or  of  property,  by  a  criminal  prosecution,  with 
out  the  clear  opinion  of  the  two  judges  that  his  conviction  is  sanctioned  by 
the  laws  of  the  land.  If  the  question  be  doubtful  or  important,  or  if  it  be 
one  of  the  first  impression,  the  judges,  even  when  they  do  not  really  differ, 
often  agree  to  divide,  pro  forma,  so  that  the  point  may  be  solemnly  argued 
and  decided  in  the  Supreme  Court.  Thus,  the  citizen  of  every  State  in  which 
a  circuit  court  exists,  has  a  shield  of  protection  cast  over  him,  of  which  he 
cannot  be  deprived,  without  the  deliberate  opinion  of  two  judges;  whilst  the 
district  judge  of  the  six  new  Western  States  must  alone  finally  decide  every 
criminal  question,  and  every  civil  controversy  in  which  the  amount  in  dispute 
does  not  exceed  two  thousand  dollars. 

In  the  eastern  district  of  Louisiana,  the  causes  of  admiralty  and  maritime 
jurisdiction  decided  by  the  district  court  must  be  numerous  and  important. 
If  a  circuit  court  were  established  for  that  State,  a  party  who  considered 
himself  aggrieved  might  appeal  to  it  from  the  district  court  in  every  case  in 
which  the  amount  in  controversy  exceeded  fifty  dollars.  At  present  there  is 
no  appeal,  unless  the  value  of  the  controversy  exceeds  two  thousand  dollars; 
and  then  it  must  be  made  directly  to  the  Supreme  Court,  a  tribunal  so  far 
remote  from  the  city  of  New  Orleans,  as  to  deter  suitors  from  availing  them 
selves  of  this  privilege. 

I  shall  not  further  exhaust  the  patience  of  the  committee  on  this  branch  of 
the  subject.  I  flatter  myself  that  I  have  demonstrated  the  necessity  for 
such  an  alteration  of  the  existing  laws  as  will  confer  upon  the  people  of 
Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  and  of  the  six  new  Western  States,  the  same 
benefits  from  the  judiciary,  as  those  which  the  people  of  the  other  States  now 
enjoy. 

The  great  question,  then,  which  remains  for  discussion  is,  does  the  present 
bill  present  the  best  plan  for  accomplishing  this  purpose,  which,  under  all  cir 
cumstances,  can  be  devised  ?  It  is  incumbent  upon  me  to  sustain  the  affirm- 


100  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

ative  of  this  proposition.  There  have  been  but  two  plans  proposed  to  the 
Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  but  two  can  be  proposed,  with  the  least  hope 
of  success.  The  one  an  extension  of  the  present  system,  which  the  bill  now 
before  the  committee  contemplates,  and  the  other  a  resort  to  the  system 
which  was  adopted  in  the  days  of  the  elder  Adams,  of  detaching  the  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  from  the  performance  of  circuit  duties,  and  appointing 
circuit  judges  to  take  their  places.  After  much  reflection  upon  this  subject 
I  do  not  think  that  the  two  systems  can  be  compared,  without  producing  a 
conviction  in  favor  of  that  which  has  long  been  established.  The  system  of 
detaching  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  the  circuits  has  been  already 
tried,  and  it  has  already  met  the  decided  hostility  of  the  people  of  this  coun 
try.  ISTo  act  passed  during  the  stormy  and  turbulent  administration  of  the 
elder  Adams,  which  excited  more  general  indignation  among  the  people.  The 
courts  which  it  established  were  then,  and  have  been  ever  since,  branded 
with  the  name  of  the  "  midnight  judiciary."  I  am  far  from  being  one  of  those 
who  believe  the  people  to  be  infallible.  They  are  often  deceived  by  the  arts 
of  demagogues ;  but  this  deception  endures  only  for  a  season.  They  are 
always  honest,  and  possess  much  sagacity.  If,  therefore,  they  get  wrong,  it 
is  almost  certain  they  will  speedily  return  to  correct  opinions.  They  have 
long  since  done  justice  to  other  acts  of  that  administration,  which  at  the  time 
they  condemned ;  but  the  feeling  against  the  judiciary  established  under  it 
remains  the  same.  Indeed,  many  now  condemn  that  system,  who  were  for 
merly  its  advocates.  In  1826,  when  a  bill,  similar  in  its  provisions  to  the  bill 
now  before  the  committee,  was  under  discussion  in  this  House,  a  motion  was 
made  by  a  gentleman  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Mercer]  to  recommit  it  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  the  Judiciary,  with  an  instruction  so  to  amend  it,  as  to  discharge 
the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  attendance  on  the  circuit  courts,  and  to 
provide  a  uniform  system  for  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  inferior  courts 
of  the  United  States.  Although  this  motion  was  sustained  with  zeal  and  elo 
quence  and  ability  by  the  mover,  and  by  several  other  gentlemen,  yet,  when  it 
came  to  the  vote,  it  was  placed  in  a  lean  minority,  and,  I  believe,  was  negatived 
without  a  division.  It  is  morally  certain  that  such  a  bill  could  not  now  be 
carried.  It  would,  therefore,  have  been  vain  and  idle  in  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary  to  have  reported  such  a  bill.  If  the  Western  States  should  be 
doomed  to  wait  for  a  redress  of  their  grievances,  until  public  opinion  shall 
change  upon  this  subject,  it  will,  probably,  be  a  long  time  before  they  will 
obtain  relief. 

But,  Sir,  there  are  most  powerful  reasons  for  believing  that  public  opinion 
upon  this  subject  is  correct.  What  would  be  the  natural  consequences  of  de 
taching  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  circuit  duties?  It  would 
bring  them  and  their  families  from  the  circuits  in  which  they  now  reside ; 
and  this  city  would  become  their  permanent  residence.  They  would  naturally 
come  here ;  because  here,  and  nowhere  else,  would  they  then  have  official 
business  to  transact.  What  would  be  the  probable  effect  of  such  a  change 
of  residence  ?  The  tendency  of  everything  within  the  ten  miles  square  is 


SPEECH  ON  THE  JUDICIARY  ACT.  101 

towards  the  Executive  of  the  Union.  He  is  here  the  centre  of  attraction. 
No  matter  what  political  revolutions  may  take  place,  no  matter  who  may  be 
up  or  who  may  be  down,  the  proposition  is  equally  true.  Human  nature  is 
not  changed  under  a  Republican  Government.  We  find  that  citizens  of  a 
republic  are  worshippers  of  power,  as  well  as  the  subjects  of  a  monarchy. 
Would  you  think  it  wise  to  bring  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  from 
their  residence  in  the  States,  where  they  breathe  the  pure  air  of  the  country, 
and  assemble  them  here  within  the  very  Vortex  of  Executive  influence?  In 
stead  of  being  independent  judges,  scattered  over  the  surface  of  the  Union, 
their  feelings  identified  with  the  States  of  which  they  are  citizens,  is  there  no 
danger  that,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  you  would  convert  them  into  minions  of 
the  Executive  ?  I  am  far,  very  far,  from  supposing  that  any  man,  who 
either  is  or  who  will  be  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  could  be  actually  cor 
rupted  ;  but  if  you  place  them  in  a  situation  where  they  or  their  relatives 
would  naturally  become  candidates  for  Executive  patronage,  you  place  them, 
in  some  degree,  under  the  control  of  Executive  influence.  If  there  should 
now  exist  any  just  cause  for  the  complaints  against  the  Supreme  Court,  that 
in  their  decisions  they  are  partial  to  Federal  rather  than  to  State  authority  (and 
I  do  not  say  that  there  is),  that  which  at  present  may  be  but  an  imaginary 
fear  might  soon  become  a  substantial  reality.  I  would  place  them  beyond 
the  reach  of  temptation.  I  would  suffer  them  to  remain,  as  they  are  at  pres 
ent,  citizens  of  their  respective  States,  visiting  this  city  annually  to  discharge 
their  high  duties,  as  members  of  the  Supreme  Court.  This  single  view  of  the 
subject,  if  there  were  no  other,  ought,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  conclusive. 

Let  us  now  suppose,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  the  withdrawal  of 
the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  from  their  circuit  duties,  and  their  resi 
dence  in  this  city,  would  produce  no  such  effects,  as  I  apprehend,  upon  the 
judges  themselves ;  what  would  be  the  probable  effect  upon  public  opinion  ? 
It  has  been  said,  and  wisely  said,  that  the  first  object  of  every  judicial  tribu 
nal  ought  to  be  to  do  justice ;  the  second,  to  satisfy  the  people  that  justice  has 
been  done.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  in  this  country  that  the  judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court  should  possess  the  confidence  of  the  public.  This  they 
now  do  in  an  .eminent  degree.  How  have  they  acquired  it?  By  travelling 
over  their  circuits,  and  personally  showing  themselves  to  the  people  of  the 
country,  in  the  able  and  honest  discharge  of  their  high  duties,  and  by  their 
extensive  intercourse  with  the  members  of  the  profession  on  the  circuits  in 
each  State,  who,  after  all,  are  the  best  judges  of  judicial  merit,  and  whose 
opinions  upon  this  subject  have  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  community. 
Elevated  above  the  storms  of  faction  and  of  party  which  have  sometimes 
lowered  over  us,  like  the  sun,  they  have  pursued  their  steady  course,  unawed 
by  threats,  unseduced  by  flattery.  They  have  thus  acquired  that  public  con 
fidence  which  never  fails  to  follow  the  performance  of  great  and  good  ac 
tions,  when  brought  home  to  the  personal  observation  of  the  people. 

Would  they  continue  to  enjoy  this  extensive  public  confidence,  should  they 
no  longer  be  seen  by  the  people  of  the  States,  in  the  discharge  of  their  high 


102  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

and  important  duties,  but  be  confined,  in  the  exercise  of  them,  to  the  gloomy 
and  vaulted  apartment  which  they  now  occupy  in  this  Capitol  ?  Would  they 
not  be  considered  as  a  distant  and  dangerous  tribunal  ?  Would  the  people, 
when  excited  by  strong  feeling,  patiently  submit  to  have  the  most  solemn  acts 
of  their  State  Legislatures  swept  from  the  statute-book,  by  the  decision  of 
judges  whom  they  never  saw,  and  whom  they  had  been  taught  to  consider 
with  jealousy  and  suspicion  ?  At  present,  even  in  those  States  where  their 
decisions  have  been  most  violently  opposed,  the  highest  respect  has  been  felt 
for  the  judges  by  whom  they  were  pronounced,  because  the  people  have  had 
an  opportunity  of  personally  knowing  that  they  were  both  great  and  good 
men.  Look  at  the  illustrious  individual  who  is  now  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
United  States.  His  decisions  upon  constitutional  questions  have  ever  been 
hostile  to  the  opinions  of  a  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  his  own  State ;  and 
yet  with  what  respect  and  veneration  has  he  been  viewed  by  Virginia  ?  Is 
there  a  Virginian,  whose  heart  does  not  beat  with  honest  pride  when  the  just 
fame  of  the  Chief  Justice  is  the  subject  of  conversation  ?  They  consider  him, 
as  he  truly  is,  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  men  which  this  country  has  ever 
produced.  Think  ye  that  such  would  have  been  the  case,  had  he  been  con 
fined  to  the  city  of  Washington,  and  never  known  to  the  people,  except  in 
pronouncing  judgments  in  this  Capitol,  annulling  their  State  laws,  and  cal 
culated  to  humble  their  State  pride  ?  Whilst  I  continue  to  be  a  member  of 
this  House,  I  shall  never  incur  the  odium  of  giving  a  vote  for  any  change  in 
the  judiciary  system  the  effect  of  which  would,  in  my  opinion,  diminish  the 
respect  in  which  the  Supreme  Court  is  now  held  by  the  people  of  this 
country. 

The  judges  whom  you  would  appoint  to  perform  the  circuit  duties,  if  able 
and  honest  men,  would  soon  take  the  place  which  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  now  occupy  in  the  affections  of  the  people ;  and  the  reversal  of  their 
judgments,  when  they  happened  to  be  in  accordance  with  strong  public  feel 
ing,  would  naturally  increase  the  mass  of  discontent  against  the  Supreme 
Court. 

There  are  other  reasons,  equally  powerful,  against  the  withdrawal  of  the 
judges  from  the  circuits.  What  effect  would  such  a  measure  probably  pro 
duce  upon  the  ability  of  the  judges  themselves  tto  perform  their  duties? 
Would  it  not  be  very  unfortunate  ? 

No  judges  upon  earth  ever  had  such  various  and  important  duties  to  per 
form,  as  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court.  In  England,  whence  we  have 
derived  our  laws,  they  have  distinct  courts  of  equity,  courts  of  common  law, 
courts  of  admiralty,  and  courts  in  which  the  civil  law  is  administered.  In 
each  of  these  courts,  they  have  distinct  judges;  and  perfection  in  any  of  these 
branches  is  certain  to  be  rewarded  by  the  honors  of  that  country.  The 
judges  of  our  Supreme  Court,  both  on  their  circuits  and  in  bane,  are  called 
upon  to  adjudicate  on  all  these  codes.  But  this  is  not  all.  Our  Union  con 
sists  of  twenty-four  sovereign  States,  in  all  of  which  there  are  different  laws 
and  peculiar  customs.  The  common  and  equity  law  have  thus  been  changed 


SPEECH  ON  THE  JUDICIARY  ACT.  103 

and  inflected  into  a  hundred  different  shapes,  and  adapted  to  the  various 
wants  and  opinions  of  the  different  members  of  our  confederacy.  The  judicial 
act  of  1789  declares  "  that  the  laws  of  the  several  States,  except  where  the 
Constitution,  treaties,  or  statutes  of  the  United  States  shall  otherwise  require 
or  provide,"  shall  be  regarded  as  rules  of  decision  in  the  courts  of  the  United 
States.  The  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  ought,  therefore,  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  ever-varying  codes  of  the  different  States, 

There  is  still  another  branch  of  their  jurisdiction,  of  a  grand  and  imposing 
character,  which  places  them  far  above  the  celebrated  Amphictyonic  council. 
The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  made  them  the  arbiters  between 
conflicting  sovereigns.  They  decide  whether  the  sovereign  power  of  the 
States  has  been  exercised  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  United  States ;  and,  if  this  has  not  been  done,  they  declare  the  laws  of 
the  State  Legislatures  to  be  void.  Their  decisions  thus  control  the  exercise 
of  sovereign  power.  No  tribunal  ever  existed,  possessing  the  same,  or  even 
similar  authority.  Now,  Sir,  suppose  you  bring  these  judges  to  Washington, 
and  employ  them  in  bane  but  six  weeks  or  two  months  in  the  year,  is  it  not 
certain  that  they  will  gradually  become  less  and  less  fit  to  decide  upon  these 
different  codes,  and  that  they  will  at  length  nearly  lose  all  recollection  of  the 
peculiar  local  laws  of  the  different  States  ?  Every  judicial  duty  which  each 
of  them  would  then  be  required  to  perform,  would  be  to  prepare  and  deliver 
a  few  opinions  annually  in  bane. 

The  judgment,  like  every  other  faculty  of  the  mind,  requires  exercise  to 
preserve  its  vigor.  That  judge  who  decides  the  most  causes,  is  likely  to  de 
cide  them  the  best.  He  who  is  in  the  daily  habit  of  applying  general  princi 
ples  to  the  decision  of  cases,  as  they  arise  upon  the  circuits,  is  at  the  same 
time  qualifying  himself  in  the  best  manner  for  the  duties  of  his  station  on 
the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

Is  it  probable  that  the  long  literary  leisure  of  the  judges  in  this  city,  during 
ten  months  of  the  year,  would  be  devoted  to  searching  the  two  hundred  vol 
umes  of  jarring  decisions  of  State  courts,  or  in  studying  the  acts  of  twenty- 
four  State  Legislatures  ?  The  man  must  have  a  singular  taste  and  a  firm 
resolution  who,  in  his  closet,  could  travel  over  this  barren  waste.  And  even 
if  he  should,  what  would  be  the  consequence  ?  The  truth  is,  such  knowledge 
cannot  be  obtained ;  and  after  it  has  been  acquired,  it  cannot  be  preserved, 
except  by  constant  practice.  There  are  subjects  which,  when  the  memory 
has  once  grasped,  it  retains  forever.  It  has  no  such  attachment  for  acts  of 
Assembly,  acts  of  Congress,  and  reports  of  adjudged  cases,  fixing  their  con 
struction.  This  species  of  knowledge,  under  the  present  system,  will  always 
be  possessed  by  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  because,  in  the  perform 
ance  of  their  circuit  duties,  they  are  placed  in  a  situation  in  which  it  is  daily 
expounded  to  them,  and  in  which  they  are  daily  compelled  to  decide  ques 
tions  arising  upon  it.  Change  this  system,  make  them  exclusively  judges  of 
an  appellate  court,  and  you  render  it  highly  probable  that  their  knowledge  of 
the  general  principles  of  the  laws  of  their  country  will  become  more  and 


104  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

more  faint,  and  that  they  will  finally  almost  lose  the  recollection  of  the  pe 
culiar  local  systems  of  the  different  States.  "  Practice  makes  perfect,"  is  a 
maxim  applicable  to  every  pursuit  in  life.  It  applies  with  peculiar  force  to 
that  of  a  judge.  I  think  I  might  appeal  for  the  truth  of  this  position  to  the 
long  experience  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  from  New  York,  now  by  my 
side  (Mr.  Spencer).  A  man,  by  study,  may  become  a  profound  lawyer  in 
theory,  but  nothing  except  practice  can  make  him  an  able  judge.  I  call  upon 
every  member  of  the  profession  in  this  House  to  say  whether  he  does  not 
feel  himself  to  be  a  better  lawyer  at  the  end  of  a  long  term,  than  at  the  be 
ginning.  It  is  the  circuit  employment,  imposed  upon  the  judges  of  England 
and  the  United  States,  which  has  rendered  them  what  they  are.  In  my 
opinion,  both  the  usefulness  and  the  character  of  the  Supreme  Court  depend 
much  upon  its  continuance. 

I  now  approach  what  I  know  will  be  urged  as  the  greatest  objection  to  the 
passage  of  this  bill — that  it  will  extend  the  number  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  to  nine.  If  the  necessities  of  the  country  required  that  their 
number  should  be  increased  to  ten,  I  would  feel  no  objection  to  such  a 
measure.  The  time  has  not  yet  arrived,  however,  when,  in  my  opinion,  such 
a  necessity  exists.  G-entlemen,  in  considering  this  subject,  ought  to  take 
those  extended  views  which  belong  to  statesmen.  When  we  reflect  upon  the 
vast  extent  of  our  country,  and  the  various  systems  of  law  under  which  the 
people  of  the  different  States  are  governed,  I  cannot  conceive  that  nine  or 
even  ten  judges  are  too  great  a  number  to  compose  our  appellate  tribunal. 
That  number  would  afford  a  judicial  representation  upon  the  bench  of  each 
large  portion  of  the  Union.  Not,  Sir,  a  representation  of  sectional  feelings 
or  of  the  party  excitements  of  the  day,  but  of  that  peculiar  species  of  legal 
knowledge  necessary  to  adjudicate  wisely  upon  the  laws  of  the  different 
States.  For  example,  I  ask  what  judge  now  upon  the  bench  possesses,  or 
can  possess,  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  Louisiana?  Their  system 
is  so  peculiar,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  man  to  decide  correctly  upon 
all  cases  arising  under  it,  who  has  never  been  practically  acquainted  with  the 
practice  of  their  courts.  Increase  the  number  of  judges  to  nine,  and  you  will 
then  have  them  scattered  throughout  all  the  various  portions  of  the  Union. 
The  streams  of  legal  knowledge  peculiar  to  the  different  States  will  then  flow 
to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  as  to  a  great  reservoir,  from  whence  they 
will  be  distributed  throughout  the  Union.  There  will  then  always  be  suffi 
cient  local  information  upon  the  bench,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  to  detect 
all  the  ingenious  fallacies  of  the  bar,  and  to  enable  them  to  decide  correctly 
upon  local  questions.  I  admit,  if  the  judges  were  confined  to  appellate 
duties  alone,  nine  or  ten  would  probably  be  too  great  a  number.  Then  there 
might  be  danger  that  some  of  them  would  become  mere  nonentities,  content 
ing  themselves  simply  with  voting  aye  or  no  in  the  majority  or  minority. 
There  would  then  also  be  danger  that  the  Executive  might  select  inefficient 
men  for  this  high  station,  who  were  his  personal  favorites,  expecting  their  in 
capacity  to  be  shielded  from  public  observation  by  the  splendid  talents  of 


SPEECH  ON  THE  JUDICIARY  ACT.  1Q5 

some  of  the  other  judges  upon  the  bench.  Under  the  present  system  we 
have  no  such  danger  to  apprehend.  Each  judge  must  now  feel  his  own  per 
sonal  responsibility.  He  is  obliged  to  preside  in  the  courts  throughout  his 
circuit,  and  to  bring  home  the  law  and  the  justice  of  his  country  to  his  fellow- 
citizens  in  each  of  the  districts  of  which  it  is  composed.  Much  is  expected 
from  a  judge  placed  in  his  exalted  station ;  and  he  must  attain  to  the  high 
standard  of  public  opinion  by  which  he  is  judged,  or  incur  the  reproach  of 
holding  an  office  to  which  he  is  not  entitled.  No  man  in  any  station  in  this 
country  can  place  himself  above  public  opinion. 

Upon  the  subject  of  judicial  appointments,  public  opinion  has  always  been 
correct.  No  factious  demagogue,  no  man,  merely  because  he  has  sung 
hosannas  to  the  powers  that  be,  can  arrive  at  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  The  Executive  himself  will  always  be  constrained  by  the  force  of 
public  sentiment,  whilst  the  present  system  continues,  to  select  judges  for 
that  court  from  the  ablest  -and  best  men  of  the  circuit ;  and  such  has  been  the 
course  which  he  has  hitherto  almost  invariably  pursued.  Were  he  to  pursue 
any  other,  he  would  inevitably  incur  popular  odium.  Under  the  existing 
system,  there  can  be  no  danger  in  increasing  the  number  of  the  judges  to 
nine.  But  take  them  from  their  circuits,  destroy  their  feeling  of  personal  re 
sponsibility  by  removing  them  from  the  independent  courts  over  which  they 
now  preside,  and  make  them  merely  an  appellate  tribunal,  and  I  admit  there 
would  be  danger,  not  only  of  improper  appointments,  but  that  a  portion  of 
them,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  might  become  incompetent  to  discharge  the  duties 
of  their  station. 

But,  Sir,  have  we  no  examples  of  appellate  courts  consisting  of  a  greater 
number  than  either  nine  or  ten  judges,  which  have  been  approved  by  expe 
rience  ?  The  Senate  of  the  State  of  New  York  has  always  been  their  court 
of  appeals ;  and,  notwithstanding  they  changed  their  constitution  a  few  years 
ago,  so  much  were  the  people  attached  to  this  court,  that  it  remains  un 
changed.  In  England,  the  twelve  judges,  in  fact,  compose  the  court  of  ap 
peals.  Whenever  the  House  of  Lords  sits  in  a  judicial  character,  they  are 
summoned  to  attend,  and  their  opinions  are  decisive  of  almost  every  question. 
I  do  not  pretend  to  speak  accurately,  but  I  doubt  whether  the  House  of  Lords 
have  decided  two  cases,  in  opposition  to  the  opinion  of  the  judges,  for  the 
last  fifty  years.  In  England  there  is  also  the  court  of  exchequer  chamber, 
consisting  of  the  twelve  judges,  and  sometimes  of  the  lord  chancellor  also, 
into  which  such  causes  may  be  adjourned  from  the  three  superior  courts,  as 
the  judges  find  to  be  difficult  of  decision,  before  any  judgment  is  given  upon 
them  in  the  court  in  which  they  originated.  The  court  of  exchequer  cham 
ber  is  also  a  court  of  appeals,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word,  in  many  cases 
which  I  shall  not  take  time  to  enumerate. 

I  cannot  avoid  believing  that  the  prejudice  which  exists  in  the  minds  of 
some  gentlemen,  against  increasing  the  number  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  to  nine,  arises  from  the  circumstance  that  the  appellate  courts  of  the 
different  States  generally  consist  of  a  fewer  number.  But  is  there  not  a 


106  LIFE   OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

striking  difference  between  the  cases  ?  It  does  not  follow  that  because  four 
or  five  may  be  a  sufficient  number  in  a  single  State  where  one  uniform  system 
of  laws  prevails,  nine  or  ten  would  be  too  many  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  administers  the  laws  of  twenty-four  States,  and  decides  questions 
arising  under  all  the  codes  in  use  in  the  civilized  world.  Indeed,  if  four  or 
five  judges  be  not  too  many  for  the  court  of  appeals  in  a  State,  it  is  a  strong 
argument  that  nine  or  ten  are  not  too  great  a  number  for  the  court  of  appeals 
of  the  Union.  Upon  the  whole,  I  ask,  would  it  be  wise  in  this  committee, 
disregarding  the  voice  of  experience,  to  destroy  a  system  which  has  worked 
well  in  practice  for  forty  years,  and  resort  to  a  dangerous  and  untried  experi 
ment,  merely  from  a  vague  apprehension  that  nine  judges  will  destroy  the 
usefulness  and  character  of  that  court,  which  has  been  raised  by  seven  to  its 
present  exalted  elevation. 

It  will,  no  doubt,  be  objected  to  this  bill,  as  it  has  been  upon  a  former  oc 
casion,  that  the  present  system  cannot  be  permanent,  and  that,  ere  long,  the 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Courts  must,  from  necessity,  be  withdrawn  from 
their  circuits.  To  this  objection  there  is  a  conclusive  answer.  We  know 
that  the  system  is  now  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  the  country,  and  let  poster 
ity  provide  for  themselves.  Let  us  not  establish  courts  which  are  unnecessary 
in  the  present  day,  because  we  believe  that  hereafter  they  may  be  required  to 
do  the  business  of  the  country. 

But,  if  it  were  necessary,  I  believe  it  might  be  demonstrated  that  ten  jus 
tices  of  the  Supreme  Court  will  be  sufficient  to  do  all  the  judicial  business  of 
the  country  which  is  required  of  them  under  the  present  system,  until  the 
youngest  member  of  this  House  shall  be  sleeping  with  his  fathers.  Six  judges 
have  done  all  the  business  of  the  States  east  of  the  Alleghany  mountains, 
from  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  up  till  this  day ;  and  still  their 
duties  are  not  laborious.  If  it  should  be  deemed  proper  by  Congress,  these 
fifteen  Eastern  States  might  be  arranged  into  five  circuits  instead  of  six,  upon 
the  occurrence  of  the  next  vacancy  in  any  of  them,  without  the  least  incon 
venience  either  to  the  judges  or  to  the  people;  and  thus  it  would  be  rendered 
unnecessary  to  increase  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  beyond  nine,  even 
after  the  admission  of  Michigan  and  Arkansas  into  the  Union.  The  business 
of  the  Federal  courts,  except  in  a  few  States,  will  prdbably  increase  but  little 
for  a  long  time  to  come.  One  branch  of  it  must,  before  many  years,  be  en 
tirely  lopped  away.  I  allude  to  the  controversies  between  citizens  of  the 
same  State  claiming  lands  under  grants  from  different  States.  This  will 
greatly  diminish  their  business  both  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  Besides, 
the  State  tribunals  will  generally  be  preferred  by  aliens  and  by  citizens  of 
other  States  for  the  mere  recovery  of  debts,  on  account  of  their  superior  ex 
pedition. 

I  should  here  close  my  remarks,  if  it  were  not  necessary  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  committee  for  a  few  minutes' to  the  details  of  the  bill.  And 
here  permit  me  to  express  my  regret  that  my  friend  from  Kentucky  (Mr. 
Wickliffe)  has  thought  proper  to  propose  an  amendment  to  add  three,  instead 


IMPEACHMENT  OF    JUDGE  PECK.  107 

of  two,  judges  to  the  Supreme  Court.  Had  a  majority  of  the  Committee  on 
the  Judiciary  believed  ten  judges,  instead  of  nine,  to  be  necessary,  I  should 
have  yielded  my  opinion,  as  I  did  upon  a  former  occasion,  and  given  the  bill 
my  support  in  the  House.  This  I  should  have  done  to  prevent  division 
among  its  friends,  believing  it  to  be  a  mere  question  of  time :  for  ten  will 
become  necessary  in  a  few  years,  unless  the  number  of  the  Eastern  circuits 
should  be  reduced  to  five. 

Another  important  matter  which  devolved  upon  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  as  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  related  to 
the  impeachment  of  Judge  James  H.  Peck,  the  United  States 
district  judge  for  the  district  of  Missouri.  The  facts  of  this 
singular  case  were  briefly  these:  Judge  Peck  had  decided  a 
land-cause  against  certain  parties  who  were  represented  in  his 
court  by  an  attorney  and  counsellor  named  Lawless.  Lawless 
published  in  a  St.  Louis  newspaper  some  comments  on  the 
Judge's  opinion,  by  no  means  intemperate  in  their  character. 
The  Judge  thereupon  attached  Lawless  for  a  contempt,  caused 
him  to  be  imprisoned  twenty-four  hours  in  the  common  jail,  and 
suspended  him  from  practice  for  a  period  of  eighteen  months. 
Upon  these  facts,  when  brought  before  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  by  Lawless'  memorial,  there  could  be  but  one  action.  The 
Judiciary  Committee  voted  an  impeachment  of  the  Judge, 
and  Mr.  Buchanan  reported  their  recommendation  on  the  23d 
of  March,  1830.  He  said  that  the  committee  deemed  it  most 
fair  towards  the  accused  not  to  report  at  length  their  reasons 
for  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  the  Judge  ought  to  be  im 
peached,  but  that  they  thought  it  advisable  to  follow  the  pre 
cedent  which  had  been  established  in  the  case  of  the  impeach 
ment  of  Judge  Chase.  A  desultory  discussion  followed  upon  a 
motion  to  print  the  report  and  the  documents,  and  upon  an 
amendment  to  include  the  address  which  it  seems  that  the 
Judge  had  been  allowed  to  make  to  the  committee.  But  before 
any  vote  was  taken,  the  Speaker,  on  the  5th  of  April,  presented 
a  memorial  from  Judge  Peck,  praying  the  House  to  allow  him 
to  present  a  written  exposition  of  the  facts  and  law  of  the  case, 
and  to  call  witnesses  to  substantiate  it,  or  else  to  vote  the  im 
peachment  at  once  on  "the  partial  evidence"  which  the  com 
mittee  had  heard.  In  the  course  of  these  proceedings  the 
House,  if  it  had  not  been  better  guided,  might  have  established 


108  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

an  unfortunate  precedent.  While  the  resolution  reported  by  the 
Judiciary  Committee  for  the  impeachment  of  the  Judge  was 
pending  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  Mr.  Everett  moved  a 
counter-resolution  that  there  was  not  sufficient  evidence  of  evil 
intent  to  authorize  the  House  to  impeach  Judge  Peck  of  high 
misdemeanors  in  office.  This,  in  effect,  would  have  converted 
the  grand  inquest  into  a  tribunal  for  the  determination  of  the 
whole  question  of  guilt  or  innocence,  upon  allegations  and  proofs 
on  the  one  side  and  the  other.  It  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Storrs, 
Mr.  Ellsworth,  Mr.  Wickliffe  and  others,  and  was  negatived. 
The  resolution  reported  by  Mr.  Buchanan  for  the  impeachment 
of  the  Judge  was  then  adopted  by  the  Committee  of  the  Whole, 
and  reported  to  the  House,  after  which  Mr.  Buchanan  demanded 
the  yeas  and  nays,  which  resulted  in  a  vote  of  123  for  the  im 
peachment  and  49  against  it.  An  article  pf-mrpeachment  was 
prepared  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  was  by  order  of  the  House 
presented  to  the  Senate.  The  managers  appointed  to  conduct 
the  impeachment  on  the  part  of  the  House  were  Mr.  Buchanan, 
Henry  R.  Storrs  of  New  York,  George  McDuffie  of  South 
Carolina,  Ambrose  Spencer  of  New  York,  and  Charles  Wickliffe 
of  Kentucky. 

The  Senate  was  organized  as  a  court  of  impeachment  on  the 
25th  of  May,  1830 ;  but  the  trial  was  postponed  to  the  second 
Monday  of  the  next  session  of  Congress.  It  began  on  that  day, 
December  20, 1830.  It  was  Mr.  Buchanan's  duty  to  close  the 
case  on  behalf  of  the  managers,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Wirt  and  Mr. 
Meredith  of  Baltimore,  the  counsel  for  Judge  Peck.  Of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  speech,  I  have  found  no  adequate  report.  It  was 
delivered  on  the  28th  of  January,  1831.  Contemporary  notices 
of  it  show  that  it  was  an  argument  of  marked  ability.  His 
positions  as  given  in  the  Annals  of  Congress  were  in  substance 
the  following : 

He  declared  that  the  usurpation  of  an  authority  not  legally  possessed  by  a 
judge,  or  the  manifest  abuse  of  a  power  really  given,  was  a  misbehavior  in 
the  sense  of  the  Constitution  for  which  he  should  be  dismissed  from  office. 
He  contended  that  the  conduct  of  Judge  Peck,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Lawless, 
was  in  express  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  land  ;  that 
the  circumstances  of  that  case  were  amply  sufficient  to  show  a  criminal  inten 
tion  on  his  part  in  the  summary  punishment  of  Mr.  Lawless;  that  in  order  to 


IMPEACHMENT  OF  JUDGE  PECK.          109 

prove  the  criminality  of  his  intention  it  was  not  necessary  to  demonstrate 
an  actually  malicious  intention,  or  a  lurking  revenge;  that  the  infliction 
upon  Mr.  Lawless  of  a  summary  and  cruel  punishment,  for  having  written 
an  article  decorous  in  its  language,  was  itself  sufficient  to  prove  the  badness 
of  the  motive ;  that  the  consequences  of  the  Judge's  actions  were  indicative 
of  his  intentions ;  that  our  courts  had  no  right  to  punish,  as  for  contempts,  in 
a  summary  mode,  libels,  even  in  pending  causes ;  and  that  if  he  succeeded,  as 
he  believed  he  should,  in  establishing  these  positions,  he  should  consider  that 
he  had  a  right  to  demand  the  judgment -of  the  court  against  the  respondent. 

He  took  the  further  position  that  the  publication  of  Mr.  Lawless,  under 
the  signature  of  "  A  Citizen,"  could  not,  in  a  trial  upon  an  indictment  for 
libel,  be  established  to  be  libellous,  according  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  land ;  that  the  paper  was,  on  its  face,  perfectly  harmless  in  itself;  and 
that,  so  far  as  it  went,  it  was  not  an  unfair  representation  of  the  opinion  of 
Judge  Peck.  The  honorable  manager  critically  and  legally  analyzed  the  nine 
last  specifications  in  the  publication,  to  establish  these  points.  He  then  pro- 
.  ceeded  to  sum  up  and  descant  upon  the  testimony  produced  in  the  case  before 
the  court  of  impeachment,  in  order  to  show  the  arbitrary  and  cruel  conduct 
of  Judge  Peck ;  and  in  a  peroration,  marked  by  its  ardent  eloquence,  he  de 
clared  that  if  this  man  escaped,  the  declaration  of  a  distinguished  politician  of 
this  country,  that  the  power  of  impeachment  was  but  the  scarecrow  of  the 
Constitution,  would  be  fully  verified ;  that  when  this  trial  commenced,  he 
recoiled  with  horror  from  the  idea  of  limiting,  and  rendering  precarious  and 
dependent,  the  tenure  of  the  judicial  office,  but  that  the  acquittal  of  the  re 
spondent  would  reconcile  him  to  that  evil,  as  one  less  than  a  hopeless  and 
remediless  submission  to  judicial  usurpation  and  tyranny,  at  least  so  far  as 
respected  the  inferior  courts. 

God  forbid  that  the  limitation  should  ever  be  extended  to  the  Supreme 
Court.  Mercy  to  the  respondent  would  be  cruelty  to  the  American  people. 

Judge  Peck  was  acquitted  by  a  vote  of  21  for  the  impeach 
ment  and  22  against  it,  the  constitutional  vote  of  two-thirds 
requisite  for  conviction  not  being  obtained.  It  is  quite  ap 
parent  that  no  party  feeling  entered  into  the  case. 

[GEO.   W.  BUCHANAN   TO    JAMES    BUCHANAN.] 

PITTSBURGH,  November  5,  1830. 
DEAR  BROTHER  :— 

I  had  the  honor  to  receive  by  last  night's  mail  a  letter  from  Mr.  Yan  Buren, 
enclosing  me  a  commission  from  the  President  for  the  district  attorneyship. 
This  day  I  will  acknowledge  its  receipt.  I  am  sincerely  glad  both  on  your 
account  and  my  own  that  the  President  has  appointed  m»-  It  banishes  in  a 


HO  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

moment  all  those  suspicions  which  some  persons  entertained  of  his  coldness 
towards  you.  It  should  be  my  highest  ambition  to  justify  the  appointment 
by  a  faithful  discharge  of  official  duty. 

My  appointment  appears  to  be  received  very  well  in  this  city.  It  will 
excite  some  feelings  of  envy  towards  me  among  the  young  members  of  the 
bar.  My  path,  however,  is  very  plain.  It  shall  not  alter  my  conduct  or 
manner  in  any  respect. 

I  am,  in  haste,  your  grateful  and  affectionate  brother, 

GEO.  W.  BUCHANAN. 


The  most  signal  service  rendered  by  Mr.  Buchanan  in  the 
21st  Congress,  as  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  was  in 
a  minority  report  made  by  him  on  the  24th  of  January,  1831, 
upon  a  proposition  to  repeal  the  twenty-fifth  section  of  the 
judiciary  act  of  1789,  which  gave  the  Supreme  Court  appellate 
jurisdiction,  by  writ  of  error  to  the  State  courts,  in  cases  where 
the  Constitution,  treaties,  and  laws  of  the  United  States  are 
drawn  in  question.  A  resolution  to  inquire  into  the  expediency 
of  repealing  this  great  organic  law  having  been  referred  to  the 
committee,  a  majority  of  the  committee  made  an  elaborate  re 
port  in  favor  of  the  repeal,  through  Mr.  Smith  of  South  Caro 
lina,  accompanied  by  a  bill  to  effect  the  repeal.  Mr.  Buchanan's 
counter-report,  which  had  the  concurrence  of  two  other  mem 
bers,  caused  the  rejection  of  the  bill,  by  a  vote  of  138  to  51.  I 
know  of  few  constitutional  discussions  which  evince  a  more 
thorough  knowledge  or  more  accurate  views  of  the  nature  of 
our  mixed  system  of  Government  than  this  report  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  If  it  be  said  that  the  argument  is  now 
familiar  to  us,  or  that  it  could  have  been  drawn  from  various 
sources,  let  it  be  observed  that  this  document  shows  that  Mr. 
Buchanan  was,  at  this  comparatively  early  ^period  of  his  life, 
a  well-instructed  constitutional  jurist ;  and  that  while  no  one 
could  originate  at  that  day  any  novel  views  of  this  important 
subject,  it  was  no  small  merit  to  be  able  to  set  forth  clearly  and 
cogently  the  whole  substance  of  such  a  topic.  I  think  no  apology 
is  needed  for  the  insertion  here  of  this  valuable  paper.  It  may 
be  prefaced  by  an  extract  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Buchanan's 
youngest  brother,  George  W.  Buchanan,  which  shows  how  it 
was  received  by  the  public  in  Pennsylvania : 


DEFEATS    A   REPEAL    OF    THE    25TH    SECTION.  m 

PITTSBURGH,  February  4, 1831. 

I  have  read  with  the  highest  degree  of  satisfaction  your  able  report 

from  the  minority  of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  That  document  will  identify 
your  name  with  the  most  important  constitutional  question  which  has  been 
presented  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  for  many  years.  It  was  looked  for 
with  much  anxiety,  and  is  now  spoken  of  by  politicians  of  every  party  as  a 
lucid  and  powerful  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of  Congress.  If  the  question  was 
to  be  started,  I  am  sincerely  glad  that  it  has  arisen  while  you  occupied  the 
chair  of  the  Judiciary  Committee.  ....". 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  January  24,  1831. 

The  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  to  which  was  referred  a  resolution  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  21st  ultimo,  instructing  them  "to  inquire 
into  the  expediency  of  repealing  or  modifying  the  twenty-fifth  section  of  an 
act  entitled  '  An  act  to  establish  the  judicial  courts  of  the  United  States,' 
passed  the  24th  September,  1789,"  having  made  a  report,  accompanied  by  a 
bill  to  repeal  the  same,  the  minority  of  that  committee,  differing  in  opinion 
from  their  associates  upon  this  important  question,  deem  it  to  be  their  duty 
to  submit  to  the  House  the  following  report : 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  conferred  upon  Congress  certain 
enumerated  powers,  and  expressly  authorizes  that  body  "  to  make  all  laws 
which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  these  powers  into  execu 
tion."  In  the  construction  of  this  instrument,  it  has  become  an  axiom,  the 
truth  of  which  cannot  be  controverted,  that  "  the  General  Government,  though 
limited  as  to  its  objects,  is  supreme  with  respect  to  those  objects." 

The  Constitution  has  also  conferred  upon  the  President,  "  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present 
concur,"  the  power  to  make  treaties. 

By  the  second  section  of  the  sixth  article  of  this  instrument  it  is  declared, 
in  emphatic  language,  that  "  this  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  which  shall  be  made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or 
which  shall  be  made,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the 
supreme  law  of  the  land ;  and  the  judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  there 
by,  anything  in  the  constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing." 

The  Constitution  having  conferred  upon  Congress  the  power  of  legislation 
over  certain  objects,  and  upon  the  President  and  Senate  the  power  of  making 
treaties  with  foreign  nations,  the  next  question  which  naturally  presented 
itself  to  those  who  framed  it  was,  in  what  manner  it  would  be  most  proper 
that  the  Constitution  itself,  and  the  laws  and  treaties  made  under  its  author 
ity,  should  be  carried  into  execution.  They  have  decided  this  question  in  the 
following  strong  and  comprehensive  language :  '*  The  judicial  power  shall 
extend  to  all  cases,  in  law  and  equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under 
their  authority."  [Art.  3,  Sec.  2.]  This  provision  is  the  only  one  which  could 


112 


LIFE    OF 


have  been  made  in  consistency  w: 
lished  by  the  Constitution.  It  w< 
instrument  established  a  judiciary 
and  all  the  treaties  made  under  it: 
would  thus  have  been  destroyed  : 
had  to  depend  exclusively  for  the 
ciary  of  the  States.  This  princip 
which  pervades  the  whole  Const 
framers  to  create  a  Government  \ 
and  executing  its  own  laws,  witl 


fttiti    - 

^  i'l-    -  id  :;;;!) t 

|:  }j 

I 


!:•  IU  !i:  I 


Accordingly,  we  find  that  the  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  extends,  in 
express  terms,  u  to  all  cases,"  in  law  and  in  equity,  arising  under  the  Consti 
tution,  the  laws,  and  the  treaties  of  the  United  States.  This  general  language 
comprehends  precisely  what  it  ought  to  comprehend. 

If  the  judicial  powers  of  the  United  States  does  thus  extend  to  "  all  cases" 
arising  under  the  Constitution,  the  laws,  and  treaties  of  the  Union,  how  could 
this  power  be  brought  into  action  over  such  cases  without  a  law  of  Congress 
investing  the  Supreme  Court  with  the  original  and  appellate  jurisdiction 
embraced  by  the  Constitution  ? 

It  was  the  imperious  duty  of  Congress  to  make  such  a  law,  and  it  is  equally 
its  duty  to  continue  it ;  indeed,  without  it,  the  judicial  power  of  the  United 
States  is  limited  and  restricted  to  such  cases  only  as  arise  in  the  Federal 
courts,  and  is  never  brought  to  bear  upon  numerous  cases,  evidently  within  its 
range. 

When  Congress,  in  the  year  1789,  legislated  upon  this  subject,  they  knew 
that  the  State  courts  would  often  be  called  upon,  in  the  trial  of  causes,  to 
give  a  construction  to  the  Constitution,  the  treaties,  and  laws  of  the  United 
States.  What,  then,  was  to  be  done  ?  If  the  decisions  of  the  State  courts 
should  be  final,  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  Union  might  be  construed 
to  mean  one  thing  in  one  State,  and  another  thing  in  another  State. 

All  uniformity  in  their  construction  would  thus  be  destroyed.  Besides, 
we  might,  if  this  were  the  case,  get  into  serious  conflicts  with  foreign  nations, 
as  a  treaty  might  receive  one  construction  in  Pennsylvania,  another  in  Vir 
ginia,  and  a  third  in  New  York.  Some  common  and  uniform  standard  of 
construction  was  absolutely  necessary. 

To  remedy  these  and  other  inconveniences,  the  first  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  composed,  in  a  considerable  proportion,  of  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution,  passed  the  25th  section  of  the  judicial  act  of  the  24th  September, 
1789.  It  is  in  the  following  words : 

"  SEC.  25.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  a  final  judgment  or  decree  in  any 
suit,  in  the  highest  court  of  law  or  equity  of  a  State,  in  which  a  decision  in 
the  suit  could  be  had,  where  is  drawn  in  question  the  validity  of  a  treaty 
or  statute  of,  or  an  authority  exercised  under,  the  United  States,  and  the 
decision  is  against  their  validity  ;  or  where  is  drawn  in  question  the  validity 
of  a  statute  of,  or  an  authority  exercised  under,  any  State,  on  the  ground 


r/- 
UNIVERSITY 

DEFEATS    A    REPEAL    OF    THE    25TH    SECTION.  113 

of  their  being  repugnant  to  the  Constitution,  treaties,  or  laws  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  decision  is  in  favor  of  such  their  validity ;  or  where  is  drawn 
in  question  the  construction  of  any  clause  of  the  Constitution,  or  of  a  treaty 
or  statute  of,  or  commission  held  under  the  United  States,  and  the  decision  is 
against  the  title,  right,  privilege,  or  exemption,  specially  set  up  or  claimed 
by  either  party  under  such  clause  of  the  said  Constitution,  treaty,  statute,  or 
commission,  may  be  re-examined  and  reversed,  or  affirmed  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  upon  a  writ /)f  error,  the  citation  being  signed  by 
the  chief  justice,  or  judge,  or  chancellor  of  the  court  rendering  or  passing  the 
judgment  or  decree  complained  of,  or  by  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  in  the  same  manner,  and  under  the  same  regulations,  and 
the  writ  shall  have  the  same  effect,  as  if  the  judgment  or  decree  complained 
of  had  been  rendered  or  passed  in  a  circuit  court;  and  the  proceeding  upon 
the  reversal  shall  also  be  the  same,  except  that  the  Supreme  Court,  instead  of 
remanding  the  cause  for  a  final  decision,  as  before  provided,  may,  at  their 
discretion,  if  the  cause  shall  have  been  once  remanded  before,  proceed  to  a 
final  decision  of  the  same,  and  award  execution.  But  no  other  error  shall  be 
assigned  or  regarded  as  a  ground  of  reversal  in  any  such  case  as  aforesaid, 
than  such  as  appears  on  the  face  of  the  record,  and  immediately  respects  the 
before-mentioned  questions  of  validity,  or  construction  of  the  said  Constitution, 
treaties,  statutes,  commissions,  or  authorities,  in  dispute." 

This  section  embraces  three  classes  of  cases.  The  first,  those  in  which  a 
State  court  should  decide  a  law  or  treaty  of  the  United  States  to  be  void, 
either  because  it  violated  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  for  any 
other  reason.  Ought  there  not  in  such  cases  to  be  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  ?  Without  such  an  appeal,  the  General  Govern 
ment  might  be  obliged  to  behold  its  own  laws  and  its  solemn  treaties  annulled 
by  the  judiciary  of  every  State  in  the  Union,  without  the  power  of  redress. 

The  second  class  of  cases  is  of  a  different  character.  It  embraces  those 
causes  in  which  the  validity  of  State  laws  is  contested,  upon  the  principle 
that  they  violate  the  Constitution,  the  laws,  or  the  treaties  of  the  United 
States,  and  have,  therefore,  been  enacted  in  opposition  to  the  authority  of  the 
"supreme  law  of  the  land."  Cases  of  this  description  have  been  of  frequent 
occurrence.  It  has  often  been  drawn  into  question  before  the  State  courts, 
whether  State  laws  did  or  did  not  violate  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Is  it  not  then  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  General  Govern 
ment,  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  should  possess  the  power 
of  reviewing  the  judgments  of  State  courts  in  all  cases  wherein  they  have 
established  the  validity  of  a  State  law  in  opposition  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States  ? 

The  third  class  differs  essentially  from  each  of  the  two  first.  In  the  cases 
embraced  by  it,  neither  the  validity  of  acts  of  Congress,  nor  of  treaties,  nor  of 
State  laws  is  called  in  question.  This  clause  of  the  25th  section  merely  con 
fers  upon  the  Supreme  Court  the  appellate  jurisdiction  of  construing  the  Con 
stitution,  laws,  and  treaties  of  the  United  States,  when  their  protection  has 
I.— 8 


114  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

been  invoked  by  parties  to  suits  before  the  State  courts,  and  has  been  de 
nied  by  their  decision.  Without  the  exercise  of  this  power,  in  cases  originat 
ing  in  the  State  courts,  the  Constitution,  laws,  and  treaties  of  the  United 
States  would  be  left  to  be  finally  construed  and  executed  by  a  judicial  power, 
over  which  Congress  has  no  control. 

This  section  does  not  interfere,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  with  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  State  courts  in  finally  deciding  all  cases  arising  exclusively 
under  their  own  constitution  and  laws.  It  leaves  them  in  the  enjoyment  of 
every  power  which  they  possessed  before  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Consti 
tution.  It  merely  declares  that,  as  that  Constitution  established  a  new  form 
of  Government,  and  consequently  gave  to  the  State  courts  the  power  of  con 
struing,  in  certain  cases,  the  Constitution,  the  laws,  and  the  treaties  of  the 
United  States,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  should,  to  this  limited 
extent,  but  not  beyond  it,  possess  the  power  of  reviewing  their  judgments. 
The  section  itself  declares  that  no  other  error  shall  be  assigned  or  regarded  as 
a  ground  of  reversal,  in  any  such  case  as  aforesaid,  than  such  as  appears  on 
the  face  of  the  record,  and  immediately  respects  the  before-mentioned  ques 
tions  of  validity  or  construction  of  the  said  Constitution,  treaties,  statutes, 
commissions,  or  authorities  in  dispute. 

The  minority  of  the  committee  will  now  proceed  to  advance,  in  a  more 
distinct  form,  a  few  of  the  reasons  why,  in  their  opinion,  the  25th  section  of 
this  act  ought  not  to  be  repealed. 

And,  in  the  first  place,  it  ought  to  be  the  chief  object  of  all  Governments  to 
protect  individual  rights.  In  almost  every  case  involving  a  question  before 
a  State  court  under  this  section  of  the  judiciary  act,  the  Constitution,  laws,  or 
treaties  of  the  United  States  are  interposed  for  the  protection  of  individuals. 
Does  a  citizen  invoke  the  protection  of  an  act  of  Congress  upon  a  trial  before 
a  State  court  which  decides  that  act  to  be  unconstitutional  and  void,  and  ren 
ders  judgment  against  him?  This  section  secures  his  right  of  appeal  from 
such  a  decision  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

When  a  citizen,  in  a  suit  before  a  State  court,  contends  that  a  State  law, 
by  which  he  is  assailed,  is  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  therefore  void  (if  his  plea  should  be  overruled),  he  may  bring  this  ques 
tion  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

In  like  manner,  when  an  individual  claims  any  right  before  a  State  court 
under  the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  the  decision  is 
against  his  claim,  he  may  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

If  this  section  were  repealed,  all  these  important  individual  rights  would 
be  forfeited. 

The  history  of  our  country  abundantly  proves  that  individual  States  are 
liable  to  high  excitements  and  strong  prejudices.  The  judges  of  these  States 
would  be  more  or  less  than  men  if  they  did  not  participate  in  the  feelings  of 
the  community  by  which  they  are  surrounded.  Under  the  influence  of  these 
excitements,  individuals,  whose  rights  happen  to  clash  with  the  prevailing 
feeling  of  the  State,  would  have  but  a  slender  hope  of  obtaining  justice  before 


DEFEATS   A   REPEAL    OF    THE   25TH    SECTION.  H5 

a  State  tribunal.  There  would  be  the  power  and  the  influence  of  the  State 
sovereignty  on  the  one  side,  and  an  individual  who  had  made  himself  obnox 
ious  to  popular  odium  on  the  other.  In  such  cases,  ought  the  liberty  or 
the  property  of  a  citizen,  so  far  as  he  claims  the  same  under  the  Constitution 
or  laws  of  the  United  States,  to  be  decided  before  a  State  court,  without  an 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  on  whom  the  construc 
tion  of  this  very  Constitution  and  these  laws  has  been  conferred,  in  all  cases, 
by  the  Constitution? 

The  Supreme  Court,  considering  the"  elevated  character  of  its  judges,  and 
that  they  reside  in  parts  of  the  Union  remote  from  each  other,  can  never  be 
liable  to  local  excitements  and  local  prejudices.  To  that  tribunal  our  citizens 
can  appeal  with  safety  and  with  confidence  (as  long  as  the  25th  section  of 
the  judicial  act  shall  remain  upon  the  statute  book)  whenever  they  consider 
that  their  rights,  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  have 
been  violated  by  a  State  court.  Besides,  should  this  section  be  repealed,  it 
would  produce  a  denial  of  equal  justice  to  parties  drawing  in  question  the 
Constitution,  laws,  or  treaties  of  the  United  States.  In  civil  actions,  the 
plaintiff  might  then  bring  his  action  in  a  Federal  or  State  court,  as  he  pleased, 
and  as  he  thought  he  should  be  most  likely  to  succeed  ;  whilst  the  defendant 
would  have  no  option,  but  must  abide  the  consequences  without  the  power 
of  removing  the  cause  from  a  State  into  a  Federal  court,  except  in  the  single 
case  of  his  being  sued  out  of  the  district  in  which  he  resides ;  and  this,  al 
though  he  might  have  a  conclusive  defence  under  the  Constitution  and  laws 
of  the  United  States. 

Another  reason  for  preserving  this  section  is,  that  without  it  there  would 
be  no  uniformity  in  the  construction  and  administration  of  the  Constitution, 
laws,  and  treaties  of  the  United  States.  If  the  courts  of  twenty-four  distinct, 
sovereign  States,  each  possess  the  power,  in  the  last  resort,  of  deciding  upon 
the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  their  construction  may  be 
different  in  every  State  of  the  Union.  That  act  of  Congress  which  conforms 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  is  valid  in  the  opinion  of  the 
supreme  court  of  Georgia,  may  be  a  direct  violation  of  the  provisions  of  that 
instrument,  and  be  void  in  the  judgment  of  the  supreme  court  of  South  Car 
olina.  A  State  law  in  Virginia  might  in  this  manner  be  declared  constitu 
tional,  whilst  the  same  law,  if  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania, 
would  be  void.  Nay,  what  would  be  still  more  absurd,  a  law  or  treaty  of  the 
United  States  with  a  foreign  nation,  admitted  to  be  constitutionally  made, 
might  secure  rights  to  the  citizens  of  one  State,  which  would  be  denied  to 
those  of  another.  Although  the  same  Constitution  and  laws  govern  the 
Union,  yet  the  rights  acquired  under  them  would  vary  with  every  degree  of 
latitude.  Surely  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  would  have  left  their  work 
incomplete,  had  they  established  no  common  tribunal  to  decide  its  own  con 
struction,  and  that  of  the  laws  and  treaties  made  under  its  authority.  They 
are  not  liable  to  this  charge,  because  they  have  given  express  power  to  the 
Judiciary  of  the  Union  over  "  all  cases,  in  law  and  equity,  arising  under  this 


116  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties  made,  or  which  shall 
be  made,  under  their  authority." 

The  first  Congress  of  the  United  States  have,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
carried  this  power  into  execution  by  the  passage  of  the  judicial  act,  and  it 
contains  no  provision  more  important  than  the  25th  section. 

This  section  ought  not  to  be  repealed,  because,  in  the  opinion  of  the  minor 
ity  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  its  repeal  would  seriously  endanger 
the  existence  of  this  Union.  The  chief  evil  which  existed  under  the  old  con 
federation,  and  which  gave  birth  to  the  present  Constitution,  was  that  the 
General  Government  could  not  act  directly  upon  the  people,  but  only  by 
requisition  upon  sovereign  States.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  States 
either  obeyed  or  disobeyed  these  requisitions,  as  they  thought  proper.  The 
present  Constitution  was  intended  to  enable  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  act  immediately  upon  the  people  of  the  States,  and  to  carry  its  own 
laws  into  full  execution,  by  virtue  of  its  own  authority.  If  this  section  were 
repealed,  the  General  Government  would  be  deprived  of  the  power,  by  means 
of  its  own  judiciary,  to  give  effect  either  to  the  Constitution  which  called  it 
into  existence,  or  to  the  laws  and  treaties  made  under  its  authority.  It  would 
be  compelled  to  submit,  in  many  important  cases,  to  the  decisions  of  State 
courts ;  and  thus  the  very  evil  which  the  present  Constitution  was  intended 
to  prevent  would  be  entailed  upon  the  people.  The  judiciary  of  the  States 
might  refuse  to  carry  into  effect  the  laws  of  the  United  States ;  and  without 
that  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  which  the  25th  section  authorizes,  these 
laws  would  thus  be  entirely  annulled,  and  could  not  be  executed  without  a 
resort  to  force. 

This  position  may  be  illustrated  by  a  few  striking  examples.  Suppose  the 
Legislature  of  one  of  the  States,  believing  the  tariff  laws  to  be  unconstitu 
tional,  should  determine  that  they  ought  not  to  be  executed  within  its  limits. 
They  accordingly  pass  a  law,  imposing  the  severest  penalties  upon  the  col 
lector  and  other  custom-house  officers  of  the  United  States  within  their  terri 
tory,  if  they  should  collect  the  duties  on  the  importation  of  foreign  merchan 
dise.  The  collector  proceeds  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office  under  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  and  he  is  condemned  and  punished  before  a  State 
court  for  violating  this  State  law.  Repeal  this  section,  and  the  decision  of 
the  State  court  would  be  final  and  conclusive ;  anH  any  State  could  thus 
nullify  any  act  of  Congress  which  she  deemed  to  be  unconstitutional 

The  Executive  of  one  of  the  States,  in  a  message  to  the  Legislature,  has 
declared  it  to  be  his  opinion,  that  the  land  belonging  to  the  United  States 
within  her  territory  is  now  the  property  of  the  State,  by  virtue  of  her  sover 
eign  authority.  Should  the  Legislature  be  of  the  same  opinion,  and  pass  a 
law  for  the  punishment  of  the  land  officers  of  the  United  States  who  should 
sell  any  of  the  public  lands  within  her  limits,  this  transfer  of  property  might 
be  virtually  accomplished  by  the  repeal  of  the  25th  section  of  the  judicial  act. 
Our  land  officers  might  then  be  severely  punished,  and  thus  prohibited  by 
the  courts  of  that  State  from  performing  their  duty  under  the  laws  of  the 


DEFEATS    A    REPEAL    OF    THE    25TH    SECTION.  117 

Union,  without  the  possibility  of  redress  in  any  constitutional  or  legal  form. 
In  this  manner,  the  title  of  the  United  States  to  a  vast  domain,  which  has 
cost  the  nation  many  millions,  and  which  justly  belongs  to  the  people  of  the 
several  States,  would  be  defeated  or  greatly  impaired. 

Another  illustration  might  be  introduced.  Suppose  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania,  being  of  opinion  that  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  is  unconstitutional,  were  to  declare  it  to  be  a  nuisance,  and  inflict  pen 
alties  upon  all  its  officers  for  making  discounts  or  receiving  deposits.  Should 
the  courts  of  that  State  carry  such  a  law  into  effect,  without  the  25th  section 
there  would  be  no  appeal  from  their  decision ;  and  the  Legislature  and  courts 
of  a  single  State  might  thus  prostrate  an  institution  established  under  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States. 

In  all  such  cases,  redress  can  now  be  peaceably  obtained  in  the  ordinary 
administration  of  justice.  A  writ  of  error  issues  from  the  Supreme  Court, 
which  finally  decides  the  question  whether  the  act  of  Congress  was  constitu 
tional  or  not ;  and  if  they  determine  in  the  affirmative,  the  judgment  of  the 
State  court  is  reversed.  The  laws  are  thus  substituted  instead  of  arms,  and 
the  States  kept  within  their  proper  orbits  by  the  judicial  authority.  But  if 
no  such  appeal  existed,  then,  upon  the  occurrence  of  cases  of  this  character, 
the  General  Government  would  be  compelled  to  determine  whether  the 
Union  should  be  dissolved,  or  whether  there  should  be  a  recurrence  to  force 
— an  awful  alternative,  which  we  trust  may  never  be  presented.  We  will  not 
attempt  further  to  portray  the  evils  which  might  result  from  the  abandon 
ment  of  the  present  judicial  system.  They  will  strike  every  reflecting  mind. 

It  has  of  late  years  been  contended  that  this  section  of  the  judicial  act  was 
unconstitutional,  and  that  Congress  do  not  possess  the  power  of  investing  the 
Supreme  Court  with  appellate  jurisdiction  in  any  case  which  has  been  finally 
decided  in  the  courts  of  the  States.  It  has  also  been  contended  that,  even 
if  they  do  possess  this  power,  it  does  not  extend  to  cases  in  which  a  State  is 
a  party.  On  this  branch  of  the  question,  we  would  refer  the  House  to  the 
very  able  and  conclusive  argument  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  cases  of  Martin  vs.  Hunter's  Lessee  (1st  Wheaton,  304)  and 
Cohens  vs.  the  State  of  Virginia  (6  Wheaton,  264)  by  which  the  affirmative 
of  these  propositions  is  clearly  established.  It  may  be  proper,  however,  that 
we  should  make  a  few  observations  upon  this  part  of  the  question.  Those 
who  have  argued  in  favor  of  these  positions,  assert  that  the  general  words  of 
the  Constitution,  extending  the  judicial  power  of  the  Union  "  to  all  cases,  in 
law  and  equity,"  arising  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States,  ought,  by  construction,  to  be  restricted  to  such  cases  in  law  and 
equity  as  may  originate  in  the  courts  of  the  Union.  They  would  thus  estab 
lish  a  limitation  at  war  with  the  letter,  and,  in  our  opinion,  equally  at  war 
with  the  spirit  of  the  instrument.  Had  such  been  the  intention  of  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution,  they  well  knew  in  what  language  to  express  that  intention. 
Had  it  been  their  purpose  to  restrict  the  meaning  of  the  general  language 
which  they  had  used  in  the  first  clause  of  the  section,  they  could  have  done 


118  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

so  with  much  propriety  in  the  second.  This  clause,  after  providing  il  that,  in 
all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers,  and  consuls,  and  those 
in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  original  juris 
diction,"  proceeds  to  declare  "  that,  in  all  the  other  cases  before  mentioned,  the 
Supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with 
such  exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations,  as  the  Congress  shall  make." 
On  the  supposition  contended  for,  it  is  wholly  unaccountable  that  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  did  not  limit  the  natural  effect  of  the  words  used  in  the 
first  clause,  by  making  the  second  to  read  "  that,  in  all  the  other  cases  before 
mentioned,"  arising  in  the  inferior  courts  of  the  United  States,  "  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction."  But  no  such  restriction  exists ;  and, 
from  the  fair  import  of  the  words  used  in  both  clauses,  the  Supreme  Court 
possess  the  power  of  finally  deciding  "  all  cases,  in  law  and  equity,"  arising 
under  the  Constitution,  the  laws,  and  the  treaties  of  the  United  States,  no 
matter  whether  they  may  have  originated  in  a  Federal  or  in  a  State  court, 
and  no  matter  whether  States  or  individuals  be  the  parties. 

But  it  is  not  our  intention  to  enter  into  a  protracted  constitutional  argu 
ment  upon  the  present  occasion,  because  this  question  has  long  since  been 
put  at  rest,  if  any  constitutional  question  can  ever  be  considered  as  settled  in 
this  country.  The  Federalist,  which  is  now  considered  a  text-book  in  re 
gard  to  the  construction  of  the  Constitution,  and  deservedly  so,  as  well  from 
the  great  merit  of  the  work  as  the  high  character  of  its  authors,  is  clear  and 
explicit  on  this  subject.  After  reasoning  upon  it  at  some  length,  the  author 
of  the  83d  number  of  that  production  arrives  at  the  following  conclusion : 
"  To  confine,  therefore,  the  general  expressions  which  gave  appellate  jurisdic 
tion  to  the  Supreme  Court  to  appeals  from  the  subordinate  Federal  courts, 
instead  of  allowing  their  extension  to  the  State  courts,  would  be  to  abridge 
the  latitude  of  the  terms,  in  subversion  of  the  intent,  contrary  to  every  sound 
rule  of  interpretation." 

The  Federalist,  it  will  be  recollected,  was  written  between  the  formation 
of  the  Constitution  and  its  adoption  by  the  States.  Immediately  after  its 
adoption,  Congress,  by  passing  the  25th  section  of  the  judicial  act,  now  sought 
to  be  repealed,  fully  confirmed  this  construction.  This  appellate  jurisdiction 
has  ever  since  been  exercised  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  a  great  variety  of 
cases ;  and  we  are  not  aware  that  the  constitutionality  of  its  exercise  has 
ever  been  questioned  by  the  decision  of  any  State  court,  except  in  a  single 
instance,  which  did  not  occur  until  the  year  1815.  And  even  in  that  case 
(Hunter  vs.  Fairfax),  the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  carried  into 
effect  according  to  the  existing  law,  without  endangering  the  peace  of  the 
country. 

The  last  topic  to  which  we  would  advert  is,  the  claim  which  has  been  set 
up  to  exempt  the  judgments  obtained  by  the  States  of  this  Union,  before  their 
own  courts,  in  civil  and  criminal  suits,  prosecuted  in  their  name,  from  being 
reviewed  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  upon  a  writ  of  error. 
Much  stress  has  been  laid  by  those  who  sustain  this  claim,  upon  the  general 


DEFEATS    A    REPEAL    OF    THE    25TH    SECTION.  H9 

proposition  that  a  sovereign  independent  State  cannot  be  sued,  except  by  its 
own  consent.  But  does  this  proposition  apply,  in  its  extent,  to  the  States  of 
this  Union.  That  is  the  question  for  discussion. 

We  have  in  this  country  an  authority  much  higher  than  that  of  sovereign 
States.  It  is  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  people  of  each  State.  In  their 
State  conventions  they  ratified  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and  so 
far  as  that  Constitution  has  deprived  the  States  of  any  of  the  attributes  of 
sovereignty,  they  are  bound  by  it,  because  such  was  the  will  of  the  people. 
The  Constitution,  thus  called  into  existence  by  the  will  of  the  people  of  the 
several  States,  has  declared  itself,  and  the  laws  and  treaties  which  should 
emanate  from  its  authority,  to  be  "  the  supreme  law  of  the  land ;  "  and  the 
judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in  the  Constitution 
or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

Why,  then,  should  a  State,  who  has  obtained  a  judgment  in  her  own 
courts  against  an  individual,  in  violation  of  this  "  supreme  law  of  the  land," 
be  protected  from  having  her  judgment  reversed  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  ?  Is  there  any  reason,  either  in  the  Constitution  or  in 
natural  justice,  why  judgments  obtained  by  a  State  in  her  own  courts  should 
be  held  sacred,  notwithstanding  they  violated  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  Union,  which  would  not  apply,  at  least  with  equal  force,  in  favor  of 
individual  plaintiffs?  The  Constitution  subjects  to  the  review  of  the  Supreme 
Court  all  cases  in  law  or  equity  arising  under  itself,  or  the  laws  of  the  Union. 
It  excepts  no 'Case  bearing  this  character.  Whether  the  party  be  a  State  or 
an  individual,  all  must  alike  bow  to  the  sovereign  will  of  the  people,  expressed 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

In  suits  brought  by  a  State  against  an  individual  in  her  own  courts,  there 
is  much  greater  danger  of  oppression,  considering  the  relative  power  and  in 
fluence  of  the  parties,  than  there  would  be  in  controversies  between  individ 
uals.  And  are  these  to  be  the  only  cases  selected,  in  which  the  citizen  shall 
not  be  permitted  to  protect  himself  by  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  Union 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  ?  Is  it  not  sufficient  that, 
under  the  Constitution,  the  States  cannot  be  sued  as  defendants,  without  add 
ing  to  this,  by  a  strained  and  unnatural  construction,  the  additional  privilege 
that  the  judgments  which  they  may  obtain  as  plaintiffs  or  prosecutors  before 
their  own  courts,  whether  right  or  wrong,  shall  in  all  cases  be  irreversible  ? 

We  will  not  repeat  the  considerations  which  have  been  already  urged  to 
prove  that,  unless  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  applies  to  the  States,  the 
rights  of  individuals  will  be  sacrificed,  all  uniformity  of  decision  abandoned, 
and  each  one  of  the  States  will  have  it  in  her  power  to  set  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  at  defiance. 

The  eleventh  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  inter 
feres  in  no  respect  with  the  principles  for  which  we  have  contended.  It  is  in 
these  words : 

"  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to  extend 
to  any  suit,  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the 


120  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

United  States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any 
foreign  State." 

Chief  Justice  Marshall,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  court  in  the  case 
of  Cohens  vs.  Virginia,  has  given  so  clear,  and  in  our  opinion,  so  correct  an 
exposition  of  the  true  construction  of  the  amendment,  that  we  shall,  in  con 
clusion,  present  to  the  House  a  few  extracts  from  that  opinion,  instead  of  any 
argument  of  our  own.  He  says  that  "  the  first  impression  made  on  the  mind 
by  this  amendment  is,  that  it  was  intended  for  those  cases,  and  for  those 
only,  in  which  some  demand  against  a  State  is  made  by  an  individual  in  the 
courts  of  the  Union.  If  we  consider  the  causes  to  which  it  is  to  be  traced, 
we  are  conducted  to  the  same  conclusion.  A  general  interest  might  well  be 
felt,  in  leaving  to  a  State  the  full  power  of  consulting  its  convenience  in  the 
adjustment  of  its  debts,  or  of  other  claims  upon  it ;  but  no  interest  could  be 
felt  in  so  changing  the  relation  between  the  whole  and  its  parts,  as  to  strip 
the  Government  of  the  means  of  protecting,  by  the  instrumentality  of  its 
courts,  the  Constitution  and  laws  from  active  violation.  The  words  of  the 
amendment  appear  to  the  court  to  justify  and  require  this  construction. 

"  To  commence  a  suit,  is  to  demand  something  by  the  institution  of  pro 
cess  in  a  court  of  justice ;  and  to  prosecute  the  suit  is,  according  to  the  com 
mon  acceptation  of  language,  to  continue  that  demand.  By  a  suit  commenced 
by  an  individual  against  a  State,  we  should  understand  a  process  sued  out  by 
that  individual  against  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  some  claim 
against  it  by  the  judgment  of  a  court;  and  the  prosecution  of  that  suit  is  its 
continuance.  Whatever  may  be  the  stages  of  its  progress,  the  actor  is  still  the 
same.  Suits  had  been  commenced  in  the  Supreme  Court  against  some  of  the 
States  before  the  amendment  was  introduced  into  Congress,  and  others  might 
be  commenced  before  it  should  be  adopted  by  the  State  Legislatures,  and  might 
be  depending  at  the  time  of  its  adoption.  The  object  of  the  amendment  was 
not  only  to  prevent  the  commencement  of  future  suits,  but  to  arrest  the  pros 
ecution  of  those  which  might  be  commenced  when  this  article  should  form  a 
part  of  the  Constitution.  It  therefore  embraces  both  objects ;  and  its  mean 
ing  is,  that  the  judicial  power  shall  not  be  construed  to  extend  to  any  suit 
which  may  be  commenced,  or  which,  if  already  commenced,  may  be  prose 
cuted  against  a  State,  by  the  citizens  of  another  State.  If  a  suit,  brought  in 
one  court,  and  carried  by  legal  process  to  a  supervising^court,  be  a  continua 
tion  of  the  same  suit,  then  this  suit  is  not  commenced  nor  prosecuted  against 
a  State.  It  is  clearly,  in  its  commencement,  the  suit  of  a  State  against  an 
individual,  which  suit  is  transferred  to  this  court,  not  for  the  purpose  of  as 
serting  any  claim  against  the  State,  but  for  the  purpose  of  asserting  a  consti 
tutional  defence  against  a  claim  made  by  a  State. 

"  Under  the  judiciary  act,  the  effect  of  a  writ  of  error  is  simply  to  bring  the 
record  into  court,  and  submit  the  judgment  of  the  inferior  tribunal  to  re- 
examination.  It  does  not,  in  any  manner,  act  upon  the  parties ;  it  acts  only 
on  the  record.  It  removes  the  record  into  the  supervising  tribunal.  Where, 
then,  a  State  obtains  a  judgment  against  an  individual,  and  the  court  render- 


DEFEATS    A    REPEAL    OF    THE    25TH    SECTION.  121 

ing  such  judgment  overrules  a  defence  set  up  under  the  Constitution  or  laws 
of  the  United  States,  the  transfer  of  this  record  into  the  Supreme  Court  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  inquiring  whether  the  judgment  violates  the  Constitution 
or  laws  of  the  United  States  can,  with  no  propriety,  we  think,  be  denom 
inated  a  suit  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  the  State,  whose  judgment  is 
so  far  re-examined.  Nothing  is  demanded  from  the  State.  No  claim  against 
it,  of  any  description,  is  asserted  or  prosecuted.  The  party  is  not  to  be  re 
stored  to  the  possession  of  anything.  Essentially,  it  is  an.  appeal  on  a  single 
point;  and  the  defendant  who  appeals  from  a  judgment  rendered  against  him, 
is  never  said  to  commence  or  prosecute  a  suit  against  the  plaintiff  who  has 
obtained  the  judgment.  The  writ  of  error  is  given  rather  than  an  appeal, 
because  it  is  the  more  usual  mode  of  removing  suits  at  common  law ;  and 
because,  perhaps,  it  is  more  technically  proper,  where  a  single  point  of  law, 
and  not  the  whole  case,  is  to  be  re-examined.  But  an  appeal  might  be  given, 
and  might  be  so  regulated  as  to  effect  every  purpose  of  a  writ  of  error.  The 
mode  of  removal  is  form,  not  substance.  Whether  it  be  by  writ  of  error  or 
appeal,  no  claim  is  asserted,  no  demand  is  made  by  the  original  defendant; 
he  only  asserts  the  constitutional  right  to  have  his  defence  examined  by  that 
tribunal  whose  province  it  is  to  construe  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
Union. 

"  The  only  part  of  the  proceeding  which  is  in  any  manner  personal  is  the 
citation.  And  what  is  the  citation  ?  It  is  simply  notice  to  the  opposite 
party  that  the  record  is  transferred  into  another  court,  where  he  may  appear, 
or  decline  to  appear,  as  his  judgment  or  inclination  may  determine.  As  the 
party  who  has  obtained  a  judgment  is  out  of  court,  and  may,  therefore,  not 
know  that  his  cause  is  removed,  common  justice  requires  that  notice  of  the 
fact  should  be  given  him :  but  this  notice  is  not  a  suit,  nor  has  it  the  effect  of 
process.  If  the  party  does  not  choose  to  appear,  he  cannot  be  brought  into 
court,  nor  is  his  failure  to  appear  considered  as  a  default.  Judgment  cannot 
be  given  against  him  for  his  non-appearance ;  but  the  judgment  is  to  be  re- 
examined,  and  reversed  or  affirmed,  in  like  manner  as  if  the  party  had 
appeared  and  argued  his  cause. 

"  The  point  of  view  in  which  this  writ  of  error,  with  its  citation,  has  been 
considered  uniformly  in  the  courts  of  the  Union,  has  been  well  illustrated  by 
a  reference  to  the  course  of  this  court  in  suits  instituted  by  the  United  States. 
The  universally  received  opinion  is,  that  no  suit  can  be  commenced  or  prose 
cuted  against  the  United  States ;  that  the  judiciary  act  does  not  authorize  such 
suits ;  yet  writs  of  error,  accompanied  with  citations,  have  uniformly  issued 
for  the  removal  of  judgments  in  favor  of  the  United  States  into  a  superior 
court,  where  they  have,  like  those  in  favor  of  an  individual,  been  re-examined, 
and  affirmed  or  reversed.  It  has  never  been  suggested  that  such  writ  of 
error  was  a  suit  against  the  United  States,  and  therefore  not  within  the  juris 
diction  of  the  appellate  court. 

"  It  is,  then,  the  opinion  of  the  court  that  the  defendant  who  removes  a 
judgment  rendered  against  him  by  a  State  court  into  this  court,  for  the  pur- 


122  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

pose  of  re-examining  the  question  whether  that  judgment  be  in  violation  of 
the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  United  States,  does  not  commence  or  prose 
cute  a  suit  against  the  State,  whatever  may  be  its  opinion,  where  the  effect  of 
the  writ  may  be  to  restore  the  party  to  the  possession  of  a  thing  which  he 
demands.". 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN, 
WM.  W.  ELLSWORTH, 
E.  D.  WHITE. 

It  was  Mr.  Buchanan's  intention  to  retire  from  public  life  at 
the  close  of  this  session  of  Congress  in  March,  1831.  But  in 
the  early  part  of  February,  without  his  previous  knowledge,  a 
movement  was  set  on  foot  in  Pennsylvania  to  bring  him  for 
ward  as  the  candidate  of  that  State  for  the  Vice-Presidency  at 
the  next  election,  on  the  ticket  with  General  Jackson,  whose 
re-election  to  the  Presidency  was  already  anticipated  by  his 
party.  As  soon  as  information  of  this  purpose  reached  Mr. 
Buchanan,  he  did  what  he  could  to  discourage  it,  as  will  appear 
from  the  following  letter  to  one  of  his  Pennsylvania  friends  and 
neighbors : 

[JAMES  BUCHANAN  TO  GEORGE  PLITT,  ESQ.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  18,  1831. 
DEAR  SIR; — 

I  received  your  kind  letter  of  the  7th  instant  and  the  Chester  County 
Democrat  of  the  8th  by  the  same  mail ;  and  I  confess  the  information  which 
they  contained  was  wholly  unexpected.  I  can  say  nothing  upon  the  subject 
to  which  they  refer,  unless  it  be  to  express  a  profound  and  grateful  sense  of 
the  kindness  and  partiality  of  those  of  my  friends  in  Chester  County  who 
would  elevate  me  to  a  station  to  which  I  have  never  aspired.  I  cannot  flatter 
myself,  for  a  single  moment,  that  the  people  of  the  State  will  respond  to 
a  nomination  which  I  feel  has  been  dictated  in  a  great  degree  by  personal 
friendship ;  and  I  shall  retire  to  private  life,  after  the  close  of  the  present  ses 
sion,  without  casting  one  lingering  look  behind.  As  a  private  citizen  I  shall 
always  remember  with  the  deepest  sensibility  the  many  favors  which  I  have 
received  from  the  people  of  the  district  whom  I  have  so  long  represented, 
perfectly  convinced  that  they  have  already  bestowed  upon  me  quite  as  many 
honors  as  I  have  ever  deserved. 

I  sent  you  by  yesterday's  mail  a  copy  of  the  correspondence  between  the 
President  and  Vice -President.  Its  publication  has  not  produced  the  sensa 
tion  here  which  was  expected.  I  think  it  will  not  injure  General  Jackson  in 


WISHES    TO    RETIRE    FROM  PUBLIC   LIFE.  123 

the  estimation  of  his  friends  in  Pennsylvania.     Its  effect,  however,  will  be 
still  more  to  divide  the  personal  friends  of  Mr.  Crawford  and  Mr.  Calhoun. 

The  speech  which  I  made  upon  Peck's  trial  will  probably  not  appear  until  a 
full  report  of  the  case  shall  be  published.  The  commendations  which  have 
been  bestowed  upon  it,  both  here  and  elsewhere,  have  been  of  a  character  so 
far  beyond  its  merits  that  I  fear  the  public  will  be  disappointed  upon  the 
appearance  in  print. 

I  would  suggest  to  you  the  propriety  of  considering  this  letter  confidential 
so  far  as  it  regards  myself.  The  subject  is  of  a  nature  so  delicate,  and  any 
thing  I  can  say  upon  it  is  so  liable  to  misconstruction,  that  I  should  not  have 
answered  your  letter,  had  I  not  felt  that  you  have  always  deserved  my 
friendship,  and  that  I  might  rely  with  confidence  on  your  discretion. 

From  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

P.  S. — What  is  now  the  state  of  anti-masonry  in  your  county  ? 


The  truth  is  that  a  longer  continuance  in  public  life  did  not 
accord  with  Mr.  Buchanan's  plans.  His  professional  income 
had  fallen  to  the  low  rate  of  about  $2000  per  annum,  and  he 
determined  to  restore  it  to  what  it  had  previously  been,  and 
to  take  his  chances  for  raising  it  still  higher. 

He  had  many  qualifications  for  great  success  at  the  bar :  com 
petent  learning,  untiring  industry,  a  ready  and  pleasing  address, 
an  uncommon  reasoning  power,  and  a  reputation  of  perfect 
integrity.  Had  he  been  impelled  by  the  wants  of  a  family  to 
devote  himself  exclusively  to  his  profession,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  he  would  have  risen  in  it  to  great  eminence.  His 
talents  were  not  of  that  order  which  would  have  enabled  him 
to  unite  in  his  own  person  the  very  different  functions  of  a 
statesman  and  a  lawyer ;  a  union  which  has  been  exhibited  in 
a  very  marked  manner  by  only  one  person  in  America,  and 
perhaps  by  no  one  in  England.  But  my  estimate  of  Mr.  Bu 
chanan's  abilities  leads  me  to  say,  that  if  he  had  not  at  this 
period  of  his  life  been  again  drawn  into  a  political  career, 
he  would  have  ranked  among  the  first  lawyers  of  his  time.  He 
must  have  soon  engaged  in  the  forensic  discussion  of  constitu 
tional  questions.  He  had  very  early  imbibed  a  deep  reverence 
for  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  his  turn  of  mind 
would  have  adapted  him  to  the  handling  of  questions  such  as 
were  then  arising  and  are  likely  long  to  arise  upon  its  interpre- 


124:  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

tation.  As  he  grew  older  and  his  sphere  of  professional  em 
ployment  became  widened,  he  must  have  been  found  at  the  bar 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  if  not  as  the  peer 
of  Webster  and  Pinkney,  at  least  as  the  peer  of  many  against 
whom  those  great  advocates  had  to  put  forth  their  strength.  But 
from  such  a  professional  career  Mr.  Buchanan  was  drawn  away, 
not  by  the  prospect  of  the  Vice-Presidency,  but  by  the  unex 
pected  offer  of  the  mission  to  Russia,  an  account  of  which  will 
be  found  in  the  next  chapter. 

[FROM  GEORGE  w.  BUCHANAN.] 

PITTSBURGH,  March  4,  1830. 
DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  am  much  pleased  to  observe  from  the  U.  8.  Telegraph  of  the  25th 
ultimo  that  you  have  taken  a  manly  stand  on  the  constitutional  side  of  the 
Indian  question.  In  this  pleasure  there  is  no  doubt  a  spice  of  personal  vanity, 
as  your  sentiments,  so  far  as  they  can  be  inferred  from  the  debate,  are  in  per 
fect  accordance  with  my  own.  It  is  a  question  which  has  produced  an  unac 
countable  excitement  in  our  city.  Every  word  on  the  subject  is  devoured 
with  wonderful  avidity ;  and  I  can  assure  you  that  you  did  not  put  too  high 
an  estimate  on  public  feeling  when  you  moved  for  the  printing  of 'ten  thousand 
copies  of  the  report.  As  public  opinion  is  yet  unsettled,  it  is  important  that 
the  report  of  the  committee,  if  temperate  and  decided,  should  have  an  exten 
sive  circulation. 

I  have  read  your  speech  on  the  Judiciary  with  great  interest  and  advan 
tage.  The  legal  gentlemen  in  our  city  have  highly  complimented  both  its 
style  and  research.  The  best  evidence  of  its  effect  is,  that  all  those  with 
whom  I  have  conversed  on  the  subject  are  decidedly  in  favor  of  your  bill. 

Anti-masonry  is  still  flourishing.  I  do  not  know  the  state  of  feeling  in  the 
eastern  section  of  Pennsylvania,  but  I  am  now  perfectly  convinced  that  no 
western  county  will  return  a  mason  to  the  next  Legislature.  Strong,  how 
ever,  as  anti-masonry  i?;  much  of  its  apparent  strength  is  borrowed  from  ex 
trinsic  circumstances.  In  this  city,  for  instance,  manj*  persons  are  anxious 
to  be  rid  of  a  set  of  rulers  who  have  managed  with  so  much  political  dexterity 
as  to  control  the  destinies  of  this  county  for  many  years.  Tliese  men  happen 
to  be  masons.  No  other  hobby  could  be  mounted  with  the  same  prospect 
of  success.  The  honest  anti-masons,  the  old  Adams  men,  and  the  dis 
appointed  office-seekers  are  easily  induced  to  unite  their  influence  against  the 
"  powers  that  be."  The  motley  materials  are  thus  thrown  into  one  caldron 
and  stirred  up  into  a  dangerous  compound.  These  remarks  I  have  made  to 
account  for  the  extraordinary  strength  of  anti-masonry  in  this  quarter 

I  am  obliged  to  you  for  the  salutary  counsel  contained  in  your  last  letter. 
I  believe  that  a  whole  volume  of  advice  (both  moral  and  political)  is  contained 


PROPOSED   FOR   THE    VICE-PRESIDENCY.  125 

in  that  single  direction,  "  Be  wise  as  the  serpent,  but  harmless  as  the  dove." 

My  health  is  very  good. 

Your  grateful  and  affectionate  brother. 

GEO.  W.  BUCHANAN. 

It  appears,  however,  that  a  meeting  was  held  at  Lancaster 
in  March,  at  which  he  was  nominated  for  the  Yice-Presidency, 
with  what  effect  may  be  learned  from  the  following  letters 
written  by  his  brother  George  from  Pittsburgh : 

[GEORGE  w.  BUCHANAN  TO  JAMES  BUCHANAN.] 

PITTSBURGH,  March  23, 1831. 
DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  have  just  read  with  great  pleasure  the  proceedings  of  the  Lancaster 
meeting  which  nominated  you  for  the  Vice-Presidency.  Whether  success 
shall  crown  the  exertions  of  your  friends  or  not,  no  public  man  can  receive 
so  flattering  and  precious  a  testimonial  as  the  unanimous  and  unsolicited  voice 
of  his  neighbors  and  acquaintances.  In  this  part  of  the  State,  the  idea  seems 
to  take  very  well.  Both  this  county  and  Washington  will,  I  think,  hold 
meetings  in  your  favor.  I  saw  the  editor  of  the  Manufacturer  this  morn 
ing  and  ascertained  that  he  will  be  disposed  to  take  a  prominent  part.  The 
Democrat  will  probably  not  be  unfavorable.  The  editor,  however,  is  a  very 
timid  creature. 

On  Thursday  last  I  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall  and  break  my  arm. 
The  pain  has  subsided  in  a  great  degree,  and  I  think  that  my  arm  will  be 
restored  in  a  short  time  to  its  wonted  strength  and  action.  I  can  now  attend 
to  any  business  that  does  not  require  the  use  of  both  hands. 

I  write  under  a  feeling  of  great  inconvenience,  and  will  therefore  close. 
Your  grateful  and  affectionate  brother, 

GEO.  W.  BUCHANAN. 

PITTSBURGH,  April  29, 1831. 
DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  have  been  absent  from  home  in  attendance  upon  a  sale  of  United  States 
property  at  Uniontown  for  a  week  past.  I  succeeded  in  effecting  a  very 
good  disposition  of  the  property.  The  Government,  I  have  no  doubt,  will 
approve  my  proceedings. 

I  find  that  in  every  county  in  which  I  have  been,  your  nomination  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  is  very  popular.  In  Fayette  and  Washington  there  will 
scarcely  be  a  division  of  sentiment.  Still,  however,  it  is  thought  proper  to 
suspend  all  public  proceedings  in  your  favor  till  the  time  of  holding  their  reg 
ular  Democratic  meetings  in  the  summer.  That  course  will  also  be  adopted 
in  this  county.  Every  leading  Jackson  politician  here,  with  the  exception  of 


126  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

one  or  two  Inghara  men,  is  favorable  to  your  nomination.  It  will,  however, 
be  probably  better  to  wait  for  a  further  expression  of  public  opinion  at 
the  regular  meetings  of  the  party  throughout  the  State.  I  observe  that  in  the 
Kentucky  Gazette  your  name  is  placed  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  under  Gen 
eral  Jackson's. 

It  is  believed  here  that  the  appointment  of  Attorney-General  has  been  ten 
dered  to  you.  If  so,  I  hope  that  you  will  accept  it.  It  is  a  most  honorable 
station,  and  free  from  that  abuse  which  attaches  to  the  Secretaryships.  Will 
Yan  Buren  be  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency  ? 

My  arm  is  not  yet  so  far  restored  as  to  be  of  any  use.  '  I  trust,  however, 
that  the  weakness  is  only  of  a  temporary  nature.  My  health,  in  other  respects, 
is  good. 

I  am  your  grateful  brother, 

GEO.  W.  BUCHANAN. 

Mr.  Buchanan  returned  to  Lancaster  after  this  meeting  had 
been  held.  His  nomination  to  the  Vice-Presidency  continued 
to  be  agitated  in  other  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  and  in  June  a 
great  meeting  of  the  supporters  of  General  Jackson  was  held 
at  Williamsport,  of  which  George  Buchanan  gives  the  follow 
ing  account : 

[GEORGE  w.  BUCHANAN  TO  JAMES  BUCHANAN.] 

PITTSBURGH,  June  15,  1831. 
DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  arrived  here  on  Thursday.  The  heat  was  so  oppressive  on  horseback 
that  I  sold  my  horse  at  Bellefonte,  and  returned  in  the  stage.  The  journey 
has,  in  a  very  great  degree,  restored  iny  health. 

The  Jackson  meeting  at  Williamsport  was  an  exceedingly  respectable  one. 
Fifteen  counties  were  represented.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  you  were  the 
Pennsylvanian  to  whom  the  resolution  respecting  the  Vice-Presidency  was 
intended  to  point.  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  your  name  would 
have  been  inserted  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote,  if  Mr.  Potter,  from  Cen- 
tier,  had  not  been  detained  at  home  by  the  illness  of  *his  wife.  He  would ' 
have  offered  a  resolution  nominating  you ;  and  I  can  say,/rom  information  of 
the  most  undoubted  credit,  that  at  least  two-thirds  of  all  the  jurors  would  have 
warmly  sustained  it.  Mr.  Ward,  editor  of  the  Susquehanna  Register,  and 
Mr.  Youngman,  editor  of  the  Union  Times,  with  both  of  whom  I  became  in 
timately  acquainted,  are  decidedly  favorable  to  your  nomination.  They  are 
intelligent  young  men,  and  have,  in  a  warm  and  flattering  manner,  solicited 
my  correspondence. 

In  the  Western  country,  I  find  that  the  Ingham  faction  is  extremely  weak. 
Out  of  Bradford  County,  and  apart  from  their  family  connections,  they  appear 
to  have  no  friends  in  the  West.  The  people  in  our  district  speak  very  favorably 


PROPOSED  FOR  THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY.  127 

of  Mr.  Muhlenburg  as  the  next  Governor,  and,  I  assure  you,  I  did  nothing  to 
discountenance  that  feeling.  The  popularity  of  the  present  Governor  has 
been  injured  by  the  appointment  of  General  McKean,  the  proposition  to  tax 
coal,  and  the  character  of  certain  county  appointments.  The  resolution 
adopted  at  our  meeting,  and  opposing  General  Jackson's  course  in  the  Cabi 
net  affair,  was  intended  as  a  direct  censure  upon  Messrs.  Ingham,  &c.  Owing 
to  the  relation  I  bore  to  you  and  to  General  Jackson,  I  determined  to  take 
no  active  part  in  the  meeting. 

I  should  like  very  much  to  see  you  and  hold  a  long  conversation  on  matters 
and  things.  In  July  I  shall  endeavor  to  visit  Franklin  County,  and,  if  you 
should  be  unable  to  meet  me  there,  I  will  extend  my  journey  to  Lancaster. 

Governor  Wolf  left  our  city  this  morning  for  Erie.  He  was  here  at  the 
time  of  my  arrival,  and,  in  company  with  several  ladies  and  gentleman,  I  es 
corted  him  to  Economy.  He  was  exceedingly  well  received  by  the  people  of 
that  singular  village.  His  plain  manners  and  German  language  endeared  him 
very  much  to  Raff  and  his  whole  Society.  The  Governor  treated  me  with 
great  attention,  and  evinced  a  disposition  to  be  very  familiar.  His  daughter, 
however,  pleased  my  fancy  much  more  than  the  old  gentleman  himself.  She 
is  a  very  interesting  lady,  and  has  well  nigh  stolen  my  heart. 

I  observe  that  the  newspapers  are  determined  to  give  you  some  office. 

They  now  make  you  Minister  to  Russia.     Is  this  report  true  ?     If  so,  it  will 

then  become  your  duty  to  consider  what  sort  of  a  Secretary  your  brother 

George  would  make.     It  would  be  a  very  interesting  time  to  visit  Europe.* 

I  remain  your  grateful  and  affectionate  brother, 

GEO.  W.  BUCHANAN. 


*This  allusion  to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Kussian  Mission  was,  of  course,  merely 
playful.  George  Buchanan  had  no  thought  of  seeking  this  appointment,  nor  would  hia 
brother  have  asked  for  it. 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

1831—1833. 

JOHN  RANDOLPH  OF  ROANOKE  MADE  MINISTER  TO  RUSSIA — FAILURE  OF 
MR.  RANDOLPH'S  HEALTH — THE  MISSION  OFFERED  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN — 
HIS  MOTHER'S  OPPOSITION  TO  HIS  ACCEPTANCE— EMBARKS  AT  NEW 

YORK  AND   ARRIVES  AT  LIVERPOOL — LETTERS  FROM  ENGLAND — JOUR 
NEY  TO   ST.  PETERSBURG — CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   FRIENDS   AT   HOME. 

A  FTER  General  Jackson  became  President  in  March,  1829, 
~L±-  he  determined  to  offer  the  Mission  to  Unssia  to  "  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke."  This  offer  was  made  in  September  of 
that  year,  and  was  then  accepted  ;  but  the  nomination  was  not 
submitted  to  the  Senate  until  the  following  May.  It  was  con 
firmed  without  opposition  from  any  quarter.*  Before  he  sailed, 
Mr.  Randolph  had  leave  granted  him  by  the  President  to  spend 
the  following  winter  in  the  south  of  Europe,  if  the  state  of  his 
health  should  require  it.  He  remained  at  St.  Petersburg  only 
long  enough  to  be  accredited.  His  constitution  was  too  far  im 
paired  to  admit  of  his  encountering  the  rigors  of  a  Russian 
winter.  He  left  the  affairs  of  the  legation  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Clay,  the  Secretary,  and  went  to  England. 

In  his  annual  message  in  December  (1830),  the  President 
communicated  to  Congress  the  fact  of  Mr.  Randolph's  necessary 
absence  from  his  post,  on  leave,  and  said  thatHhe  public  inter 
ests  in  that  quarter  would  still  be  attended  to  by  the  Minister, 


*  Colonel  Benton,  writing  to  Mr.  Randolph  on  the  26th  of  May,  said  :  "  Your  nomination 
came  up  this  morning,  and  was  acted  upon  with  great  promptness.  Tyler  called  it,  but  be 
fore  it  was  called  it  was  understood  that  the  opposition  would  support  it  unanimously. 
This  they  did  with  some  degree  of  empressement.  Several  voices  from  their  side  called  for 
the  question  as  soon  as  Tyler  sat  down,  among  them  Louisiana  Johnston,  and  Webster, 
were  most  audible.  There  were  no  yeas  and  nays,  and  nothing  said  by  any  person  but  Tyler, 
and  only  a  few  words  by  him,  and  those  of  course  complimentary ;  the  opposition  evidently 
wishing  to  be  observed  as  supporting  it.  Everybody  is  asking  me  whether  you  will  accept. 
I  tell  them  what  surprises  many,  but  not  those  who  know  you,  that  not  a  word  between  you 
and  me  had  ever  passed  on  such  a  subject." 


THE   RUSSIAN   MISSION.  129 

through  the  Secretary.  When  the  annual  appropriation  bill 
came  before  the  House  of  Representatives  in  January  (1831),  a 
long  and  acrimonious  discussion  took  place  upon  a  motion  to 
strike  out  the  salary  of  the  Minister  to  Russia.  It  was  con 
tended  that  the  Mission  was  actually,  if  not  technically,  vacant ; 
and  it  was  charged  that  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Randolph,  with 
the  understanding  that  he  might  leave  his  post  at  his  own  dis 
cretion,  was  a  "job."  To  this  ft  was  answered  by  the  friends 
of  the  Administration  that  the  responsibility  for  his  appointment 
lay  with  the  President  and  the  Senate ;  that  in  the  Senate  the 
opposition  entirely  approved  of  the  appointment ;  and  that  for 
the  House  to  refuse  to  pay  the  salary  of  a  Minister  because  he 
was  absent  from  his  post  on  leave  given  by  the  President, 
would  be  highly  improper.  In  the  course  of  this  debate,  Mr. 
Buchanan  made  a  temperate  and  judicious  speech,  in  which  he 
defended  the  appointment.  The  result  was  that  the  appropria 
tion  was  retained  in  the  bill  and  the  bill  was  passed.* 

It  became  necessary,  however,  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  for 
the  President  to  recall  Mr.  Randolph  and  to  select  his  successor. 
In  those  days,  the  public  men  of  the  country  did  not  propose 
themselves  for  such  appointments.  The  first  intimation  that 
reached  Mr.  Buchanan  of  the  President's  wish  to  make  him 
Minister  to  Russia,  came  to  him  in  a  letter  from  a  confidential 
friend  of  the  President. 


*  In  this  debate,  it  was  charged  that  the  President's  Message  was  written  by  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  that  General  Jackson  was  incapable  of  writing  his  official 
papers.  It  is  very  probably  true  that  he  did  not  write  some  of  them.  His  Proclamation 
against  the  Nullifiers  is  generally  assumed  to  have  been  written  by  Edward  Livingston. 
But  that  General  Jackson  was  capable  of  writing  well,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  I  remember, 
however,  that  in  my  youth,  during  his  Presidency,  it  was  generally  believed  in  New  England 
among  his  political  opponents  that  he  was  an  entirely  illiterate  man,  who  could  not  write  an 
English  sentence  grammatically,  or  spell  correctly.  This  belief  was  too  much  encouraged 
by  persons  who  knew  better ;  and  it  was  not  until  many  years  afterwards  that  I  learned  how 
unfounded  it  was.  There  now  lie  before  me  autograph  letters  of  General  Jackson,  written 
wholly  with  his  own  hand,  and  written  and  punctuated  with  entire  correctness,  and  with  no 
small  power  of  expression.  Some  of  them  have  been  already  quoted.  These  have  been, 
and  others  will  be,  printed  without  the  slightest  correction.  The  handwriting  is  sometimes 
rather  better,  for  example,  than  Mr.  Webster's.  There  is  not  a  single  erasure  in  any  one  of 
the  letters,  and  but  one  very  trifling  interlineation.  The  spelling  is  perfectly  correct  through 
out.  General  Jackson  wrote  better  English  than  Washington  :  and  as  to  King  George  HI, 
the  General  was  an  Addison,  in  comparison  with  his  majesty. 

When  General  Jackson  visited  New  England  as  President,  in  the  summer  of  1833,  the 
Degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  Harvard  College.  This  was  much  ridiculed 
at  the  time,  in  that  neighborhood,  on  account  of  his  supposed  illiteracy. 

I.— 9 


130  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

[MAJOR  EATON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  WASHINGTON,  May  31,  1831. 

DEAR  SIR: — 

Where  are  you,  and  what  doing  ?  I  cannot  tell,  having  heard  nothing 
from  you  since  the  adjournment  of  Congress.  That  you  are  doing  well, 
though,  I  have  no  doubt  and  earnestly  hope. 

I  introduce  myself  to  you  now  at  the  request  and  by  the  direction  of  the 
President.  The  Mission  to  St.  Petersburg  is  expected  shortly  to  become 
vacant.  It  will  afford  the  President  pleasure  to  confide  this  trust  to  you,  if  it 
shall  suit  your  convenience  to  accept  it.  He  desires  me  to  make  known  his 
wishes  to  you  and  to  solicit  an  answer.  It  is  at  the  present  an  important  and 
a  highly  interesting  part  of  the  world.  For  reasons  not  material  now  to  be 
explained,  the  President  desires  that  you  will  consider  this  communication 
entirely  of  a  confidential  character. 

With  great  respect, 

J.  H.  EATON. 

[MR.   BUCHANAN   TO    MAJOR    EATON.] 

LANCASTER,  June  4,  1831. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  received  your  letter  last  evening,  offering  me,  "  by  the  direction  of  the 
President,"  the  Mission  to  St.  Petersburg.  I  feel  with  the  deepest  sensibility 
this  pledge  of  the  kindness  of  the  President,  and  the  recollection  of  it  shall 
ever  be  engraven  on  my  grateful  memory.  My  attachment  for  him,  both 
personal  and  political,  has  been  of  the  warmest  character,  and  he  has  now 
engrafted  upon  that  feeling  a  strong  sense  of  individual  gratitude. 

There  is  but  a  single  circumstance  which  induces  me  to  doubt  whether  I 
ought  to  accept  the  Mission.  I  wish  to  be  placed  in  no  public  station  in 
which  I  cannot  discharge  my  duty  with  usefulness  to  the  country  and  honor 
to  the  administration  of  General  Jackson.  Ignorant  as  I  now  am  of  tile 
French  language,  I  doubt  whether  I  could  acquire  a  sufficient  knowledge  of 
it  in  proper  time  to  enable  me  to  hold  that  free  communion  with  the  political 
circles  in  St.  Petersburg  which  I  consider  essential  to  the  able  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  a  foreign  minister.  I  have  much  busine^  now  on  hand  which 
I  could  not  immediately  leave  without  doing  serious  injury  to  individuals  who 
have  confided  in  me.  Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  inform  me  at  what  time  the 
President  would  think  the  public  interest  required  me  to  leave  the  country  in 
case  I  should  accept  the  Mission  ? 

Please  to  remember  me  to  the  President  in  the  strongest  terms.  Accept 
my  thanks  for  your  uniform  kindness,  and  present  my  respects  to  Mrs. 
Eaton.  I  remain 

Sincerely  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


THE    RUSSIAN   MISSION  OFFERED  TO  BUCHANAN.        131 

[EATON  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  WASHINGTON  CITY,  June  7,  1831. 

DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  just  received  your  letter,  and  will  show  it  to  the  President,  whom 
I  shall  see  during  the  day.  The  difficulty  you  suggest  can  no  doubt  be 
remedied.  Mr.  R.  is  not  expected  to  return  before  July  or  August;  it  would 
then  be  too  late  in  the  season  to  reach  St.  Petersburg  by  water  transporta 
tion.  To  depart  in  September  would  create  the  necessity  of  travelling  over 
land  from  Hamburg  or  Havre.  This,  I  am  confident,  the  President  would 
not  ask  of  you.  I  feel  satisfied  that  he  will  grant  the  indulgence  asked  and 
defer  your  departure  until  next  spring.  But  I  will  see  him,  and  if  I  be 
wrong  in  this,  I  will  again  write  you  to-morrow; — if  no  letter  come,  you 
may  understand  by  the  silence  that  my  suggestions  are  approved  by  the 
President. 

Very  truly  yours, 

J.  H.  EATON. 

P.  S.     I  will  write  to  you  to-morrow  or  the  next  day,  at  any  rate. 

3  o'clock.  I  sent  your  letter  to  the  President.  In  answer  he  thus  writes: 
"  Say  to  Mr.  Buchanan  that  he  will  not  be  required  to  go  out  before  next 
winter  or  spring,  that  he  may  reach  St.  Petersburg  on  the  breaking  up  of 
the  ice — unless  something  more  than  is  now  expected  arises,  when  the  Presi 
dent  will  rely  upon  Mr.  Buchanan's  patriotism  to  proceed.  He  will  have 
sufficient  time  to  arrange  his  affairs." 

[BUCHANAN  TO  EATON.] 

LANCASTER,  June  12,  1831. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

After  the  receipt  of  your  last  kind  letter  of  the  7th  inst ,  with  the  extract 
from  the  President's  note  to  you  annexed,  granting  me  all  the  indulgence  I 
could  have  desired,  I  can  no  longer  hesitate  to  accept  the  Russian  Mission.  I 
fear  that  the  necessary  arrangements,  both  of  a  professional  and  private 
character,  which  I  must  soon  begin  to  make  preparatory  to  leaving  the  coun 
try — together  with  the  study  of  the  French  language,  which  I  intend  to  com 
mence — may  disclose  the  fact  that  this  Mission  has  been  offered  to  me  and 
accepted.  Indeed,  from  the  publications  in  the  newspapers  it  was  believed 
by  many  before  I  had  any  intimation  that  such  an  intention  existed  on  the 
part  of  the  President.  Is  there  any  reason  why  I  should  for  the  present 
defer  these  preparations? 

Please  to  present  my  grateful  compliments  to  the  President,  and  believe 
me  to  be 

Sincerely  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Hon.  JOHN  H.  EATON. 


132  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[EATON  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

WASHINGTON,  June  15,  1831. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

On  receiving  your  letter  this  morning  I  referred  it  to  the  President,  and 
he  has  returned  me  a  hasty  note,  which  I  enclose  to  you.  It  is  quite  like 
himself,  candid  and  frank. 

With  great  regard,  yours, 

J.  H.  EATON. 

[EATON  TO  JACKSON.] 

DEAR  SIR:— 

I  send  you  a  letter  to-day  received  from  Mr.  Buchanan.  What  shall  I  say 
to  him  ? 

Yours, 

J.  H.  EATON. 

[JACKSON  TO  EATON.] 
DEAR  SIR: — 

Say  to  him  in  reply,  to  go  on  and  make  his  preparations  and  let  the  news 
papers  make  any  comments  that  they  may  think  proper,  and  mind  them  not. 
It  is  only  necessary  that  he  should  not  give  them  any  information  on  this  sub 
ject — the  journals  will  say  what  they  please,  and  be  it  so. 

Yours, 

A.  J. 

[LIVINGSTON  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  WASHINGTON,  August  2, 1831. 

MY  DEAR  SIB  : — 

Mr.  Taney  having  given  me  your  letter  of  the  26th  July,  with  a  request 
that  I  would  communicate  it  to  the  President,  I  did  so ;  and  he  has  di 
rected  me  to  say  that  it  was  not  deemed  proper  to  make  the  offer  of  the 
Eussian  Mission  public  until  Mr.  Randolph's  return  should  make  the  place 
vacant,  and  that  when  that  event  happened  he  would  direct  me  to  write  to 
you. 

The  former  communications  were  made  to  you  while  I  was  confined  to 
my  bed,  and  did  not  pass  through  my  Department,  or  they  would  have  been 
put  in  a  shape  that  would  have  spared  you  any  embarrassment  on  the 
subject. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  with  the  greatest  regard  and  esteem, 

Your  friend  and  humble  servant, 

EDW.  LIVINGSTON.* 


*  Mr.  Livingston  became  Secretary  of  State  in  May,  1831,  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
who  resigned  in  order  to  be  made  Minister  to  England,  a  post  to  which  he  was  nominated 
by  the  President,  but  he  was  not  confirmed  by  the  Senate. 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  MISSION.  133 

[TANEY  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

(Confidential.)  WASHINGTON,  August  2,  1831. 

MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

I  received  your  letter  and  immediately  waited  on  Mr.  Livingston,  and 
placed  it  in  his  hands,  requesting  him  to  ascertain  whether  your  ap 
pointment  and  acceptance  might  not  at  once  be  made  public.  Mr.  Living 
ston  informed  me  to-day  that  he  had  seen  the  President,  and  that  the  only 
reason  for  desiring  that  nothing  should  be  said  about  it  was  that  Mr. 
Randolph  had  not  yet  returned,  and  that  he  did  not  wish  that  your  ap 
pointment  should  be  formally  made  and  publicly  announced  until  Mr.  Ran 
dolph  arrived  in  this  country.  The  Secretary  of  State  will,  however,  write 
to  you  himself  to-day.  I  omitted  to  ask  him  when  Mr.  Randolph  was  ex 
pected,  but  he  will  probably  mention  the  time  in  his  letter  to  you.  I  can 
readily  imagine  that  the  present  state  of  things  may  be  rather  embarrass 
ing  to  you,  and  hope  it  will  not  be  long  before  an  appointment  which  I 
am  quite  sure  will  give  great  satisfaction  to  our  friends,  can  be  officially 
made  known. 

Mr.  Livingston  intends  to  go  to  New  York  in  the  course  of  this  week 
in  order  to  have  a  conference  with  Mr.  McLane  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  before 
the  latter  sails  for  England.  He  will  leave  Washington  on  Thursday,  unless 
he  should  learn  in  the  mean  time  that  Mr.  McLane  is  on  his  way  to  this 
place.  And  as  an  interview  with  him  on  your  affairs  would,  I  presume, 
be  agreeable  to  you,  perhaps  you  may  make  it  convenient  to  meet  him  in 
New  York.  Governor  Cass  has  accepted  the  appointment  of  Secretary  of 
War,  and  was  to  leave  home  on  the  first  of  this  month,  and  expected  to 
be  here  before  the  15th. 

Wishing  you,  my  dear  Sir,  a  pleasant  excursion,  and  regretting  that  my 
engagements  here  will  prevent  me  from  joining  you  at  Saratoga,  I  am 
Most  truly  your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

R.  B.  TANEY. 

There  was  one  member  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  family  who  was 
decidedly  opposed  to  his  acceptance  of  this  mission.  This  was 
his  mother,  then  at  the  age  of  65.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
know  what  was  the  special  reason  which  led  this  excellent  and 
intelligent  lady  to  feel  as  she  did  about  this  appointment. 
Whether  it  was  anything  more  than  a  presentiment  that  she 
should  never  see  him  again  after  he  had  crossed  the  ocean,  or 
whether  she  thought  that  it  would  not  be  wise  for  him  to  ven 
ture  in  a  new  path  of  public  life,  can  only  be  inferred  from  the 
following  letter,  which  she  wrote  to  him  after  his  decision  had 
been  made : 


134  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

[MRS.  BUCHANAN  TO  HER  SON  JAMES.] 

October  21  [1831]. 
Mr  DEAR  SON: — 

With  Harriet's  permission,  I  write  you  a  few  lines  in  her  letter.  I  feel 
deep  solicitude  respecting  your  mission  to  Russia,  and  perhaps  I  am  too  late 
in  laying  [before  you]  my  objections,  which,  in  my  estimation,  are  formid 
able.  Would  it  not  be  practicable,  even  now,  to  decline  its  acceptance? 
Your  political  career  has  been  of  that  description  which  ought  to  gratify 
your  ambition ;  and  as  to  pecuniary  matters,  they  are  no  object  to  you.  If 
you  can,  consistently  with  the  character  of  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor, 
decline,  how  great  a  gratification  it  would  be  to  me.  May  God  of  His  infi 
nite  goodness,  dispose  of  us  in  whatever  way  may  promote  His  glory  and 
secure  our  everlasting  felicity,  is  the  prayer  of  your  affectionate 

MOTHER. 

P.  S. — At  what  time  do  you  intend  paying  us  that  visit,  previous  to  your 
departure  from  the  country  which  gave  you  birth,  and  I  expect,  to  me,  the 
last  visit  ?  Do  not  disappoint  me,  but  certainly  come. 

There  is  no  record  of  this  visit,  which  was  indeed  the  last, 
but  which  was  undoubtedly  made.  One  of  the  strongest 
reasons  that  weighed  with  Mr.  Buchanan  against  his  acceptance 
of  this  mission  was  his  mother's  advanced  age,  and  the  proba 
bility  that  he  might  never  see  her  again.  In  the  latter  part  of 
August  and  the  early  part  of  September,  he  was  absent  from 
Lancaster  on  a  journey  to  the  East,  on  account  of  his  health. 
On  his  return,  he  wrote  a  private  letter  to  General  Jackson ; 
part  of  which,  however,  is  wanting  in  the  copy  before  me : 

[MR.    BUCHANAN    TO    GENERAL    JACKSON.] 

LANCASTER,  September  10,  1831. 
DEAR  GENERAL: — 

Having  had  the  bilious  fever  severely  for  the  last  three  autumns,  I  was 
advised  by  my  physicians  to  go  to  the  North  this  summer,  as  the  best  means 
of  preventing  its  recurrence.  Accordingly,  I  have  been  wandering  about 
among  the  New  Yorkers  and  the  Yankees  for  several  weeks  past.  I  reached 
home  but  last  night.  Whilst  I  was  at  Boston,  the  anti-masonic  letter  of  Mr. 
Adams  made  its  appearance.  This  folly,  although  it  caps  the  climax,  is  in 
perfect  character  with  the  history  of  his  conduct.  It  is  a  melancholy  specta 
cle  to  see  a  man  who  has  held  the  first  office  acting  as  he  has  done.  It  is 


APPOINTED    MINISTER   TO  RUSSIA.  135 

now  believed  seriously,  even  by  his  former  friends,  that  he  is  courting  the  anti- 
raasonic  nomination.  lie  and  Rush  are  a  par  nobile  fratrum.  I  was  happy  to 
find  everywhere  that  the  little  specks  which  appeared  on  the  political  horizon 
—about  the  time  you  changed  your  Cabinet — have  been  entirely  dissipated. 
It  could  not  have  been  otherwise.  In  the  opinion  of  your  friends,  the  present 
Cabinet  is  just  such  a  one  as  it  ought  to  be.  In  this  State,  your  strength  has 
alarmed  those  who  evidently  wished  to  abandon  you,  and  they  are  now  the 
loudest  in  your  support.  It  not  being  in  their  power  to  affect  you,  they  are 
pushing  another  purpose  with  all  their"  might.  They  are  strenuously  opposed 
to  a  national  convention  to  nominate  a  Yice-President ;  and  through  the 
inadvertence  of  our  friends  who  are  without  suspicion,  it  appears  to  be  set 
tled  that  a  State  convention,  which  will  meet  to  nominate  a  Governor  on  the 
4th  of  March  next,  will  also  select  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency.  This 
nomination  ought  to  be  made  by  a  Jackson  convention  on  the  8th  of  January. 
The  consequence  will  be  that  the  State  administration — on  account  of  its 
extensive  patronage  and  the  interest  felt  by  all  the  State  office-holders  in 
sending  their  particular  friends  to  the  convention — will  probably  be  able  to 
control  the  nomination.  George  M.  Dallas  is  unquestionably  the  candidate 
of  the  State  administration,  and  of  all  those  who  are  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Ingham  and  Calhoun.  Now  I  have  no  wish  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  ;  on  the  contrary,  my  nomination  was  put  up  without  my  con 
sent,  and  it  is  my  intention  to  decline,  but  I  desire  to  do  it 

[The  residue  of  the  original  letter  is  lost.] 

Although  Mr.  Buchanan  had  accepted  the  offer  of  the  Rus 
sian  Mission,  his  nomination  could  not  be  submitted  to  the 
Senate  until  after  that  body  had  assembled  in  December,  1831. 
It  was  acted  upon  in  the  Senate  in  the  early  part  of  January, 
1832,  and  from  the  following  letter  from  Mr.  Livingston,  the 
Secretary  of  State,  it  appears  that  the  nomination  was  con 
firmed  by  an  unanimous  or  nearly  unanimous  vote : 

[LIVINGSTON  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private  and  unofficial.)  WASHINGTON,  Jan.  12,  1832. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : — 

I  pray  you  to  receive  my  congratulations  on  your  appointment  and  the 
unanimity  with  which  your  nomination  is  understood  to  have  been  confirmed 
by  the  Senate — a  favor  which  it  is  believed  will  not  be  conferred  upon  all  of 
us.  Allow  me  also  to  ask  at  what  time  you  can  arrange  your  affairs  for  a 
departure.  Have  you  designated  any  one  to  serve  as  your  Secretary  of  Le 
gation?  You  know  that  your  wishes  will  be  consulted  on  the  occasion. 
Should  you  not  desire  that  Mr.  Clay  should  be  retained  in  that  situation,  I 


136  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

could  mention  a  gentleman  who  would  be  highly  useful  to'  you.  He  speaks 
most  of  the  modern  languages,  has  travelled  in  Europe  and  made  good  use  of 
his  travels ;  he  is  now  employed  in  my  Department  and  I  should  part  with 
him  with  very  great  regret,  but  being  sincerely  attached  to  him  I  consider 
his  advancement,  not  my  interest  or  convenience,  in  this  application ;  for  he, 
Dr.  Greenhow,  enjoys  my  fullest  confidence  and  you  will,  if  you  take  him, 
find  him  every  way  worthy  of  yours,  and  well  calculated  by  his  manners,  de 
portment  and  knowledge  of  the  world  to  aid  you  in  the  lighter  but  very 
necessary  duties  of  your  station,  as  well  as  to  perform  those  of  a  more  im 
portant  kind  with  which  you  may  entrust  him. 

Two  or  three  apples  of  discord  have,  as  you  will  perceive  by  the  papers, 
been  thrown  in  both  houses — each  of  them  sufficient  to  create  a  warfare  that 
will  last  during  a  session. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  with  high  regard, 

Your  most  obedient  servant, 

EDW.  LIVINGSTON. 

With  what  feelings  Mr.  Buchanan  left  his  home  in  Lancas 
ter  and  proceeded  to  Washington,  and  thence  to  New  York  to 
take  passage  for  Liverpool,  may  be  gathered  from  the  following 
portions  of  his  diary : 

March  21,  1832. 

I  left  Lancaster  in  the  stage  early  in  the  morning  for  Washington  and 
arrived  in  Baltimore  the  same  evening.  Although  my  feelings  are  not  very 
easily  excited,  yet  my  impressions  on  this  day  were  solemn  and  sad.  I  was 
leaving  a  city  where  I  had  spent  the  best  years  of  my  life,  where  I  had  been 
uniformly  a  popular  favorite,  and,  above  all,  where  I  had  many  good  and  true 
friends  who  had  never  abandoned  me,  under  the  most  trying  circumstances. 
Among  these  people  1  had  acquired  a  competence  for  a  man  of  moderate 
wishes,  and  I  think  I  may  say  without  vanity  my  professional  and  personal 
character  stood  very  high.  I  was  about  to  embark  in  a  new  pursuit,  and  one 
in  which  my  heart  never  was ;  to  leave  the  most  free  and  happy  country 
on  earth  for  a  despotism  more  severe  than  any  [other]  which  exists  in  Eu 
rope.  These  gloomy  reflections  often  came  athwart  iny^mind.  They  were 
succeeded,  however,  by  a  sense  of  reliance  on  that  good  Providence  which 
hitherto  had  blessed  and  sustained  me,  and  by  a  conviction  that  I  was  about 
to  go  upon  an  important  mission  in  which  I  might  be  made  the  instrument  in 
His  hands  of  rendering  important  services  to  my  country. 

Sunday,  April  Slh. 

I  set  sail  from  JSTew  York  for  Liverpool  on  board  the  "Silas  Kichards," 
Captain  Henry  Holdridge,  accompanied  by  Lieutenant  John  W.  Barry, 
of  the  U.  S.  army,  as  private  secretary,  and  Edward  Landrick,  a  mulatto 
servant.  I  suffered  from  sea-sickness  during  nearly  the  whole  voyage.  Our 
fellow-passengers  were  kind  and  agreeable.  Dr.  Hosack  of  New  York 


ARRIVAL  IN  ENGLAND.  137 

gave  Charles  Archibald,  Esq.,  the  son  of  the  Attorney-General  of  Nova 
Scotia,  a  letter  of  introduction  to  me,  which  he  delivered  on  ship-board.  I 
found  him  to  be  an  amiable  and  intelligent  young  gentleman,  and  enjoyed 
much  pleasure  in  his  society.  There  was  a  Mr.  Walter — an  Englishman — 
from  London,  on  board,  a  man  of  general  information,  who  was  always  ready 
and  always  willing  to  defend  all  the  institutions  of  his  own  country,  whether 
good  or  bad.  He  would  have  been  a  very  agreeable  companion,  had  he  been 
willing  to  converse  instead  of  making  speeches.  Notwithstanding,  he  was 
warm-hearted  and  kind,  and  the  impression  he  made  upon  me  was  quite 
favorable.  In  addition  to  these  passengers,  we  had  a  Mr.  Clapham  from 
Leeds,  Mr.  Stuart  from  Pittsburg,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McG-ee  and  Mr.  Moller  of 
New  York,  Mr.  McBride  of  Dublin,  Mr.  Morris  of  Brock ville,  U.  C.,  and  his 

sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Morris,  from in  the  same  province,  Mr.  Osmond, 

a  preacher  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  from  Indiana,  going  to  London  to  at 
tend  the  yearly  meeting,  Mrs.  and  Miss  Taylor  of  New  York. 

The  captain  was  an  excellent  seaman,  a  gentleman  in  his  manners,  and 
possessed  much  more  information  than  could  have  been  expected  from  one  in 
his  profession  who  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  eighty-eight  times.  We  saw 
Cape  Clear,  the  southwestern  point  of  Ireland  on  Sunday,  the  22d ;  but 
were  detained  by  head  winds  for  several  days  on  that  coast.  Several  of  us 
had  determined  to  go  on  board  a  fishing  boat  and  land  at  Cork,  and  proceed 
from  thence  to  Dublin,  but  were  prevented  by  adverse  winds  from  approach 
ing  the  shore.  We  arrived  in  Liverpool  on  Thursday,  the  3d  May,  about  12 
o'clock  (noon),  after  a  passage  of  25  days.  When  the  pilot  came  on  board, 
he  informed  us  that  Liverpool  was  clear  of  cholera,  but  that  it  was  raging 
both  in  Cork  and  Dublin.  We  took  lodgings  at  the  Adelphi  Hotel.  The 
passengers  on  this  day  gave  Captain  Holdridge  a  dinner  at  "  The  Star  and 
Garter,"  at  which  I  presided.  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  Ogden,  our  consul,  were 
present  as  guests. 

Friday ',  May  4th. 

Mr.  Brown  of  Liverpool  took  me  about  in  his  carriage  and  showed  me 
the  town  of  Liverpool.  The  appearance  of  the  people,  their  manners  and 
their  language  are  so  similar  to  those  of  New  York  that  I  could  scarcely 
realize  I  was  in  England.  The  brick  of  which  the  houses  are  built  when 
new  have  a  dirty  yellow  appearance  and  the  coal  dust  soon  gives  them  a 
darker  hue.  This  imparts  a  gloomy  appearance  to  the  town  and  deprives  it 
of  that  light  and  cheerful  hue  which  we  experience  in  Philadelphia  and  New 
York.  It  is  a  place  of  great  wealth  and  vast  commerce,  although  the  ap 
proach  to  it  is  tedious  and  difficult  and  altogether  impracticable  at  low  tide. 
The  Mersey  is  but  a  small  river  compared  with  those  in  America.  Its  docks 
are  admirable  and  very  extensive,  covering  a  space  actually  under  water  of 
between  eighty  and  ninety  English  acres.  The  cemetery  is  well  worthy  of 
observation.  Mr.  Barry  and  myself  dined  with  Mr.  Brown  at  his  country 
house  about  three  miles  from  Liverpool.  It  is  beautifully  situated,  the  grounds 
around  it  highly  improved,  and  both  its  external  and  internal  appearance 


138  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

prove  the  wealth  and  the  taste  of  its  opulent  and  hospitable  owner.*  Francis 
B.  Ogden,  Esq.,  the  American  consul,  and  several  other  gentlemen  were  of 
the  party.  We  spent  a  very  pleasant  afternoon  and  evening. 

Mr.  Ogden  has  wandered  much  over  the  world.  He  is  an  agreeable  and 
warm-hearted  fellow  and  something,  I  should  suppose,  of  what  we  call  "  a 
gimcrack "  in  America.  He  has  given  me  a  cipher  of  his  own  invention 
which  he  says  is  the  best  in  the  world — and  that  it  may  be  continually 
changed,  so  that  my  secretary  may  decipher  one  letter  and  yet  know  nothing 
about  any  other.  During  our  stay  at  Liverpool  we  received  many  atten 
tions.  We  were  particularly  indebted  to  Mr.  Crary  and  Mr.  Carnes,  for 
whom  I  had  letters  of  introduction  from  my  friend  John  S.  Crary  of  New 
York.  I  could  not  help  observing  at  this  place  what  a  strong  impression 
the  successful  operations  of  our  Government  had  produced  on  the  minds  of 
Englishmen.  Our  national  character  now  stands  high,  notwithstanding  the 
efforts  which  have  been  made  to  traduce  it 

Saturday,  5th. 

Left  Liverpool  on  the  railroad,  and  arrived  at  Manchester — a  distance  of 
thirty  miles — in  one  hour  and  twenty-five  minutes.  There  are  two  tunnels, 
one  of  about  2200  yards,  under  the  city,  to  communicate  with  the  vessels  at 
the  docks,  the  other  about  200  yards,  passing  under  a  hill  in  the  suburbs. 

The  following  letter  to  his  youngest  brother,  lately  the  Rec 
tor  of  Oxford  Church,  Philadelphia,  gives  his  first  impressions 
of  England: 

[MR.    BUCHANAN   TO   HIS   BROTHER   EDWARD.] 

LONDON,  May  12,  1832. 
MY  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

We  left  Liverpool  on  Saturday  morning  last  and  arrived  in  this  city  on  Tues 
day.  On  our  way,  after  passing  over  the  railroad  to  Manchester,  we  visited 
Birmingham,  Kenilworth  Castle,  Warwick  Castle,  Stratford-upon-Avon,  Blen 
heim  and  Oxford.  Every  portion  of  the  country  that  we  have  seen  is  in  the 
highest  state  of  cultivation,  and  its  appearance  at  this  season  of  the  year  is 
delightful.  One  thing,  however,  which  must  strike  every  American  traveller, 
is  the  mercenary  spirit  of  all  that  class  of  people  with  whom  he  comes  in 
contact  on  the  road.  No  person  performs  any  office  for  you,  no  matter  how 
slight,  without  expecting  to  be  paid.  Indeed  travelling  and  living  here  are 
very  extravagant,  and  not  the  slightest  part  of  the  trouble  and  expense  are 
the  perquisites  which  it  is  expected  you  will  give  to  servants  of  all  kinds, 
post-boys,  coachmen,  etc. 

I  have  visited  the  cathedrals  of  Oxford  and  Westminster  Abbey— two  of 
the  finest  specimens  of  Gothic  architecture  in  England.  I  have  not  time  to 

*  Mr.  afterwards  Sir  William  Brown,  an  eminent  banker  of  extensive  American  con 
nections. 


LETTERS  FROM  ENGLAND.  139 

give  you  a  description  of  either.  They  are  gloomy,  venerable  piles,  and 
give  birth  to  many  solemn  associations.  They  recall  past  ages  to  your  view, 
and  raise  the  mighty  dead  of  former  generations  to  be  your  companions. 
As  places  of  worship,  however,  they  must  be  very  damp  and  uncomfortable. 
In  Ireland  the  people  have  ceased  to  pay  tithes.  They  submit  to  have  their 
articles  seized,  but  the  proctors  can  find  no  purchasers  for  such  articles  at  any 
price.  The  consequence  has  been  that  nearly  all  payments  have  ceased. 
This  country  is  at  present  in  a  very  distracted  state.  Never  since  the  days  of 
Charles  I.  has  there  been  such  an  excitement  among  the  mass  of  the  people. 
What  will  be  the  event,  God  only  knows.  The  king  [William  IV.],  who  this  day 
week  was  one  of  the  most  popular  monarchs  who  ever  sat  upon  any  throne, 
is  now  detested  or  rather  despised  by  the  people.  His  refusal  to  create  the 
number  of  peers  necessary  to  carry  the  Reform  Bill,  and  his  alleged  hypocrisy 
throughout  the  whole  proceeding,  have  occasioned  this  change  in  public 
sentiment.  I  should  not  be  astonished  at  a  revolution;  but  yet  I  hope  and 
trust  that  the  people  may  obtain  their  just  rights  without  resorting  to  such  a 
dreadful  alternative.  The  Church  is  not  popular.  Its  rich  livings  are  con 
ferred  upon  the  younger  branches  of  noble  houses  more  with  a  view  of 
making  a  provision  for  their  temporal  wants  than  of  providing  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  people  committed  to  their  charge.  The  best  course  is  pur 
sued  in  our  own  country,  where  men  choose  the  ministry  from  conscientious 
motives,  and  the  people  provide  for  them  voluntarily.  The  present  system 
of  tithes  cannot  continue  much  longer  in  this  country  without  some  modifi 
cation,  unless  there  should  be  a  much  stronger  government  than  exists  at 
present.  Indeed,  from  everything  I  have  seen,  although  this  is  a  country 
of  vast  wealth  and  resources,  and  of  very  advanced  civilization,  I  thank  my 
God  that  I  was  born  an  American  rather  than  an  Englishman. 

I  expect,  God  willing,  to  leave  this  place  for  St.  Petersburg  on  Friday 
next,  the  day  of  the  sailing  of  the  steam  packet,  and  I  hope  to  reach  the  end 
of  my  journey  on  or  about  the  first  of  June.  I  am  anxious  once  more  to  feel 
settled.  From  all  the  information  I  can  receive  the  diplomatic  circle  of  St. 
Petersburg  is  a  very  agreeable  one,  and  the  Emperor  and  Court  entertain  the 
most  friendly  feelings  towards  our  country.  Prince  Lieven,  the  Russian 
ambassador  to  this  country,  has  been  very  polite  to  me.  Although  I  do  not 
anticipate  much  happiness  during  my  continuance  abroad,  yet  I  have  no 
doubt,  with  the  blessing  of  Providence,  I  shall  be  content.  You  need  not 
expect  to  hear  from  me  again  until  I  shall  reach  St.  Petersburg.  Please  to 
send  this  letter  to  mother,  and  drop  a  few  lines  to  Maria.  Write  to  me  often. 
I  feel  very  anxious  to  hear  from  George.  I  trust  in  Heaven  that  he  may  be 
restored  to  health.  You  will  perceive  by  the  papers  that  the  cholera  has 
almost  entirely  disappeared  from  this  city ;  indeed,  it  never  was  very  formid 
able  here.  I  was  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre  on  Thursday  evening,  and  saw 
Young's  Tragedy  of  Revenge  performed.  Mr.  Young,  the  most  celebrated 
tragedian  of  England,  performed  the  part  of  Zanga.  It  was  a  most  masterly 
performance,  and  excited  the  deepest  interest.  Although  I  have  always 


140  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

admired  that  play,  I  never  felt  all  its  force  and  beauty  until  that  night.  Give 
my  love  to  mother,  Jane,  Harriet,  George,  Mr.  Lane  and  all  the  family,  and 
believe  me  ever  to  be 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


12  :30,  Monday,  May 
The  Duke  of  Wellington  is  Premier;  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  not  yet 
known. 

Mr.  Buchanan  went  from  London  to  Hamburg  by  a  packet, 
and  thence  made  the  overland  journey  to  St.  Petersburg.  I 
find  only  the  following  traces  of  his  travel  : 

Tuesday,  May  22d  [1832]. 

The  appearance  of  Hamburg  is  calculated  to  make  a  favorable  impression. 
It  is  situated  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Elbe,  the  river  here  running  a  little 
to  the  north  of  west.  The  old  part  of  the  town  along  and  near  to  the  river 
has  a  very  antiquated  appearance.  Most  of  the  houses  are  built  with  their 
ends  fronting  on  the  street,  and  they  are  composed  of  wooden  frame-work, 
the  interstices  being  filled  up  with  brick.  In  this  respect  they  resemble  the 
ancient  houses  of  Lancaster.  Many  of  these  houses  are  three  stories,  and 
some  of  them  more  in  height  up  to  the  square  —  the  gable  end,  and  above  it, 
contains  one  and  two  and  three  stories  with  windows  on  the  street  until  it 
comes  to  a  point  ornamented  with  various  figures. 

The  new  part  of  the  city  is  beautiful.  In  the  northern  part  of  it  there  is 
a  small  lake,  called  the  "  Binnen  Alster,"  nearly  square,  and  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  on  each  side.  Around  this  lake,  except  on  the  northern  side,  there 
are  ranges  of  very  fine  houses  built  in  the  modern  style,  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  it,  so  as  to  leave  room  not  only  for  the  street,  but  for  spacious 
walks  shaded  by  trees,  with  benches  placed  at  convenient  distances.  Still  fur 
ther  to  the  north  there  is  a  larger  lake  communicating  with  the  former  called 
the  "  Grosse  Alster."  All  around  this  lake  and  along  the  small  stream  which 
feeds  it  there  are  shaded  walks,  public  gardens  and  grass  plots  laid  out  with 
much  taste,  and  kept  in  perfect  repair.  The  graveyar^  in  the  midst  of  them 
shows  that  man's  long  home  may  be  made  a  subject  of  attraction  for  the 
living;  and  my  own  feelings  taught  me  that  those  who  are  led  to  the  place 
appointed  for  all  living,  from  curiosity,  may  leave  it  under  solemn  and  useful 
impressions. 

I  called  this  morning  upon  John  Cuthbert,  Esq.,  our  consul,  and  left  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Gossler,  a  senator  of  Hamburg,  a  letter  of  introduction,  with 
my  card,  which  I  had  received  from  his  brother  at  New  York.  Mr.  Cuthbert 
called  with  me  on  Monsieur  Bacheracht,  the  consul-general  from  Russia, 
who  was  sick  in  bed,  and  I  left  at  his  house  the  letter  from  Prince  Lieven. 
We  also  called  on  Mr.  Parish,  but  did  not  see  him. 


JOURNEY    TO    ST.    PETERSBURG.  141 

This  is  one  of  the  ancient  free  cities  of  Germany.  It  is  governed  by  a 
Senate,  consisting  of  twenty-four  members,  composed  of  lawyers  and  mer 
chants,  each  one-half.  The  Senate  fills  up  its  own  vacancies  as  they  occur. 
It  also  elects  four  of  its  own  members  burgesses,  in  whom  the  executive  au 
thority  is  vested.  The  deliberations  of  the  Senate  are  in  secret.  The  duties 
on  goods  imported  are  but  one-half  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  and  the  other  taxes 
upon  the  people  are  very  light.  They  appear  to  be  contented  and  happy, 
and  I  have  yet  seen  but  one  beggar  on  the  streets.  Indeed  their  language 
and  appearance  strongly  reminded  me  of  Lancaster.  The  Senate  also  elects 
four  Syndicks,  but  not  of  their  own  body. 

According  to  their  laws  no  foreigner  can  be  a  resident  merchant  here,  un 
less  he  goes  through  the  forms  and  submits  to  the  expense  and  inconvenience 
of  becoming  a  burgher.  Mr.  Cuthberfc  claimed  for  an  American  naturalized 
citizen  this  privilege  under  our  treaty  with  Hamburg,  without  becoming  a 
burgher,  and  after  some  correspondence  on  the  subject  it  was  granted.  This 
is  a  privilege  which  the  English  have  never  yet  obtained.  I  advised  Mr. 
Cuthbert  to  send  the  correspondence  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

The  outlet  of  the  lakes  into  the  river  furnishes  a  water-power  sufficient  to 
turn  several  mills,  and  water  for  a  canal  which  is  very  useful  in  connecting 
the  river  with  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  It  is  strange  that  not  a  single  dock 
has  been  erected  on  the  river  by  this  ancient  city. 

The  constitution  of  Hamburg,  although  far  from  being  free  in  the  just 
acceptation  of  the  term,  has  secured  to  the  citizens  enviable  advantages, 
compared  with  many  of  the  other  states  of  Germany. 

We  dine  with  Mr.  Gossler  to-morrow. 

(Here  follows  a  minute  account  of  the  coins  m  common  use  in  Hamburg.) 

May  23d. 

We  dined  with  Mr.  Gossler,  the  son,  in  the  country ;  his  father,  to  whom 
we  had  the  letter,  being  now  in  England.  Our  host  had  resided  in  Boston, 
and  about  three  years  ago  married  Miss  Bray  of  that  city.  She  is  related  to 
the  Elliott  family,  and  is  a  sprightly,  pleasant  woman,  who  talks  very  well. 
Besides  our  host  and  hostess,  the  company  consisted  of  Mr.  William  Gossler, 
their  uncle,  an  old  bachelor ;  Mr.  Charles  H.  Carnegy,  a  young  Scotchman 
who  came  in  the  packet  with  us  from  London ;  Mr.  Wainwright,  from  Bos 
ton,  also  our  fellow-passenger;  Mr.  Barry,  and  myself.  We  spent  a  very 
agreeable  afternoon  and  evening.  We  received  an  invitation  from  Mr. 
Richard  Parish  to  dine  with  him  on  Sunday  at  his  country  place,  which  we 
were  obliged  to  decline,  intending  to  leave  for  Lubeck  on  Saturday. 

Tlmrsday,  May  24:th. 

In  the  morning,  we  visited  Altona,  a  Danish  town  in  Holstein  adjoining 
Hamburg,  and  below  it  on  the  river.  Its  appearance  is  similar  to  that  of  the 
old  part  of  Hamburg,  though  it  contains  some  fine  modern  houses.  The 


142  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

public  walks  are  also  pleasant  here.  The  population  is  said  to  be  25,000. 
In  the  afternoon,  we  ascended  the  steeple  of  St.  Michael's,  and  had  a  fine  view 
of  the  city.  It  is  480  feet  in  height.  The  church  is  a  fine  building.  I 
observed  in  it  an  altar,  at  some  distance  from  the  pulpit,  with  an  image  above 
it  of  our  Saviour  on  the  cross.  This  in  a  Lutheran  Church  was  new  to  me. 

Before  I  enter  upon  the  business  of  the  mission,  some  of  the 
private  letters  which  Mr.  Buchanan  wrote  to  his  friends  at 
home,  during  the  summer  of  1832,  will  be  found  to  contain 
matters  of  interest.  Whatever  other  accomplishments  he  pos 
sessed  or  wanted,  he  certainly  wrote  very  agreeable  letters. 
One  of  the  first  persons  to  whom  he  wrote,  after  his  arrival  at 
St.  Petersburg,  wras  General  Jackson. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN    TO    GENERAL    JACKSON.J 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  June  22,  1832. 
DEAR  GENERAL: — 

You  will,  ere  this  reaches  you,  have  heard  of  my  arrival  in  this  capital, 
through  the  Department  of  State.  Certainly  it  is  not  the  place  I  should  select 
for  my  residence,  though  it  may  be  justly  termed  a  city  of  palaces.  The  cli 
mate  is  healthy,  but  very  cold.  Indeed  it  can  scarcely  be  said  that  summer 
has  yet  commenced.  Their  winter  continues  about  seven  months.  At  this 
season  there  is  literally  no  night.  I  feel  confident  I  could  read  common  print 
at  12  P.  M.  I  use  no  candles.  The  Americans  and  English  here  say  they 
suffer  more  from  the  heat  than  from  the  cold  during  winter.  All  the  houses 
have  double  casements,  double  windows,  and  very  thick  walls,  and  they  are 
heated  by  stoves  to  a  high  degree  of  temperature.  The  Russians  still  wear 
their  cloaks  in  the  streets.  The  great  objection  which  an  American  must 
feel  to  a  residence  in  this  country  does  not  arise  from  the  climate,  though 
that  is  bad  enough ;  it  is  because  here  there  is  no  freedom  of  the  Press,  no 
public  opinion,  and  but  little  political  conversation,  and  that  very  much 
guarded.  In  short,  we  live  in  the  calm  of  despotism.  *  And  what  makes  this 
situation  much  more  unpleasant  to  me  is,  that  from  some  cause  or  other,  I 
know  not  yet  what,  this  mission  seldom  receives  any  letters  or  newspapers 
from  the  United  States.  I  beg  that  you  would  take  up  this  subject  yourself, 
and  then  it  will  be  attended  to.  But  this  by  the  way. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  if  we  can  believe  the  concurrent  opinion  of 
all  the  foreigners  resident  here  with  whom  I  have  conversed,  that  the  Em 
peror  Nicholas  is  one  of  the  best  of  despots.  As  a  man  of  excellent  private 
character,  as  a  husband,  a  father,  a  brother,  and  a  friend,  his  life  presents  a 
fit  example  for  all  his  subjects.  But  still  he  is  a  despot.  But  little  occurred  on 
my  presentation  to  his  Majesty  worthy  of  repetition,  except  what  is  contained 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS    AT    HOME.  143 

in  the  despatch.  He  told  me  he  had  one  American  in  his  service  as  his  aide — 
that  was  Mr.  Munroe ;  that  he  was  not  then  in  St.  Petersburg,  having  gone 
on  board  one  of  the  ships  in  the  fleet  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  campaign 
(for  exercise  and  instruction,  I  presume),  and  that  he  intended  to  be  trans 
ferred  from  the  military  to  the  naval  service. 

The  empress  talked  very  freely.  She  spoke  on  several  subjects,  and  with 
great  rapidity.  Amongst  other  things  she  observed  we  were  wise  in  Amer 
ica  not  to  involve  ourselves  in  the  foolish  troubles  of  Europe ;  but  she  added 
that  we  had  troubles  enough  among  ourselves  at  home,  and  alluded  to  our 
difficulties  with  some  of  the  Southern  States.  I  endeavored  in  a  few  words 
to  explain  this  subject  to  her ;  but  she  still  persisted  in  expressing  the  same 
opinion,  and,  of  course,  I  would  not  argue  the  point  The  truth  is,  that  the 
people  of  Europe,  and  more  especially  those  of  this  country,  cannot  be  made 
to  understand  the  operations  of  our  Government.  Upon  hearing  of  any 
severe  conflicts  of  opinion  in  the  United  States,  they  believe  what  they  wish, 
that  a  revolution  may  be  the  consequence.  God  forbid  that  the  Union  should 
be  in  any  danger !  If  unfortunate  events  should  occur  tending  to  destroy 
the  influence  of  our  example,  constitutional  liberty  throughout  the  rest  of  the 
world  would  receive  a  blow  from  which  it  might  never  recover.  In  making 
these  remarks,  I  do  not  mean  to  state  that  the  Russian  government  are  un 
friendly  to  the  people  of  the  United  States ;  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  they 
prefer  us  decidedly  either  to  the  English  or  French;  but  yet  they  must 
attribute  to  our  example  the  existence  of  those  liberal  principles  in  Europe 
which  give  them  so  much  trouble.  Upon  the  whole,  my  interview  with  the 
empress  was  quite  agreeable. 

There  are  three  ambassadors  at  this  court :  Lord  Hey  tesbury,  the  English  ; 
the  Marshal  Duke  of  Treviso  (Mortier),  the  French ;  and  Count  Figlemont, 
the  Austrian ;  and  a  number  of  ministers  plenipotentiary  of  my  own  grade. 
In  point  of  rank  I  am  at  the  tail  of  the  list,  and  I  should  be  very  sorry  to 
suppose  I  would  ever  reach  the  head.  The  rule  upon  this  subject,  however, 
is  wholly  unexceptionable  :  the  minister  who  has  been  longest  here  ranks  the 
highest  in  his  own  grade.  The  Diplomatic  Corps  have  received  me  very 
kindly.  This  I  may  attribute  to  the  high  character  my  country  is  everywhere 
acquiring.  Your  foreign  policy  has  had  no  small  influence  on  public  opinion 
throughout  Europe.  It  is  supposed  Marshal  Mortier  is  not  very  agreeable  to 
this  government :  he  is  the  officer  who  blew  up  the  Kremlin. 

I  have  taken  a  comfortable  and  well-furnished  house  in  a  beautiful  situa 
tion  fronting  on  the  Neva,  to  which  I  expect  to  remove  next  week.  My 
family  will  consist  of  Mr.  J.  Randolph  Clay  [Secretary  of  the  Legation],  whom 
I  have  invited  to  live  with  me,  Lieutenant  Barry  [private  secretary],  and 
myself.  My  expenses  will  be  great,  but  I  shall  endeavor  to  keep  them  within 
my  outfit  and  salary. 

From  an  examination  of  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Clay  and  the 
Department  I  fear  I  shall  have  difficulties  in  the  settlement  of  my  accounts. 
It  was  not  possible  for  him  with  the  most  rigid  economy  to  exist  as  charge 


144  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

d'affaires  upon  his  salary,  had  he  received  all  to  which  he  was  entitled,  and 
yet  he  has  received  but  about  $1880  per  annum.  So  far  as  I  can  understand 
the  subject,  the  difficulty  has  arisen  solely  from  the  circumstance  that  we  are 
authorized  to  draw  on  Amsterdam,  and  not  on  London.  Surely  this  circum 
stance  cannot  change  the  amount  of  salary  to  which  a  minister  is  entitled  by 
law,  nor  ought  Mr.  Clay  to  receive  less  at  a  more  expensive  court  than  Mr. 
Vail  receives  in  England.  Mr.  Livingston  told  me  it  would  make  no  difference 
to  me  whether  I  drew  on  Amsterdam  or  London,  and  this  may  eventually  be 
the  case ;  but  I  am  very  anxious  to  avoid  the  difficulty  of  having  a  troublesome 
account  to  settle  with  the  Department.  I  should  esteem  it,  therefore,  a  par 
ticular  favor,  if  it  be  just,  that  you  would  authorize  me  to  draw  on  London. 
Every  difficulty  on  this  subject  would  be  removed,  if  we  were  allowed  five 
rubles  here  for  a  dollar,  which  is  the  manner  in  which  our  consul  settles  his 
accounts ;  and  I  should  suppose,  from  a  communication  received  by  Mr.  Clay 
from  my  friend  Mr.  Pleasonton,  that  he  now  believes  this  to  be  correct.  Par 
don  me  for  thus  troubling  you  with  my  own  affairs 

[MR.  BUCHANAN   TO    HIS   BROTHER    EDWARD.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  July  15-27,  1832. 
MY  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  received  yours  of  the  4th  of  June  on  the  19th  inst.  It  contains  melan 
choly  information.  I  trust  each  one  of  us  may  be  able  to  say  in  relation  to 
ourselves  "  God's  will  be  done !  "  I  fear  there  is  but  little  hope  for  poor 
George.  May  his  latter  end  be  peace !  God  grant  that  he  may  recover ! 

's  marriage  must  have  been  a  gloomy  ceremony.     I  hope,  however, 

that  joy  may  succeed  to  gloom,  and  that  her  marriage  may  be  happy.  I  fear 
that  her  husband's  health  is  not  good.  I  would  thank  you  to  make  it  a 
point  to  wish  them  happiness  in  my  name.  May  they  be  united  in  spirit  here 
and  be  heirs  of  glory  hereafter ! 

From  some  unaccountable  neglect  either  at  the  Department  of  State  or 
the  Legation  in  London,  I  have  received  no  newspapers  from  the  United 
States  since  my  arrival  in  this  city  except  those  which  came  in  the  vessels 
with  your  two  letters  of  the  3d  of  May  and  4th  of  June ;  and  these  letters 
are  all  I  have  received  from  our  country  except  one  from  Mr.  Eeynolds  of 
Lancaster.  I  have  thus  been  entirely  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
anything  from  my  relations  but  what  you  have  communicated.  I  shall  en 
deavor  to  correct  this  evil ;  but  in  the  meantime  it  would  be  better  to  send 
letters  intended  for  me  to  Mr.  Crary  or  some  other  friend  in  New  York  who 
would  enclose  them  to  our  charge  in  London  (Mr.  Vail).  I  presume  no  ship 
will  leave  America  for  St.  Petersburg  after  you  shall  have  received  this  letter 
until  early  in  the  next  spring.  I  hope  my  friends  in  New  York  will  not 
neglect  to  send  me  newspapers  by  every  such  opportunity. 

I  cannot  complain  of  my  situation  here,  though  it  is  not  very  agreeable. 
The  press  is  under  so  strict  a  censorship  that  nothing  is  published  except 
what  the  government  pleases.  Every  avenue  through  which  liberal  opinions 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS  AT  HOME.  145 

might  enter  this  empire  is  carefully  closed ;  and  in  fact  but  few  even  of  the 
higher  classes  of  society  know  much  of  our  country  or  its  institutions.  An 
American  minister,  therefore,  to  this  court  enjoys  but  few  of  the  advantages 
he  would  derive  from  the  character  of  his  country  either  in  England  or 
France.  Notwithstanding,  I  have  been  treated  very  civilly,  particularly  by 
the  Diplomatic  Corps  and  the  English,  who  are  numerous  here.  We  have  an 
Episcopal  church,  of  which  a  Mr.  Law  is  the  rector.  He  is  said  to  be  a  good 
man,  and  is  a  tolerably  good  preacher ;  I  have  heard  him  twice.  The  ser 
vice  of  the  English  Church  is  very  long ;  I  think  the  retrenchments  made  in 
it  by  the  Church  in  the  United  States  have  been  very  judicious.  There  is 
also  a  Methodist  church  here,  which  I  have  not  visited. 

The  higher  classes  among  the  Russians  in  St.  Petersburg  have,  I  fear,  but 
little  religion ;  and  the  common  people  are  very  ignorant  and  superstitious. 
Although  the  Greek  differs  from  the  Latin  Church  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
images,  yet  they  cross  themselves  here,  with  much  apparent  devotion,  before 
consecrated  pictures,  which  are  put  up  everywhere  throughout  the  city ;  and 
in  passing  the  churches.  Among  this  class  there  is  no  honesty;  they  will 
always  cheat  you  if  they  can.  To  this  rule  I  have  not  met  with  a  single  ex 
ception.  Although  I  am  far  from  believing  that  a  Puritanical  observance  of 
Sunday  is  required  of  us,  yet  I  confess  I  have  been  shocked  with  its  profana 
tion  in  this  country.  The  emperor  and  empress,  who  are  models  of  correct 
moral  deportment  in  other  respects,  give  their  balls  and  grand  fetes  on  Sun 
day  evening ;  and  I  am  confident  it  has  never  entered  their  thoughts  that  in 
this  respect  they  were  acting  incorrectly. 

My  domestic  arrangements  are  very  comfortable.  My  house  is  excellent 
and  very  well  furnished.  It  has  the  benefit  of  a  fine  view  of  the  Neva,  and 
a  southern  exposure,  which  in  this  land  of  frost  and  snow  is  a  great  advan 
tage.  We  have  not  yet  had  one  day  which  could  be  called  summer.  The 
weather  has  been  cool,  and  indeed  the  season  has  been  more  remarkable  than 
any  which  the  oldest  inhabitants  have  ever  experienced.  In  common  seasons 
they  have  about  six  weeks  of  very  warm  weather.  It  is  healthy  and  my 
health  is  good. 

Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Barry  are  very  agreeable  young  gentlemen.  The  latter 
desires  to  be  remembered  to  you.  The  mulatto  man  I  brought  with  me  from 
the  United  States  is  a  valuable  servant.  I  know  not  what  I  should  do  with 
out  him. 

Give  my  kindest  love  to  George.  I  have  written  to  him  since  my  arrival 
here.  Give  my  love  to  mother,  Jane,  Maria,  Harriet  and  all  the  family.  I 
have  not  yet  written  to  Maria ;  I  shall  do  so  soon.  Should  you  be  in  New 
York  on  the  receipt  of  this,  remember  me  to  my  friends  there.  Praying  to 
God  that  we  may  meet  again  in  health  and  prosperity  in  our  native  land,  I 
remain 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

I.— 10 


146  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN    TO   JOHN   B.  STERIGERE.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  August  2,  N.  S.  1832. 
MY  DEAR  SIR:—- 

Here  I  am, pleasantly  situated  in  my  own  house,  which  commands  a  de 
lightful  view  of  the  Neva  and  all  the  vessels  which  enter  this  port.  The  city 
is  magnificent  and  beautiful.  The  buildings,  both  public  and  private,  have 
been  constructed  upon  a  grand  scale ;  but  the  people  are  ignorant  and  bar 
barous.  With  the  exception  of  the  merchants  and  a  few  others  in  the  com 
mercial  cities,  there  is  no  intermediate  rank  between  the  nobleman  and  the 
slave.  The  serfs,  however,  are  not  unkindly  treated.  They  are  attached  to 
the  soil,  and  in  general  are  not  bound  to  labor  for  their  masters  more  than 
three  days  in  the  week.  Besides  they  are  furnished  with  land  which  they 
cultivate  for  themselves.  No  one  can  be  here  for  a  month  without  being 
fully  convinced  that  these  people  are  wholly  unfit  to  take  any  share  in  the 
government,  and  it  is  doubtless  the  policy  of  the  emperor  and  nobles  to  keep 
them  in  this  state  of  ignorance.  Throughout  Germany  the  people  have  gen 
erally  received  the  rudiments  of  education  and  are  fit  for  free  institutions ; 
but  here  despotism  must  yet  prevail  for  a  long  time.  How  happy  ought  we  to 
be  in  America !  Would  that  we  knew  our  own  happiness  !  Coming  abroad 
can  teach  an  American  no  other  lesson  but  to  love  his  country,  its  institutions 
and  its  laws  better,  much  better  than  he  did  before. 

The  emperor  and  the  empress  in  their  domestic  relations  are  worthy  of 
all  praise.  In  this  respect  their  example  is  excellent,  and  I  am  inclined  to  be 
lieve  it  has  had  a  favorable  effect  upon  the  conduct  of  their  nobles.  Still  that 
is  far  from  being  of  the  best  character. 

From  my  own  observation  and  experience  since  I  left  home,  I  do  not 
think  a  wise  American  ought  to  desire  a  foreign  mission.  For  my  own  part 
I  should  greatly  prefer  a  seat  in  the  Senate  to  any  mission  which  the  Govern 
ment  could  confer  upon  me.  I  trust,  however,  that  I  shall  be  instrumental 
during  my  sojourn  here  in  benefiting  my  country.  If  my  labors  in  accom 
plishing  the  objects  of  my  mission  were  closed  I  should  be  very  desirous  of 
returning  home ;  but  I  shall  remain  as  long  as  duty  requires,  and  endeavor 
to  be  content. 

There  has  been  great  neglect  in  the  Department  o£  State  or  somewhere 
else  in  forwarding  my  letters  and  newspapers.  I  have  not  yet  received  a 
single  newspaper,  except  a  few  which  were  sent  me  by  some  friends  direct 
from  New  York,  and  the  two  or  three  letters  that  have  reached  me  refer  me 
to  the  papers  for  political  news.  This  being  the  case,  I  charge  you  by  our 
mutual  friendship  to  write  to  me  often  and  give  me  all  the  news.  Please  to 
send  your  letters  to  Campbell  P.  White  or  some  other  friend  in  New  York, 
not  to  the  Department  of  State ;  and  direct  them  to  the  care  of  Aaron  Vail, 
Esquire,  our  charge  in  London.  Perhaps  it  might  be  better  to  enclose  them, 
to  him.  He  is  a  very  good  fellow  and  will  be  attentive  in  forwarding  them. 
I  was  much  pleased  with  him  in  London. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS  AT  HOME.  147 

It  seems  Van  Buren  has  been  nominated  by  the  Baltimore  Convention ;  * 
but  Pennsylvania  has  not  yet  yielded  her  pretensions  in  favor  of  Mr.  Wilkins. 
I  fervently  hope  that  such  a  course  will  be  pursued  by  our  State  as  not  to 
endanger  its  vote  in  favor  of  General  Jackson. 

I  have  been  well  treated  since  my  arrival  by  the  Diplomatic  Corps  gen 
erally ;  but  particularly  so  by  Lord  Heytesbury  the  English,  and  the  Duke  of 
Treviso  the  French  ambassador,  and  by  the  Swedish  and  Hanoverian  minis 
ters.  So  far  as  regards  my  personal  feelings  I  am  very  sorry  that  Lord  H. 
has  been  replaced  by  Lord  Durham.  The  latter  does  not  promise  to  be  so 
popular  as  the  former.  I  have  not  yet  learned  to  submit  patiently  to  the 
drudgery  of  etiquette.  It  is  the  most  formal  court  in  Europe  and  one  must 
conform  to  its  rules.  Foreign  ministers  must  drive  a  carriage  and  four  with  a 
postilion,  and  have  a  servant  behind  decked  out  in  a  more  queer  dress  than 
our  militia  generals.  This  servant  is  called  a  "  chasseur "  and  has  in  his 
chapeau  a  plume  of  feathers.  To  this  plume,  as  it  passes,  the  detachment  of 
soldiers  present  arms,  and  individual  soldiers  take  off  their  hats.  How  absurd 
all  this  appears  to  a  republican !  It  was  with  some  degree  of  apprehension 
that  I  took  a  house  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  although  by  far  the  best  I 
could  find;  because  no  foreign  minister  had  resided  on  this  side  before;  but 
it  has  succeeded,  and  since  I  have  set  the  example  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  be 
followed  by  others,  as  it  has  many  advantages  over  the  opposite  shore. 

Let  me  hear  how  you  are  succeeding  at  the  law.  Be  not  discouraged. 
Persevere  and  with  the  blessing  of  Heaven  your  success  is  certain.  Remem 
ber  me  kindly  to  Mr.  Paulding,  Mr.  Patterson,  and  all  my  other  friends 
whom  you  may  chance  to  meet.  If  you  all  think  as  often  of  me  as  I  do  of 
you,  I  shall  be  freshly  remembered. 

Ever  your  sincere  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN". 

[MR.  BUCHANAN  TO  HIS  BROTHER  EDWARD.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  September  1-13,  1832. 
DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  received  your  very  agreeable  letter  of  the  15th  July  on  the  4th  Septem 
ber.  I  was  very  anxious  indeed  to  hear  from  poor  George,  and  regret  to 
learn  that  which  I  have  for  some  time  apprehended,  that  we  can  indulge 
but  little  hope  of  his  final  recovery.  Still  it  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  know 
that  he  does  not  feel  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  death.  I  trust  his  philoso 
phy  may  be  of  the  genuine  Christian  character  and  that  he  may  have  dis 
armed  death  of  its  sting  by  saving  faith  in  the  Redeemer  of  mankind.  Still 
hope  will  linger  and  is  unwilling  to  abandon  us  when  so  near  and  dear  a  re 
lative  is  the  object. 

I  congratulate  you  upon  your  admission  to  the  ministry  and  trust  that  you 
may  be  an  instrument  in  doing  much  good  to  your  fellow-men.  .  .  ... 

*  As  Vice-President. 


148  LIFE   OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

The  last  advices  from  America  have  brought  us  most  distressing  news 
concerning  the  progress  of  the  cholera.  We  have  heard  that  it  was  subsiding 
in  New  York,  but  that  it  was  making  great  ravages  in  Philadelphia.  God 
grant  that  it  may  not  have  extended  into  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania.  I 
am  now  very  anxious  for  news  from  America  and  expect  it  by  the  next 
steamboat  in  a  few  days.  There  have  been  a  few  cases  of  cholera  in  St. 
Petersburg  during  the  present  season.  As  the  newspapers  here  publish 
nothing  upon  the  subject  and  there  are  no  reports  from  the  police  made  pub 
lic  there  has  been  scarcely  any  alarm.  Indeed  I  suppose  that  a  large  majority 
of  the  people  know  nothing  of  its  existence.  Dr.  Le  Fevre,  the  physician  of 
the  British  Embassy,  told  me  to-day  that  in  the  course  of  his  practice,  which 
is  very  extensive,  he  had  met  no  case  for  the  last  two  weeks.  Those  places 
in  Europe  which  have  suffered  from  the  disease  one  year,  generally  have  ex 
perienced  a  slight  return  of  it  the  next. 

I  think  this  climate  will  be  favorable  to  my  health,  at  least  in  regard  to 
the  bilious  complaints  with  which  of  late  years  I  have  been  so  much  afflicted. 
My  life  glides  on  smoothly  here.  The  place  is  becoming  more  agreeable  to 
me  as  my  acquaintance  extends ;  yet  I  still  feel  like  a  stranger  in  a  strange 
land.  I  have  so  far  mastered  the  French  language  as  to  be  able  to  read  and 
understand  it  without  much  difficulty.  It  will  be  some  time,  however,  before 
I  shall  speak  it  fluently. 

The  Diplomatic  Corps  yesterday  attended  a  Te  Deum  at  the  Church  of 
St.  Alexander  Nevsky.  It  was  the  day  of  that  saint,  who  is  the  greatest  in 
the  Russian  calendar.  The  service  was  very  magnificent  and  imposing; 
though  the  tones  of  an  organ  would  have  made  it  grander.  These  are  not 
used  in  the  Greek  churches.  The  emperor  was  there  and  appeared  to  be 
very  devout.  He  often  crossed  himself,  and  in  one  part  of  the  ceremony 
kissed  the  hand  of  the  archbishop.  Think  of  the  proudest  and  most  power 
ful  potentate  on  earth  still  continuing  to  do  so  much  reverence  to  the  clergy ! 
Among  other  miracles,  this  saint,  it  is  said,  rode  up  the  Neva  on  a  grindstone. 
After  the  service  had  concluded  in  the  church,  we  were  present  at  the  erec 
tion  of  a  granite  column  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Emperor  Alexander — the 
largest  and  heaviest  which  has  ever  been  erected,  it  is  said,  in  ancient  or 
modern  times.  There  were  2000  men  and  an  immense  quantity  of  machinery 
employed. 

I  say  again,  rely  upon  the  divine  blessing  and  your  own  judgment  in  all 
things,  and  I  shall  be  content ;  but  let  it  be  taken  coolly  and  not  under  the 
influence  of  the  idle  talk  of  others.  Settle  in  no  place  merely  for  the  sake 
of  a  settlement.  You  shall  not  be  at  any  loss  for  money.  Give  my  love  to 
mother  and  all  the  family,  and  believe  me  to  be 

Ever  your  affectionate  brother, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS    AT    HOME.  149 

[MR.    BUCHANAN   TO    GENERAL    JACKSON.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  October  1-13,  1832. 
DEAR  GENERAL: — 

I  avail  myself  of  the  present  opportunity  of  writing  to  you  with  the  more 
eagerness,  as  I  know  not  when  I  shall  again  enjoy  that  pleasure.  The  last 
steamboat  for  the  season  will  leave  here  in  about  a  fortnight,  and  after  that 
period  no  safe  opportunity  may  soon  offer.  To  put  my  letters  in  the  post- 
office  here  would  be  most  certainly  to  expose  them  to  the  Russian  govern 
ment  ;  indeed  they  scarcely  think  it  necessary  to  do  up  the  seals  decently  of 
those  which  I  receive. 

Both  the  emperor  and  Count  Nesselrode  have  returned  to  the  capital. 
I  may  therefore  expect  a  final  answer  to  our  propositions  in  a  few  days.  I 
dined  with  the  count  yesterday,  who  treated  me  with  marked  attention.  I 
suppose  he  thought  it  incumbent  on  him  to  do  so,  as  it  was  the  first  time  he 
had  invited  me.  The  dinner  was  given  to  the  French  ambassador,  the  Duke 
of  Treviso,  who  leaves  here  to-day  in  the  steamboat  on  leave  of  absence. 
Whether  he  will  ever  return  is,  I  think,  doubtful.  I  do  not  express  this  opinion, 
because  I  believe  there  is  danger  of  immediate  hostilities  between  the  two 
countries ;  on  the  contrary,  I  am  satisfied  they  will  remain  at  peace  whilst 
Louis  Philippe  shall  continue  on  the  throne  and  pursue  his  present  course  of 
policy.  How  long  the  present  state  of  things  may  last  in  France  is  the  ques 
tion.  I  think  you  may  rest  satisfied  that  Russia  will  not  go  to  war  for  the 
King  of  Holland.  She  will  suffer  France  and  England  to  carry  into  effect  the 
decrees  of  the  London  conference  against  him.  This,  however,  will  cause 
much  irritation  here  and  in  Prussia.  Indeed,  from  my  intercourse  with  the 
Russian  nobility,  I  believe  a  war  with  France  to  preserve  Belgium  for  the 
King  of  Holland  would  be  highly  popular.  The  emperor,  however,  has,  I 
am  almost  confident,  determined  it  shall  not  be  for  the  present.  This  is  wise, 
for  I  am  persuaded  that  Russia  has  not  yet  sufficiently  recovered  from  the 
four  wars  which  she  has  sustained  since  the  accession  of  the  present  emperor, 
to  enable  her  to  be  as  formidable  and  efficient  as  the  world  believes  her.  As 
long,  therefore,  as  things  remain  as  they  are  in  France,  there  will  not  be  war. 
An  attempt  on  her  part  to  interfere  forcibly  with  either  Germany  or  Poland 
would  instantly  change  the  aspect  of  affairs. 

News  of  the  death  of  King  Ferdinand  of  Spain  arrived  here  a  few  days 
ago,  but  has  since  been  contradicted.  In  the  mean  time  it  produced  a  great 
sensation.  It  is  considered  that  his  death  without  a  son  must  necessarily 
produce  a  civil  war  in  that  ill-fated  country,  and  perhaps  make  the  rest  of 
Europe  parties.  His  imprudent  abolition  of  the  Salique  Law  in  favor  of  his 
daughter,  it  is  thought,  will  not  be  submitted  to  by  Don  Carlos,  in  favor  of 
whose  succession  the  whole  of  the  Apostolical  party  will  be  found  ranged. 
The  government  here  ardently  desires  the  defeat  of  Don  Pedro.  Indeed  any 
change  in  Europe  in  favor  of  liberal  principles  would  be  disagreeable  to  them, 


150  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

and  they  even  occasionally  publish  ill-natured  articles  concerning  the  United 
States.  This  you  will  perceive  from  the  last  St.  Petersburg  Journal,  a  file  of 
which  I  shall  send  by  Mr.  Mitchell,  for  whom  I  have  obtained  a  courier's 
passport.  The  articles  contained  in  newspapers  here  have  the  more  meaning, 
as  the  press  is  under  a  most  rigid  censorship.  I  am  well  acquainted,  how 
ever,  with  the  chief  censor,  Count  Laval,  who  is  one  of  those  noblemen  who 
have  been  the  most  polite  to  me,  and  I  shall  take  some  opportunity  of  con 
versing  with  him  on  this  subject. 

England  is,  I  think,  fast  losing  her  consideration  on  the  Continent.  The 
present  ministry  are  not  believed  to  possess  much  ability,  at  least  for  con 
ducting  foreign  affairs ;  and  they  have  so  many  embarrassing  domestic  ques 
tions  on  their  hands  independently  of  the  national  debt,  that  they  cannot 
without  the  most  urgent  necessity  involve  the  country  in  a  war.  They  have 
negotiated  and  paid  for  making  Belgium  a  virtual  province  of  France — 
Greece  of  Russia;  and,  I  think,  they  are  in  a  fair  way  of  losing  their  com 
mercial  advantages  in  Portugal  by  an  affected  neutrality  between  the  hopeful 
brothers  of  the  house  of  Braganza,  for  which  they  receive  no  credit,  at  least 
in  this  country.  Although  Lord  Durham  was  treated  with  the  most  dis 
tinguished  attention  by  the  emperor,  he  received  almost  none  from  the 
nobility;  and  they  indulge  in  a  bitterness  of  remark  both  against  him  and 
his  country  which  shows  what  are  their  feelings  towards  England.  Besides, 
he  was  an  eccentric  nobleman,  and  is  the  subject  of  as  many  ridiculous 
stories  as  my  predecessor.  I  am  sincerely  glad  that  he  has  in  some  degree 
taken  the  place  of  the  latter  in  the  gossip  of  this  city.  But  this  is  a  subject 
to  which  I  would  not  advert  in  writing  to  any  other  person.  They  have 
no  free  press  here ;  but  they  make  up  for  the  want  of  it  in  private  scandal 
in  relation  to  all  subjects  on  which  they  can  talk  with  safety.  The  present 
British  minister,  Mr.  Bligh,  is  a  plain,  agreeable,  and  unassuming  gentleman, 
with  whom  my  relations  are  of  the  most  friendly  character. 

Within  the  last  six  weeks  I  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  several  noble  families  of  the  very  highest  rank,  and  I  am 
beginning  to  receive  many  attentions  from  that  class.  Their  coldness  and  jeal 
ousy  towards  strangers  generally  are  fast  disappearing  in  relation  to  myself. 
Some  accidental  circumstances  which  it  would  be  useless  to  detail  have  con 
tributed  much  to  this  result.  I  consider  this  a  fortunate^  circumstance,  as  the 
nobility  exercise  great  influence  in  this  country.  I  think  in  my  despatch  of 
the  9th  of  August  last  I  spoke  rather  too  harshly  of  them  as  a  class ;  and 
although,  with  a  few  exceptions,  I  by  no  means  admire  them,  yet  this  shows 
how  dangerous  it  is  to  form  opinions  too  hastily.  The  influence  of  the  exam 
ple  of  the  present  emperor  and  empress,  in  the  correctness  of  their  private 
deportment,  is  doing  their  nobility  much  good. 

Too  much  care  cannot  be  taken  in  selecting  a  minister  for  this  court.  In 
deed  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  many  suitable  persons  in  our  country  for 
this  mission.  In  London  and  in  Paris,  our  ministers  enjoy  the  consideration 
to  which  they  are  entitled  from  the  exalted  character  of  their  country ;  but 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS    AT    HOME.  151 

here  the  character  of  the  country  must  depend  in  a  considerable  degree  upon 
that  of  the  minister.  The  principles  of  the  American  Government,  the  con 
nection  between  our  greatness  and  prosperity  as  a  nation,  and  the  freedom 
of  our  institutions,  are  a  sealed  book  in  regard  to  the  Russians.  Their  own 
press  dare  publish  nothing  upon  the  subject,  and  all  foreign  papers,  unless 
those  of  the  most  illiberal  character,  are  prohibited.  The  higher  classes  here 
must  in  a  great  degree  receive  their  information  concerning  our  country  from 
our  minister.  This  sufficiently  points  out  what  ought  to  be  his  qualifications, 
and  I  regret  my  own  deficiency  in  some  important  particulars.  Great  talents 
are  by  no  means  so  requisite  as  an  easy  address,  insinuating  manners,  and  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  French  language.  (In  the  latter  I  have  already 
made  considerable  advances. )  Above  all  he  ought  to  have  a  genuine  Amer 
ican  heart,  in  which  I  know  I  am  not  deficient,  always  anxious  to  seize  every 
favorable  opportunity,  and  many  such  occur,  of  making  an  impression  in  favor 
of  his  country.  There  is  one  great  disadvantage,  however,  under  which  a 
minister  here  labors ;  and  that  is,  the  total  inadequacy  of  the  salary.  These 
people  are  fond  of  extravagance  and  show,  and  have  not  the  least  taste  for 
Republican  simplicity  and  economy.  In  order  that  a  minister  may  hold  a 
high  place  in  their  esteem,  he  must  be  able  to  return  their  civilities.  They 
judge  much  by  appearances.  The  want  of  this  reciprocity  will  be  attributed 
to  the  meanness  of  the  minister  or  that  of  his  country,  or  both.  Even  the 
representative  of  his  Sardinian  Majesty  receives  $16,000  per  annum.  Now 
if  I  had  $100,000  per  annum,  I  would  not  pursue  any  course  of  conduct  in 
this  respect  which  I  should  be  ashamed  to  exhibit  to  my  countrymen ;  but 
surely  if  they  were  aware  that  their  minister  could  not  return  with  Republi 
can  simplicity  and  dignity  the  civilities  which  he  cannot  avoid  receiving 
without  giving  offence,  they  would  consent  to  an  increase  of  salary.  I  think 
$15,000  would  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose  without  the  outfit.  Perhaps  it 
would  be  better  to  fix  it  at  $13,000,  with  the  expense  of  a  furnished  house. 
At  all  events,  I  must  give  some  large  dinners. 

I  make  these  remarks  without  feeling  the  slightest  personal  interest  in 
them,  because  nothing  short  of  your  express  commands  would  induce  me  to 
remain  here  longer  than  two  years  from  the  time  of  my  arrival ;  and  I  trust 
something  may  occur  to  justify  my  return  to  my  native  land  within  a  shorter 
period.  I  feel,  however,  if  I  had  such  a  salary  I  could  leave  a  much  more 
favorable  impression  of  my  country  behind  me.  By  the  bye,  I  do  not  know 
yet  what  I  am  to  receive ;  if  I  should  have  to  lose  the  exchange  between 
this  and  Amsterdam  at  its  present  rate,  my  salary  will  but  little  exceed  $8,000. 
If  ever  a  change  shall  be  made  the  salary  of  the  minister  here  ought  to  be 
fixed  in  silver  roubles. 

I  have  lately  seen  much  of  Mr.  Politica,  who  is  still  attached  to  the 
Foreign  Office.  His  feelings  towards  our  country  appear  to  be  very  friendly. 
From  his  conversation,  I  have  reason  to  anticipate  a  favorable  issue  to  our 
negotiations ;  but  I  shall  not  allow  myself  to  confide  much  in  unofficial  con 
versations.  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  feel  it  would  be  their  interest  to 


152  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

negotiate  with  us  ;  and  they  appreciate  highly  the  advantages  of  our  trade  ; 
yet  they  entertain  such  strong  prejudices  against  commercial  treaties,  and 
there  are  so  many  wheels  within  wheels  in  the  complex  system  of  their  pol 
icy  that  it  is  safest  not  to  expect  a  treaty  with  too  much  confidence.  I  have 
no  doubt,  should  they  conclude  one  with  us,  England  would  insist  upon  being 
placed  on  the  same  footing.  Besides, Count  Cancrene,  the  Minister  of  Finance, 
is  understood  to  be  opposed  to  all  commercial  treaties. 

I  ought  to  state  that  I  believe  the  omission  to  invite  Mr.  Barry  to  the  re 
views  was  unintentional,  and  Count  Nesselrode  expressed  his  sorrow  to 
Baron  Krudener  for  the  neglect  before  the  latter  left  this  city. 

I  shall  soon  be  looking  with  great  anxiety  for  news  concerning  our  elec 
tions.  I  read  your  veto  message  with  very  great  pleasure.  Although  rather 
inclined  to  be  friendly  to  the  re-charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  yet 
I  am  now  free  to  say,  I  should  vote  for  no  bill  for  that  purpose  liable  to  the 
objections  of  that  which  passed  both  Houses  of  Congress.  I  am  glad  to  ob 
serve  the  spirit  which  seems  to  animate  tho  Republican  party  of  Pennsylvania, 
in  relation  to  this  subject.  I  entertain  no  apprehension  concerning  the  result 
of  your  election ;  but  I  wish  to  see  you  come  into  office  for  a  second  period 
with  that  triumphant  majority  which  you  are  entitled  to  receive,  both  from 
the  wisdom  and  success  of  your  foreign  and  domestic  policy.  I  cannot  think 
that  the  unnatural  union  between  the  Clay  men  and  the  Anti-masons  will  re 
duce  your  majority ;  as  I  believe  the  mass  of  both  these  parties  is  honest  and 
cannot  approve  such  a  political  partnership. 

Pardon  me  for  not  taking  the  trouble  of  correcting  and  re-writing  this 
long  and  rambling  letter.  I  should  do  so  did  I  not  know  it  was  only  in 
tended  for  friendly  eyes.  I  now  receive  my  newspapers  with  tolerable  regu 
larity,  through  the  kindness  of  my  friends  in  Hamburg  and  Lubeck.  This 
regulation  will  cease  at  the  close  of  the  present  month,  when  the  steamboats 
will  be  discontinued.  Please  to  present  my  best  respects  to  the  members  of 
your  Cabinet.  I  have  been  for  some  time  expecting  a  letter  from  Major 
Barry.  Remember  me  kindly  to  your  family,  and  believe  me  to  be,  wherever 
my  lot  may  be  cast, 

Your  faithful,  devoted  and  grateful  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


[MR.  BUCHANAN    TO    HIS   BROTHER    EDWARD.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  October  13th,  1832. 
MY  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  received  yours  of  the  12th  August  dated  Union,  Ya.,  on  the  2d  instant. 
It  gave  me  a  glcomy  picture  of  the  state  of  poor  George's  health  and  has 
deprived  me  of  the  last  ray  of  hope  in  relation  to  his  recovery.  Indeed  whilst 
I  am  writing  this  I  have  too  much  cause  to  apprehend  that  your  next  will 
announce  that  he  has  bidden  an  eternal  adieu  to  this  vain  and  transitory 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS  AT  HOME.  153 

world.  I  had  conceived  the  highest  hopes  of  his  future  eminence  and  use 
fulness.  His  talents  were  of  the  first  order,  his  manners  were  popular  and 
his  principles  were,  I  believe,  perfectly  pure.  Alas !  that  his  sun,  which  rose 
so  brightly  and  promised  such  a  brilliant  day,  should  so  soon  be  extinguished. 
Such  seems  to  have  been  the  inscrutable  decree  of  an  all-wise  Providence. 
May  our  dear  mother  and  may  we  all  be  enabled  to  say,  "  Father,  Thy  will 
be  done.''  I  feel  the  deepest  gratitude  towards  Dr.  Semmes  for  his  kindness. 
My  acquaintance  with  him  was  but  slight,  but  I  shall  make  it  a  point,  should 
I  ever  have  an  opportunity,  of  manifesting  to  him  how  much  I  have  been 
penetrated  by  his  kindness.  In  the  meantime  do  not  fail  to  make  my 
sentiments  known  to  him.  It  is  probable  that  ere  long  I  shall  address  him  a 
letter  returning  him  my  thanks.  You  can  readily  conceive  what  anxiety  I 
shall  feel  until  the  arrival  of  your  next.  I  trust  it  may  have  pleased  Provi 
dence  to  enable  poor  George  to  reach  Mercersburg. 

My  time  here  is  gliding  on  not  unpleasantly.  When  I  reflect  upon  my 
past  life  and  the  many  merciful  dispensations  of  which  I  have  been  the  sub 
ject,  I  cannot  be  too  thankful  to  the  Almighty.  This  land  of  despotism  is 
not  the  place  where  an  American  minister  ought  to  have  expected  many 
friends,  particularly  as  the  Russian  nobility  have  but  little  disposition  to 
cultivate  the  acquaintance  of  strangers ;  it  has  yet  so  happened  that  several 
of  the  very  highest  order  have  shown  me  much  kindness,  and  I  have  some 
reason  to  believe  I  shall  be  a  favorite.  The  English  merchants,  who  are 
numerous,  wealthy  and  respectable,  have  been  very  civil,  and  the  Diplomatic 
Corps  have  paid  me  all  the  attention  I  could  desire.  Still  I  shall  be  happy 
when  the  day  arrives  that  I  can  with  honor  leave  this  elevated  station  and 
return  to  my  native  land. 

The  ladies  here,  as  they  are  almost  everywhere,  are  the  best  part  of  soci 
ety.  Many  of  them  and  their  children  speak  English  very  well,  whose 
husbands  cannot  speak  a  word  of  that  language.  There  is  a  Princess  Tscher- 
batoff  here  with  whom  I  have  become  very  intimate.  She  has  a  charming 
family  and  they  have  travelled  much  through  Europe.  She  is  a  lady  of  un 
common  intellect,  brilliant  accomplishments,  and  yet  preserves  great  personal 
attractions.  I  mention  her  name  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  a  circum 
stance  somewhat  singular.  By  some  means  or  other  she  got  hold  of  the 
^'Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and  it  has  evidently  produced  a  considerable  effect 
upon  her  feelings.  She  has  read  several  of  the  old  English  devotional  books 
and  likes  to  converse  upon  the  subject  of  religion.  It  is  strange  that  my  first 
and  most  intimate  acquaintance  with  a  Russian  Princess  should  have  been 
with  one  conversant  with  the  writings  of  such  men  as  John  Bunyan  and 
Isaac  Watts.  I  doubt  whether  there  is  another  like  her  in  this  respect 
throughout  the  Empire.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Greek  Church  and  attached 
to  it ;  but  informs  me  that  she  often  goes  to  hear  a  Mr.  Neal  preach,  who  is, 
I  believe,  a  kind  of  English  Methodist.  Her  religion,  and  I  sincerely  believe 
she  possesses  it,  does  not  prevent  her  from  being  very  gay  and  entering  into 
the  fashionable  amusements  of  her  class.  There  is  no  estimating  the  good 


154  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

which  an  able  and  pious  man  may  be  instrumental  in  performing,  not  only  in 
his  own  generation,  but  long  after  he  has  been  gathered  to  his  fathers. 

The  weather  is  now  about  as  cold  here  as  it  is  in  Pennsylvania  towards  the 
close  of  November.  We  have  already  had  a  slight  fall  of  snow  and  several 
severe  frosts.  In  going  out  to  dinner  in  the  country  on  the  last  day  of  Sep 
tember,  I  observed  a  very  large  oats  field  in  shock.  Very  little  of  it  had 
been  taken  in.  You  may  judge  of  the  nature  of  the  climate  from  this  circum 
stance,  though  this  season  has  been  remarkably  cold  and  damp.  I  can  now 
readily  believe,  what  I  have  often  heard  since  my  arrival,  that  I  should  suffer 
less  from  cold  in  this  country  than  in  my  own.  They  regulate  the  heat  of  the 
houses  by  a  thermometer ;  and  their  stoves  are  so  admirably  contrived  that 
they  are  large  and  beautiful  ornaments,  and  consume  but  very  little  wood 
compared  with  those  of  our  own  country.  My  health  still  continues  to  be 
good,  thank  God ! 

Give  my  kindest  love  to  my  mother — how  often  do  I  now  think  of  her 
with  gratitude  and  affection!  to  Jane,  Maria,  and  Harriet,  and  to  poor 
George,  if  he  be  still  living.  Remember  me  to  Mr.  Lane,  affectionately,  and 
to  all  the  family. 

I  shall  send  this  letter  enclosed  to  Mr.  Lane,  with  directions  that  they  may 
read  it  if  you  should  not  be  in  Mercersburg.  Remember  me  to  Uncle  John, 
Alexander  and  his  lady,  Mr.  Reynolds  and  his  lady,  and  to  Mrs.  Martin  and 
Molly  Talbot,  and  believe  me  to  be  ever 

Your  faithful  and  affectionate  brother, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN  TO  MRS.  SLAYMAKER.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  October  31,  1832. 
DEAR  MADAM: — 

I  received  your  kind  and  agreeable  letter  of  the  20th  August  last  on  the 
8th  instant.  I  scarcely  know  anything  the  perusal  of  which  could  have 
afforded  me  more  pleasure.  I  left  no  friend  in  my  native  land  for  whose 
interest  and  welfare  I  have  a  greater  solicitude  than  for  your  own.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  ?  Your  conduct  since  the  lamented  death  of  your  hus 
band,  whose  memory  I  shall  ever  cherish,  has  been  a  taodel  of  propriety. 
The  severest  critic  could  not  find  fault  with  any  part  of  it,  unless  it  be  that 
you  have  too  much  secluded  yourself  from  society,  of  which  you  are  so  well 
calculated  to  be  an  agreeable  and  instructive  member.  I  have  never  hereto 
fore  expressed  these  sentiments  to  you  because  you  might  have  considered 
them  the  language  of  flattery.  As  they  now  proceed  from  "  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land,"  I  cannot  believe  you  will  doubt  their  sincerity. 

I  fear  I  cannot  with  truth  defend  the  chastity  of  the  Empress  Catharine. 
She  was  a  disciple  of  the  school  of  the  French  philosophers,  and  was  there 
fore  wholly  destitute  of  religion — the  surest  safeguard  of  female  virtue.  Her 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS    AT    HOME.  155 

natural  disposition  was,  however,  good,  and  where  her  ambition  and  her 
pleasures  were  not  concerned  she  was  an  amiable  and  kind-hearted  woman. 
The  Princess  Dalgorouski,  one  of  my  most  intimate  friends  in  this  city  (if  I 
ought  to  use  the  term  upon  so  short  an  acquaintance),  is  the  granddaughter 
of  the  youngest  brother  of  the  Orloffs.  She  has  several  times  amused  me 
with  anecdotes  which  she  had  heard  from  her  grandfather,  all  tending  to 
prove  the  goodness  of  Catharine's  heart.  Among  other  things,  it  was  not  at 
all  uncommon  for  her  to  rise  in  the  morning  and  light  her  own  fire,  rather 
than  disturb  the  slumbers  of  any  of  her  attendants.  She  took  great  delight 
not  only  in  educating  her  own  grandchildren,  but  others  of  the  same  age  about 
the  court.  Her  son  Paul,  however,  was  always  her  aversion.  When  he  suc 
ceeded  to  the  throne  he  acted  like  a  madman,  and  I  have  often  had  to  laugh  at 
the  pranks  of  his  tyranny.  For  example,  he  issued  an  edict  commanding  all 
persons,  whether  male  or  female,  either  in  the  summer  or  the  winter,  upon 
his  approach  to  alight  from  their  carriages  and  stand  in  the  street  uncovered 
before  him  as  he  passed.  Of  course  the  latter  part  of  the  rule  applied  to  foot 
passengers.  An  English  merchant,  still  living  in  this  city,  attempted  upon 
one  occasion  to  make  his  escape  as  the  Emperor  approached,  but  he  was 
observed  by  the  keen  eye  of  Paul,  and  was  immediately  sent  for  to  the  palace. 
His  defence  was  that  he  was  near-sighted ;  and  the  Emperor  immediately 
presented  him  with  a  pair  of  spectacles,  and  commanded  him  never  to  be  seen 
in  public  without  having  them  upon  his  nose.  The  command  was  literally 
obeyed,  and  the  merchant  has  ever  since  worn  the  spectacles.  The  anecdote 
is  literally  true. 

The  Emperor  Alexander  was  a  mild  and  amiable  man ;  but  his  example, 
until  near  the  close  of  his  life,  was  not  calculated  to  restrain  the  dissoluteness 
of  manners  which  prevailed  in  the  days  of  Catharine.  Circumstances,  too 
tedious  to  mention  in  the  limits  of  a  hasty  letter,  made  him  at  last  esteem  his 
wife,  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  as  she  deserved.  In  the  commencement  of  his 
reign,  he  was  a  libertine,  but  he  died  a  fanatic.  It  is  delightful  to  hear  of  the 
familiar  intercourse  which  he  held  with  his  subjects.  He  visited  many 
families  in  this  city  as  a  private  gentleman  whom  etiquette  prevented  from 
appearing  at  court;  and  upon  such  occasions  he  was  as  free  and  familiar,  even 
with  the  children,  as  though  he  had  been  of  an  equal  rank.  He  died  dis 
gusted  with  his  high  station,  and  exclaimed  to  Doctor  Wyley,  his  physician, 
who  was  remonstrating  with  him  for  not  using  his  prescriptions,  li  I  am  sick 
of  this  world,  why  should  I  desire  to  live  ?  "  Such  is  the  end  of  human 
greatness. 

The  present  emperor  is,  I  think,  the  finest  looking  man,  take  him  al 
together,  I  have  ever  beheld;  besides  he  is  a  prince  of  great  energy  and 
ability.  However  we  may  detest  his  conduct  towards  the  Poles,  which  has  no 
doubt  been  exaggerated  in  the  English  and  French  papers,  his  moral  conduct, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  empress,  in  all  their  domestic  relations  is  without  a 
blemish.  Their  example  in  this  respect  has  already  had  a  happy  influence 
on  the  nobility  of  this  country.  On  Saturday  last  I  attended  a  Te  Deum  at 


156  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

court,  celebrated  on  the  occasion  of  the  birth  of  a  young  grand  duke  ;  and 
the  gaieties  of  the  season  are  expected  to  commence  as  soon  as  the  empress 
shall  recover  from  her  accouchement.  She  is  remarkably  fond  of  dancing,  in 
which  she  excels. 

My  time  begins  to  pass  much  more  pleasant!}?-,  or  to  speak  with  greater 
accuracy,  less  unpleasantly  than  it  did  at  first.  To  be  an  American  minister 
is  but  a  slender  passport  to  the  kind  attentions  of  the  Russian  nobility.  They 
know  but  little  of  our  country,  and  probably  desire  to  know  still  less,  as  they 
are  afraid  of  the  contamination  of  liberty.  I  have,  therefore,  had  to  make 
my  own  way  in  their  society  with  but  little  adventitious  aid,  and  I  confess  I 
am  sometimes  astonished  at  my  own  success.  Among  the  ladies,  who,  in 
every  portion  of  the  world,  are  the  best  part  of  society,  I  have  many 
agreeable  acquaintances.  A  greater  number  of  them  speak  the  English 
language  than  of  the  gentlemen.  Besides,  since  my  arrival  here,  I  have 
learned  to  read  and  write  the  French,  and  now  begin  to  speak  it  in  cases  of 
necessity. 

Besides  the  nobility  there  is  an  agreeable  and  respectable  society  here  of 
wealthy  English  and  German  merchants,  among  whom  I  have  spent  many 
pleasant  hours.  Although  they  are  not  received  at  court,  many  members  of 
the  Diplomatic  Corps  eat  their  good  dinners,  and  treat  them  as  they  ought  to 
be  treated,  with  kindness  and  civility.  I  hope  to  visit  Moscow  before  my 
return  to  the  United  States,  and  that,  too,  under  favorable  circumstances. 

I  sincerely  rejoiced  to  hear  of  the  good  fortune  of  our  friends  of  the 
"VVheatlands.  Lydia  is  a  good  little  girl  and  deserves  to  be  happy.  I  was 
pleased  with  the  anecdotes  you  gave  me  in  relation  to  the  match,  and  the  joy 
which  my  good  friend  Grace  displayed  upon  the  occasion.  My  worst  wish 
towards  them  is  that  they  may  derive  all  the  happiness  from  it  which  they 
anticipate.  They  are  an  excellent  family,  with  whom  I  could  wish  you  to  be 
more  intimate.  I  would  be  better  pleased  with  them,  for  their  own  sakes,  if 
they  were  less  extravagant;  "but  take  them  for  all  and  all,"  I  feel  the 
warmest  interest  in  their  welfare.  I  regret  to  learn  that  Aunt  Anne,  in  a 
state  of  depressed  health  and  spirits,  has  felt  herself  under  the  necessity  of 
leaving  her  comfortable  home  in  Lancaster,  to  take  charge  of  her  son  Henry's 
family  at  the  iron  works.  It  is  just  such  conduct,  however,  as  I  should  have 
expected  from  that  excellent  and  exemplary  woman ;  sliCfWill  always  sacrifice 
her  own  comfort  to  a  sense  of  duty,  or  to  the  call  of  humanity.  I  shall  never 
forget  her  kindness  towards  myself.  I  beg  of  you  to  present  her  my  best 
love  (I  think  I  may  venture  to  use  the  expression).  Remember  me  kindly 
also  to  Anny,  and  to  Henry,  Stephen  and  Samuel. 

I  have  always  appreciated  the  friendship  of  your  mother  as  it  deserved, 
and  have  felt  proud  of  her  confidence.  I  trust  that  your  hopes  may  be 
realized,  and  that  it  may  please  Providence  yet  to  permit  me  to  enjoy  many 
happy  hours  in  her  society.  She  possesses  an  admirable  faculty  of  saying 
much  in  few  words,  and  there  is  a  point  in  her  character  which  gives  a 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS  AT  HOME.  157 

peculiar  force  to  her  expressions.  I  know  her  to  be  an  excellent  mother  and 
an  excellent  friend,  and  I  warmly  reciprocate  her  kind  feelings.  Say  to  her 
that  I  ardently  wish  her  many  pleasant  days,  and  that  the  circumstances 
which  have  heretofore  occurred  to  vex  her  peace  may  not  prevent  her  from 
enjoying  an  old  age  of  comfort  and  happiness.  Remember  me  also  in  kind 
ness  to  all  your  sisters. 

But  in  what  terms  shall  I  speak  of  Mrs.  H.  ?  None  of  my  friends,  except 
yourself,  have  mentioned  her  name  in  their  letters,  and  I  need  scarcely  add 
that  I  did  not  even  indulge  the  hope  -of  receiving  one  from  herself.  This  I 
can  say  of  her,  and  I  now  speak  from  actual  knowledge,  that  her  manners 
and  her  talents  would  grace  the  most  powerful  and  splendid  court  in  Europe. 
I  fear,  however,  that  such  a  treasure  is  not  destined  to  bless  my  pilgrimage. 

I  altogether  approve  your  conduct  in  taking  the  Judge's  daughter  into 
your  family.  He  is  a  most  excellent  man,  and  will  know  how  to  appreciate 
your  kindness.  I  regret  to  say  I  have  received  no  letter  from  him  since  I 
left  the  United  States.  When  you  see  him,  please  to  present  him  my  kindest 
remembrance.  I  heartily  rejoice  that  you  did  not  remove  to  Columbia  or 
Marietta. 

From  my  last  information  from  the  United  States  I  have  reason  to  hope 
that  the  good  city  of  Lancaster  has  escaped  the  cholera.  We  have  had  some 
of  it  here  during  the  summer,  but  not  so  much  as  to  produce  any  serious 
alarm.  I  believe  it  has  almost,  if  not  altogether, -disappeared.  Mr.  Clay,  my 
Secretary  of  Legation,  has  been  very  anxious  to  visit  home  during  the  ap 
proaching  winter,  and  I  have  given  him  leave  to  go  by  the  last  steamboat  for 
the  season,  which  will  leave  this  to-morrow,  Mr.  Barry  having  agreed  to 
officiate  in  his  stead  during  his  absence.  He  will  be  the  bearer  of  despatches, 
and  intends  to  visit  Lancaster.  I  hope  you  will  favor  me  with  a  long  letter 
by  him,  and  give  me  all  the  little  news  of  the  town  ;  for  you  have  often  said 
I  was  a  great  gossip.  I  shall  keep  this  letter  open  until  I  can  ascertain 
whether  I  shall  have  time  to  write  to  Mr.  Reynolds,  so  that  if  not  I  may  add 
a  postscript  intended  for  him.  The  truth  is  that  at  present  I  am  very  much 
occupied.  A  tyro  in  diplomacy,  I  am  compelled  to  encounter  the  most  adroit 
and  skilful  politicians  in  the  world,  with  no  other  weapons  except  a  little 
practical  common  sense,  knowledge  and  downright  honesty.  Should  I  fail, 
and  I  by  no  means  despair  of  success,  I  wish  to  convince  my  government 
that  I  have  done  my  duty.  It  is  probable  that  Mr.  Clay  will  take  no  private 
letters  from  me  to  the  United  States,  except  for  my  mother  and  yourself.  I 
need  scarcely  add  that  I  have  not  time  to  write  this  over,  and  give  it  such  a 
polish  as  an  answer  to  your  letter  deserves.  When  you  write,  which  I  hope 
will  be  often,  please  to  say  nothing  of  Russia  in  your  letters  but  what  may 
be  favorable,  as  the  post  office  here  is  not  too  secure.  This  caution,  however, 
does  not  apply  to  that  one  with  which  I  hope  you  will  gratify  me  by  Mr. 
Clay.  Please  to  remember  me  kindly  to  the  whole  family  at  the  Wheatlands, 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reynolds  and  Miss  Lydia  and  Dr.  Semple— to  my  old  friend 


158  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

Miss  Mary  Carpenter,  and   to  all  others  bearing  that  character  whom  you 
may  meet. 

AVishing  you  Heaven's  best  blessing,  I  remain, 

Ever  your  faithful  and  devoted  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

P.  S.  Please  to  remember  me  to  Mr.  Amos  Slaymaker  and  Henry  and 
his  wife.  I  hope  Mr.  Dickenson  may,  ere  this  reaches  you,  be  restored  to  his 
flock,  and  have  a  son  and  heir  to  bless  his  marriage  bed. 

I  shall  not  have  time  to  write  to  Mr.  Reynolds.  Please  to  deliver  him 
the  enclosed,  and  tell  him  that  I  have  no  journal  later  than  the  10th  August, 
although  my  other  papers  have  arrived  up  till  the  middle  of  September. 
You  may  also  say  to  him,  but  to  him  alone  and  caution  him  not  to  repeat  it, 
that  the  prospects  of  success  in  my  mission,  after  many  difficulties,  now  begin 
to  appear  bright.  I  have  received  no  letter  from  him  lately.  Mr.  Clay  will 
not  leave  this  for  a  fortnight  yet,  and  I  shall  send  this  letter  by  another 
opportunity  to  London. 

As  the  reader  has  already  learned,  Mr.  Buchanan  had  two 
very  promising  younger  brothers,  one  of  whom  died  five  years 
before  he  went  abroad,  and  the  other  was  living  and  in  apparently 
good  health  when  he  left  the  country.  The  elder  of  these  two, 
William  Speer  Buchanan,  died  at  Chambersburg  in  his  22d 
year,  on  the  nineteenth  of  December,  1827,  a  few  months  after 
his  admission  to  the  bar.  He  had  graduated  at  Princeton  in 
1822,  and  studied  his  profession  at  Chambersburg  and  at  the 
law  school  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut.  His  father  died  while  he 
was  still  at  Princeton  :  and  a  letter  from  his  mother  to  his  brother 
James,  written  in  1821,,  which  lies  before  me,  gives  indications 
of  his  early  character.* 

William  Buchanan  did  not,  like  his  next  youngest  brother, 
live  to  show  what  he  might  have  become.  This  other,  and  per- 


*   [MRS.  BUCHANAN  TO  HER  BON  JAMES.] 

July  3d,  1821. 

MY  DEAR  JAMES:— — A  letter  from  William  came  to  hand  on  the  llth  of  June,  in 
which  he  expressed  considerable  anxiety  to  return  home,  that  he  might  once  again  see  his 
father  and  receive  his  last  benediction  ;  hut  upon  receiving  the  melancholy  information  of 
his  death,  his  desire  of  coming  home  is  subsided.  I  am  highly  gratified  by  the  reception  from 
him  of  a  letter  of  the  18th,  in  which  is  exhibited  a  resignation  to  and  acquiescence  in  the  will 
of  Providence,  together  with  appropriate  sentiments  on  that  melancholy  occasion,  far  be 
yond  his  years.  For  this  I  bless  the  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift.  Hoping  you  may 
be  ever  the  care  of  an  indulgent  Providence,  and  all  your  conduct  regulated  by  His  unerring 
wisdom,  I  subscribe  myself  your  affectionate 

MOTHER. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS   AT  HOME.  159 

haps  more  brilliant  member  of  the  family,  George  W.  Bu 
chanan,  graduated  at  Dickinson  college  in  Carlisle,  in  1826,  at 
the  age  of  eighteen,  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class.  Be 
ing  nearly  twenty  years  younger  than  James,  the  latter,  after 
the  death  of  their  father,  took  a  parental  interest  in  promoting 
his  prospects,  and  guiding  his  professional  education.  He  stud 
ied  law  in  Chambersburg  and  Pittsburgh,  and  being  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  Pittsburgh  in  1828,  he  began  to  practise  there.  In 
the  autumn  of  1830,  as  the  reader  has  seen,  he  was,  doubtless 
on  his  brother's  request,  appointed  by  President  Jackson  United 
States  District  Attorney  for  the  Western  District  of  Pennsylva 
nia.  Probably  no  man  ever  received  a  similar  appointment  at 
so  early  an  age  ;  he  was  only  two  and  twenty ;  but  his  letters, 
some  of  which  have  been  quoted,  show  great  maturity  of  char 
acter  ;  and  as  his  application  for  the  appointment  must  have 
been  supported  by  the  influence  of  other  persons  as  well  as  by 
that  of  his  brother,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  office  was  in 
trusted  to  fit  hands.  He  was  already  acquiring  a  lucrative  pri 
vate  practice,  when,  in  the  summer  of  1832,  his  health  began 
to  fail.  He  died  in  November  of  that  year,  and  the  following 
letter  of  Mr.  Buchanan  to  his  brother  Edward  relates  to  the  sad 
termination  of  his  illness  : 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  Jan.  9th3  N.  S.  1832. 
MY  DEAR  BROTHER: — 

I  have  received  your  three  letters  of  the  10th  and  26th  September  and  of  the 
12th  November :  the  first  on  the  21st  October,  the  second  not  till  the  3d 
instant,  and  the  last  on -the  28th  December.  You  will  thus  perceive  that 
the  one  announcing  the  death  of  poor  George  had  a  very  long  passage, 
having  got  out  of  the  usual  line  and  lain  at  Paris  a  considerable  time.  I 
had  heard  of  this  melancholy  event  long  before  its  arrival.  How  consoling 
it  is  to  reflect  that  he  had  made  his  peace  with  Heaven  before  he  departed 
from  earth.  All  men  desire  to  die  the  death  of  the  righteous;  but  a  large 
portion  of  the  human  race  are  unwilling  to  lead  their  life.  I  can  say  sincerely 
for  myself  that  I  desire  to  be  a  Christian,  and  I  think  I  could  withdraw  from 
the  vanities  and  follies  of  the  world  without  suffering  many  pangs.  I  have 
thought  much  upon  the  subject  since  my  arrival  in  this  strange  land,  and 
sometimes  almost  persuade  myself  that  I  am  a  Christian;  but  I  am  often 
haunted  by  the  spirit  of  scepticism  and  doubt.  My  true  feeling  upon  many 
occasions  is :  "  Lord,  I  would  believe  ;  help  Thou  mine  unbelief."  Yet  I  am 
far  from  being  an  unbeliever. 


160  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Ere  this  reaches  you,  you  will  probably  have  heard  of  the  conclusion  of 
the  commercial  treaty,  which  was  the  principal  object  of  my  mission.  My 
success  under  all  the  circumstances  seems  to  have  been  almost  providential. 
I  have  had  many  difficulties  to  contend  with  and  much  serious  opposition  to 
encounter ;  but  through  the  blessing  of  Providence  I  have  been  made  the 
instrument  of  accomplishing  a  work  in  which  all  my  predecessors  had 
failed.  I  trust  it  will  receive  the  approbation  and  promote  the  interests  of 
my  country. 

I  entertain  some  faint  hopes  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  leave  St.  Peters 
burg  by  the  last  steamboat  of  the  next  season  ;  though  it  is  probable  I 
shall  be  obliged  to  remain  another  winter.  Nothing,  however,  shall  detain 
me  longer  than  two  years  from  the  time  of  my  arrival,  except  an  urgent 
sense  of  public  duty  or  the  request  of  General  Jackson,  neither  of  which  I 
anticipate.  My  anxiety  to  return  home  is  increased  by  the  present  state  of 
health  of  mother  and  Jane.  It  is  not  in  any  degree  occasioned  by  want  of 
kindness  on  the  part  of  the  people  here.  On  the  contrary,  I  am  everywhere 
received  in  the  most  polite  and  friendly  manner,  and  have  good  reason  to 
believe  I  am  rather  a  favorite,  even  with  the  emperor  and  empress  them 
selves. 

I  shall  undertake  to  advise  you  strongly  not  to  remain  in  Allegheny 
Town.  A  letter  which  I  have  received  from  Dr.  Yates  confirms  me  in  this 
opinion.  I  am  glad  to  find  this  seems  to  be  your  own  determination. 
There  are  but  two  brothers  of  us  and  you  ought  to  use  every  precaution  to 
preserve  your  health  consistent  with  your  duty.  ...... 

My  health  is  good,  thank  God,  and  I  trust  it  may  so  continue  with  His 
blessing  until  we  shall  all  once  more  meet  again.  With  much  love  to  mother 
and  the  rest  of  the  family,  I  remain 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

1832—1833. 


NEGOTIATION  OP  TREATIES  —  COUNT  NESSELRODE  —  HIS  CHARACTERISTIC 
MANAGEMENT  OF  OPPOSING  COLLEAGUES  —  THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS  — 
HIS  SUDDEN  ANNOUNCEMENT  OP  HIS  CONSENT  TO  A  COMMERCIAL 
TREATY  —  WHY  NO  TREATY  CONCERNING  MARITIME  RIGHTS  WAS  MADE 
—  RUSSIAN  COMPLAINTS  ABOUT  THE  AMERICAN  PRESS—  BARON 
SACKEN'S  IMPRUDENT  NOTE  —  BUCHANAN  SKILFULLY  EXONERATES 

HIS   GOVERNMENT  —  SENSITIVENESS  OF    THE  EMPEROR   ON  THE  SUBJECT 
OF   POLAND. 


serious  business  of  negotiation  began  soon  after  Mr. 
-L  Buchanan's  arrival  in  St.  Petersburg.  He  was  charged 
with  the  duty  of  proposing  a  commercial  treaty  with  Russia, 
and  also  a  treaty  respecting  maritime  rights.  It  would  be  im 
possible  to  attempt  to  carry  my  readers  through  the  maze  of 
notes,  protocols,  and  despatches  which  resulted  in  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  the  main  object  of  this  mission.  A  brief 
account  of  the  principal  persons  concerned  in  the  negotiation, 
and  a  narrative  of  its  general  course,  together  with  a  few  of  its 
most  striking  incidents,  will  perhaps  be  interesting. 

At  the  head  of  the  Russian  chancery  at  this  time  was  Count 
Nesselrode,  the  great  minister,  who,  in  1814,  as  the  plenipo 
tentiary  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  signed  the  treaty  between 
the  Allied  Powers  and  Napoleon,  which  wrested  from  the  latter 
the  empire  of  France  and  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  and  confined 
his  dominion  to  the  island  of  Elba.  Nesselrode,  too,  in  the  same 
capacity,  along  with  Lord  Castlereagh  and  Prince  Talleyrand, 
concluded  the  second  treaty  of  Paris  between  the  Allied  Powers 
and  France,  after  the  final  overthrow  of  Napoleon  at  Waterloo, 
the  treaty  which  restored  the  Bourbons  to  their  throne.  This 
distinguished  person  was  the  son  of  a  nobleman  of  German  de 
scent,  who  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  Empress  Catharine  II., 
and  therefore,  as  well  on  account  of  the  traditions  of  his  house, 
L—  11 


162  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

as  of  his  remarkable  abilities  and  erudition,  he  must  have  been 
an  interesting  person  to  meet.  He  was,  with  all  his  practical 
astuteness,  a  man  of  moderate  and  rational  views.  He  appears 
to  have  taken  kindly  to  Mr.  Buchanan  from  the  first ;  but  he 
was  not  predisposed  to  a  commercial  treaty  with  the  United 
States,  and,  indeed,  he  had  not  bestowed  much  attention  upon 
the  subject.  It  had  not  been  his  habit,  or  the  habit  of  any  of 
the  Russian  statesmen,  during  the  long  wars  in  which  Russia 
had  been  engaged  prior  to  the  year  1815,  to  look  much  beyond 
the  confines  of  Europe  and  those  portions  of  the  East  which 
were  involved  in  the  European  system.  Still,  however,  Count 
Xesselrode  was  open  to  conviction  upon  the  importance  of  a 
commercial  treaty  with  the  United  States ;  and  it  will  appear 
in  the  sequel  that  the  treaty  was  at  length  carried  in  the  cabinet, 
against  strenuous  opposition,  by  his  very  dexterous  manage 
ment,  seconded  by  Mr.  Buchanan's  skilful  course  and  ample 
knowledge  of  the  subject. 

Baron  Krudener,  who  was  at  this  time  the  Russian  Minis 
ter  at  Washington,  but  who  was  at  home  on  leave  of  absence 
when  Mr.  Buchanan  came  to  St.  Petersburg,  was  opposed  to  all 
commercial  treaties.  So  was  Count  Cancrene,  the  minister  of 
finance.  He  was  an  embodiment  of  the  old  traditionary  policy 
of  Russia,  which  did  not  favor  close  or  special  commercial  alli 
ances.  From  the  time  of  the  Empress  Catharine,  the  relations 
between  Russia  and  this  country  had  always  been  friendly  ; 
but  there  had  been  no  treaties  concluded  between  the  two 
countries,  since  the  Government  of  this  Union  had  taken  its 
present  form,  down  to  the  year  1824.  The  convention  nego 
tiated  in  that  year  by  Mr.  Middleton,  and  ratified  in  1825,  was 
quite  inadequate  to  reach  the  various  interests  of  trade  that 
had  since  grown  up,  and  was  still  less  adapted  to  promote  an 
increase  of  the  commerce  between  Russia  and  the  United 
States.  To  make  a  treaty  which  would  answer  these  great  pur 
poses  ;  establish  the  principle  that  would  entitle  either  party 
to  require  an  equal  participation  in  the  favors  extended  to  other 
nations;  provide  for  the  residence  and  functions  of  consuls  and 
vice-consuls ;  regulate  the  rates  of  duties  to  be  levied  on  the 
merchandise  of  each  country  by  the  other,  so  far  as  to  prevent 
undue  discrimination  in  favor  of  the  products  of  other  countries ; 


NEGOTIATION    OF    TREATIES.  1G3 

and  fix  the  succession  of  the  personal  estates  of  citizens  or  sub 
jects  of  either  country  dying  in  the  territories  of  the  other ;  all 
this  constituted  a  task  to  be  committed  on  our  side  to  able 
hands,  considering  the  obstacles  that  had  to  be  removed.  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  at  the  age  of  forty-one,  when  he  undertook 
this  labor.  Although  he  was  without  official  experience  in 
diplomacy,  I  think  it  evident  that  he  had  been  a  student  of  the 
diplomatic  history  of  his  own  country  and  of  public  law  to  a 
considerable  extent ;  and  what  he  did  not  know  of  the  trade 
between  Russia  and  the  United  States  before  he  left  home,  he 
made  himself  master  of  soon  after  he  arrived  at  St.  Petersburg. 
He  spoke  of  himself  in  a  letter  quoted  in  the  last  chapter,  as  a 
tyro  in  diplomacy,  with  no  weapons  but  a  little  practical  com 
mon  sense,  knowledge,  and  downright  honesty,  with  which  to 
encounter  the  most  adroit  and  skilful  politicians  in  the  world. 
It  will  be  seen  that  lie  found  the  encounter  a  hard  one.  But 
his  manners  were  conciliatory ;  his  tact  was  never  at  fault,  so  far 
as  I  can  discover ;  and  it  is  evident  that  he  was  a  favorite  in  all 
the  circles  of  Russian  society  into  which  he  entered.  He  found 
that  his  weapons,  good  sense,  knowledge  of  his  subject,  and  a 
certain  honest  tenacity  of  purpose,  were  sufficient  for  all  the 
demands  of  his  position.  When  he  first  reached  St.  Peters 
burg,  his  knowledge  of  the  French  language  was  quite  imper 
fect,  but  he  soon  acquired  sufficient  facility  in  speaking  it  for 
the  ordinary  purposes  of  conversation.  Count  Nesselrode  did 
not  speak  English  well,  but  he  could  converse  in  that  language, 
although  he  did  not  like  to  trust  himself  to  it  entirely.  Mr. 
Buchanan's  French  was  perhaps  rather  better  than  the  count's 
English.  They  do  not  seem  in  their  intercourse  to  have  used 
an  interpreter,  but  in  one  or  the  other  language  they  got  on 
together  very  well. 

After  Mr.  Buchanan's  arrival  and  the  necessary  formalities 
had  been  gone  through  according  to  the  rigid  etiquette  of  the 
Russian  court,  he  wrote  privately  to  General  Jackson  on  the  22d 
of  June  (1832)  in  regard  to  the  prospects  of  his  mission,  as  fol 
lows: 


164  LI^E  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

[MR.    BUCHANAN    TO    GENERAL    JACKSON.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  June  22,  1832. 

I  am  not  without  hope  of  succeeding  in  the  negotiation,  though  I  can  say 
nothing  upon  the  subject  with  the  least  degree  of  certainty.  I  entertain  this 
hope  chiefly  because  I  am  now  fully  convinced  it  is  their  interest  to  enter 
into  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  us.  In  a  casual  conversation  the  other  day 
with  Baron  Krudener  I  explained  my  views  of  the  great  advantages  Russia 
derived  from  our  commerce  with  St.  Petersburg,  and  how  much,  in  my  opin 
ion,  the  agriculture  and  the  general  prosperity  of  the  colonies  on  the  Black- 
Sea  would  be  promoted  by  encouraging  American  navigation  in  that  quarter. 
Yesterday  I  had  another  conversation  with  the  baron  from  which  it  was  evi 
dent  he  had  been  conversing  with  Count  Nesselrode  upon  the  subject;  and 
the  impression  which  I  have  received  from  him  is  rather  favorable.  Still  it 
is  of  a  character  so  vague  that  I  place  but  little  reliance  upon  it.  I  shall  see 
Count  Nesselrode  at  one  o'clock  to-day,  and  will  keep  this  letter  open  until 
after  our  interview. 

3.30.  I  have  just  returned  from  Count  Nesselrode' s,  and  from  our  inter 
view  I  entertain  a  hope,  I  may  say  a  good  hope,  that  I  shall  be  able  to  con 
clude  both  treaties  with  this  government.  I  am  sorry  I  shall  not  have  time 
to  prepare  a  despatch  for  Mr.  Livingston  to  be  sent  by  Captain  Ramsay.  He 
shall  hear  from  me,  however,  by  the  first  safe  opportunity. 

[There  is  one  subject  to  which  I  desire  briefly  to  direct  your  attention.  I 
should  write  to  the  department  about  it,  but  my  views  are  not  yet  sufficiently 
distinct  to  place  them  there  upon  record,  and  besides  there  is  not  now  time. 
In  case  a  treaty  should  be  made  with  this  government  on  the  subject  of  mar 
itime  rights,  its  provisions  ought  to  be  framed  with  great  care,  because  it  will 
probably  be  a  model  for  similar  treaties  with  other  nations.  In  looking  over 
the  project  in  my  possession,  I  find  one  provision  which  it  strikes  me  the 
cabinet  ought  to  re-examine.  It  is  the  proviso  to  the  first  article.  This  pro 
viso  was  not  introduced  into  our  earlier  treaties.  It  first  found  a  place  in 
that  with  Spain  and  has  since  been  copied  into  our  treaties  with  Colombia, 
Central  America  and  Brazil. 

Why  should  this  limitation  exist  ?  I  shall  allude  to  *my  views  by  present 
ing  a  supposed  case,  for  I  have  not  time  to  do  more. 

Suppose  Great  Britain,  which  does  not  recognize  the  principle  that  "free 
ships  make  free  goods,"  and  Russia  to  be  engaged  in  war  after  the  treaty,  the 
United  States  being  neutral. 

1.  Would  it  not  be  greatly  for  our  interest  (more  particularly  as  from  our 
character  we  shall  generally  be  a  neutral  nation)  if  our  ships  could  carry  the 
goods  of  Englishmen  to  Russia  and  all  over  the  world,  without  these  goods 
being  subjected  to  capture  by  the  armed  vessels  of  Russia  ? 

2.  Would  not  great  embarrassments  arise  if  Russian  vessels  of  war,  after 
ascertaining  that  a  vessel  belonged  to  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  which  is 


NEGOTIATION    OF    TREATIES.  165 

all  they  could  do  under  the  general  principle,  should  then  under  the  proviso 
be  permitted  to  inquire  into  the  ownership  of  the  cargo,  and  if  they  sus 
pected  it  belonged  in  whole  or  in  part  to  English  subjects,  to  seize  and  take 
it  before  a  prize  court? 

3.  This  proviso  could  only  have  been  introduced  to  force  England  into 
the  adoption  of  the  rule  that  "the  flag  covers  the  cargo;"   but  how  can  it 
produce  that  effect?     It  will  render  the  property  of  an  Englishman  as  inse 
cure  on  board  an  American  as  a  British  vessel ;    it  being  equally  liable  to 
seizure  in  either.     But  let  the  rule  be  general,  let  our  flag  protect  the  cargo, 
no  matter  who  may  be  the  owner,  and  then  English  merchants  will  have  the 
strongest  inducements  to  employ  our  navigation. 

4.  Would  not  the  promise  make  the  treaty  itself  a  felo  de  se,  whenever 
Russia  shall  be  at  war  with  a  nation  which  does  not  recognize  the  general 
rule? 

5.  If  England  should  at  any  time  be  neutral  and  we  at  war,  the  general 
rule  adopted  between  us  and  Russia  will  not  prevent  us  from  capturing  our 
enemies'  goods  on  board  British  vessels. 

6.  These  suggestions  become  of  much  more  importance  when  we  consider 
that  we  may  have  similar  treaties  with  many  nations. 

These  crude  remarks  are  merely  intended  to  direct  your  attention  to  the 
subject.  I  consider  it  very  important  and  should  like  to  hear  from  the  de 
partment  in  relation  to  it  as  soon  as  possible.  We  shall  first  take  up  the 
treaty  of  commerce,  I  presume ;  indeed  Count  Nesselrode  has  asked  for  my 
views  in  writing  on  that  subject. 

It  might  be  of  consequence  to  me  to  have  a  copy  of  our  treaty  with 
Turkey.] 

In  haste,  I  am,  with  the  greatest  respect, 
Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

P.  S.  Please  remember  me  to  the  members  of  your  cabinet  and  also  your 
family. 

3d  P.  S.  Captain  Ramsay,  for  whom  I  had  obtained  a  courier's  passport, 
will  not  go  to-day ;  but  I  have  fortunately  just  heard  of  a  vessel  about  sailing 
for  Boston,  by  which  I  send  this. 

At  a  little  later  period,  Mr.  Buchanan  formally  submitted  to 
Count  Nesselrode  the  propositions  which  he  had  been  instructed 
to  make  as  the  basis  of  a  commercial  treaty,  and  those  which 
related  to  the  subject  of  maritime  rights,  or  the  rights  of  neu 
trals  during  war.  Nothing  definite  was  arrived  at  on  either  topic 
until  the  Sth-20th  of  October.  On  that  day,  Mr.  Buchanan 
received  a  note  from  Count  Nesselrode,  requesting  him  to  call 
at  the  Foreign  Office  on  the  succeeding  Monday.  What  followed 


1GG  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

was  certainly  a  most  remarkable  occurrence.  The  count  began 
the  conversation  by  asking  whether  the  answer  which  he  was 
about  to  make  to  the  American  propositions  would  be  in  time 
to  reach  Washington  before  the  next  meeting  of  Congress.  Mr. 
Buchanan  replied  that  it  would  not,  but  said  that  it  might 
reach  Washington  within  a  fortnight  after  that  period.  The 
count  then  asked  if  the  answer  could  be  sent  immediately.  Mr. 
Buchanan  replied  that  if,  as  he  hoped,  the  answer  should  be 
favorable,  he  would  take  measures  to  send  it  at  once.  The  count 
then  stated  reasons,  which  had  led  the  emperor  to  decline  the 
American  proposition  for  concluding  a  treaty  of  commerce  and 
navigation  between  the  two  countries,  but  made  no  allusion  to 
the  proposed  treaty  concerning  maritime  rights.  Here  there 
was  a  dilemma,  for  which  Mr.  Buchanan  was  not  prepared  by 
anything  that  had  preceded ;  for  although  he  was  well  aware 
of  the  interior  opposition  to  a  commercial  treaty  in  the  Russian 
cabinet,  and  was  not  very  sanguine  of  success,  he  had  placed  his 
hopes  on  Count  Nesselrode's  ability  and  disposition  to  over 
come  that  opposition.  That  the  emperor  had  come  to  an  un 
favorable  decision,  and  that  Count  Nesselrode  had  been  di 
rected  to  communicate  it,  was  rather  an  unexpected  event. 
]S"esselrode,  however,  contrived  to  make  Mr.  Buchanan  under 
stand  that  the  emperor  had  yielded  in  this  matter  to  the  opin 
ions  of  Count  Cancrene,  the  minister  of  finance,  and  of  M.  de 
Blondorff,  the  minister  of  the  interior,  and  that  the  result  had 
not  been  in  accordance  with  his,  Nesselrode's,  judgment.  Such 
an  occurrence  could  hardly  have  taken  place  in  an  English  cab 
inet,  still  less  would  it  have  been  communicated  to  a  foreign 
minister ;  but  in  Russia  it  was  perhaps  not  uncommon  for  the 
prime  minister  to  be  overruled  by  his  colleagues.  But  Count 
Nesselrode  knew  a  way  to  get  over  all  such  difficulties ;  and  he 
proceeded  in  a  very  characteristic  manner  to  accomplish  what 
he  intended.  He  went  over  anew  the  whole  ground,  encour 
aging  Mr.  Buchanan  to  develop  again  the  reasons  which  made 
a  commercial  treaty  desirable  for  both  countries  and  finally  re 
quested  him  to  put  them  in  the  shape  of  a  formal  note.  He 
then  assumed  a  very  confidential  tone,  which  may  be  best  de 
scribed  by  Mr.  Buchanan's  own  account,  given  in  his  despatch 
of  October  19-31,  to  the  secretary  of  state. 


DIPLOMATIC    INTRIGUES.  137 

"  Towards  the  conclusion  of  the  interview  he  laid  aside  altogether,  or  at 
least  appeared  to  do  so,  the  wary  diplomatist,  and  his  manners  became  frank 
and  candid.  He  made  the  request  and  repeated  it,  that  I  should  submit  a 
new  proposition  for  the  conclusion  of  a  commercial  treaty,  and  accompany  it 
by  an  abstract  of  the  explanations  which  I  had  just  made,  impressing  it  upon 
me  to  advert  especially  to  the  trade  with  the  Black  Sea,  and  the  moral  in 
fluence,  to  use  his  own  expression,  which  such  a  treaty  might  have  on  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  I  told  him  I  should  do  so  with  pleasure.  He 
then  requested  me  to  send  it  as  soon  as"  I  conveniently  could  and  he  would 
immediately  submit  it  to  the  emperor,  and  give  me  an  answer  before  the 
departure  of  the  last  steamboat,  which  was  to  leave  St.  Petersburg  on 
Wednesday,  the  19-31  instant.  He  afterwards  asked  me  whether  I  intended 
to  send  the  note  to  Washington  which  he  had  delivered  to  me,  by  the  next 
steamboat ;  and  from  his  manner  it  was  easy  to  perceive  that  he  wished  I 
would  not.  I  replied  that  I  should  certainly  delay  sending  it  until  the  last 

steamboat,  hoping  that  in  the  meantime  I  might  receive  a  better  one 

*  Some  conversation,  not  necessary  to  be  repeated,  was  held  on  other  sub 
jects,  and  I  took  my  leave  much  satisfied  with  the  interview  and  arguing 
from  it  the  most  happy  results,  should  Count  JSTesselrode  possess  sufficient 
influence  to  carry  his  own  wishes  into  effect,  against  those  of  Count  Can- 
crene." 


In  a  short  time  after  Mr.  Buchanan's  new  communication 
had  been  sent  to  Count  Nesselrode,  a  further  step  was  taken  in 
what  might  almost  be  called  a  diplomatic  intrigue.  Baron  de 
Brunnow,  a  counsellor  of  state,  and  the  confidential  friend  of 
Count  E"esselrode,  called  upon  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  informing 
him  that  he  came  by  the  count's  request,  said  that  Mr.  Bu 
chanan's  views  contained  in  his  note  were  perfectly  satisfactory 
to  the  count,  and  that  they  wrere  so  clearly  and  distinctly  ex 
pressed  that  they  could  not  be  misapprehended,  and  that  the 
count  would  be  happy  to  become  the  medium  of  presenting 
them  to  the  emperor,  and  would  use  his  influence  to  have  them 
adopted.  But  in  order  that  nothing  might  appear  which  would 
show  that  Count  Nesselrode  had  requested  Mr.  Buchanan  to 
submit  a  new  proposition  for  a  commercial  treaty,  the  baron 
desired  Mr.  Buchanan  to  modify  the  language  of  his  note,  so 
that  it  would  not  appear  to  be  written  in  compliance  with  any 
wish  which  the  count  had  expressed.  Perceiving  the  struggle 
which  was  about  to  ensue  in  the  cabinet  between  Nesselrode 
and  Cancrene,  Mr.  Buchanan  at  once  agreed  to  change  the 
phraseology  of  his  note.  Baron  Brunnow  requested  that  it 


168  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

might  be  done  immediately,  as  it  was  Count  Nesselrode's  in 
tention  to  have  the  note  translated  into  French  on  that  day, 
and  to  go  with  it  to  the  emperor  on  the  next  morning,  so  that 
an  answer  might,  if  possible,  be  obtained  before  the  departure 
of  the  next  steamboat.  Baron  Brunnow  made  no  secret  of 
Count  Cancrene's  opposition  to  all  commercial  treaties,  but 
said  that  Count  Nesselrode  saw  no  objection  to  such  a  one  as 
Mr.  Buchanan  had  proposed ;  that  he  had  repeated  Mr.  Bu 
chanan's  observation  that  "  statesmen  often  found  it  expedient 
to  yield  even  to  honest  prejudices  for  the  purpose  of  promoting 
the  public  good,"  and  had  said  that  he  had  no  doubt  such  a 
treaty  would  produce  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  American  trade 
with  the  Black  Sea. 

This  mode  of  facilitating  Count  Nesselrode's  movements 
being  arranged,  the  conversation  between  Mr.  Buchanan  an'd 
Baron  Brunnow  turned  upon  the  proposed  treaty  concerning  mar 
itime  rights,  of  which  an  account  will  be  given  hereafter.  Ex 
cepting  the  interchange  of  formal  notes  relating  to  the  commer 
cial  treaty,  nothing  further  occurred  until  the  31st  of  October, 
when  Mr.  Buchanan  calling  at  the  Foreign  Office  by  appoint 
ment,  found  Count  Nesselrode  "  in  fine  spirits  and  in  the  most 
frank  and  candid  mood."  But  he  said  that  it  would  be  impos 
sible  to  conclude  the  treaty  before  the  end  of  a  fortnight.  In 
making  the  arrangements  for  sending  to  the  United  States  the 
new  notes  which  had  passed,  the  count  expressed  the  strongest 
desire  that  the  British  government  should  not  obtain  any 
knowledge  that  such  a  treaty  was  in  contemplation ;  and  for 
this  reason  he  offered  to  send  Mr.  Buchanan's  despatch  for 
Washington  by  a  Russian  courier,  to  be  delivered  to  Mr.  Yail, 
the  American  charge  in  London.  Mr.  Buchanan  preferred 
another  channel  of  communication  with  Mr.  V  ail,  and  through 
that  channel  his  despatch  was  sent  off  on  the  following  day. 
The  attitude  in  which  it  left  the  whole  affair  of  the  commercial 
treaty  was  thus  summed  up  by  Mr.  Buchanan  : 

"  For  several  weeks  before  the  receipt  of  Count  Nesselrode's  first  note,  I 
had  but  little  expectation  of  concluding  a  commercial  treaty.  Mr.  Kielchen, 
lately  appointed  consul  at  Boston  by  this  government,  informed  me,  some 
time  ago,  that  Count  Cancrene  had  resolved  never  to  consent  to  the  conclu 
sion  of  such  a  treaty  with  any  power  whilst  he  continued  in  the  ministry, 


SIGNING    THE    TREATY.  169 

and  his  influence  with  the  emperor,  particularly  on  commercial  subjects,  was 
universally  admitted  to  be  very  great.  He  has  the  character  of  being  an 
obstinate  man ;  and  I  scarcely  allowed  myself  to  hope,  either  that  he  would 
change,  or  be  defeated  in  his  purpose.  I  feel  the  more  happy,  therefore,  in 
being  able  to  congratulate  you  upon  our  present  favorable  prospects." 

Nothing  was  heard  from  Count  Nesselrode  for  nearly  a 
month;  but  on  the  evening  of  November  21st  Mr.  Buchanan 
met  him  at  a  party.  The  count  took  Mr.  Buchanan  aside,  and 
told  him  that  he  believed  he  was  now  ready  for  him,  and  pro 
posed  to  send  him  a  project  of  a  treaty  of  commerce  which 
should  be  founded  on  the  provisions  of  the  American  treaties 
with  Prussia,  Sweden  and  Austria.  Long  interviews  and  oral 
discussions  of  this  project  then  took  place  at  the  Foreign  Office 
between  Mr.  Buchanan,  Count  Nesselrode,  Baron  Brunnow  and 
Baron  Sacken.  In  these  discussions  Mr.  Buchanan  evinced  the 
most  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  whole  subject,  and 
gave  the  Russian  statesmen  information  which  was  new  to 
them  and  greatly  surprised  them.  At  length  all  the  details 
of  the  treaty  were  settled,  and  by  the  17th  of  December  it  was 
prepared  for  signature  in  duplicate,  in  the  French  and  English 
languages.  Still  the  treaty  was  not  yet  signed.  For  the  pur 
pose  of  expediting  the  matter,  Mr.  Buchanan  made  a  suggestion 
that  as  the  emperor's  fete  day,  or  his  saint's  day,  was  to  be  cele 
brated  on  the  18th  December,  N".  S.,  that  it  should  be  signed 
on  that  day.  Count  Nesselrode  was  pleased  with  the  sugges 
tion,  and  said  that  Mr.  Buchanan's  wish  should  be  gratified,  if 
possible.  Baron  Sacken  doubted  if  it  would  be  practicable,  but 
the  count  said  it  must  be  done,  and  that  Mr.  Clay,  the  American 
Secretary  of  Legation,  could  assist  them  in  making  the  copies. 
This  occurred  on  the  13th  of  December,  N.  S.  It  was  not, 
however,  until  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  the  presence  of  the  em 
peror,  at  his  levee  on  the  morning  of  the  18th,  that  he  felt 
finally  assured  that  the  treaty  would  be  signed,  although  Count 
Nesselrode  had  informed  him  on  the  15th  that  he  was  author 
ized  to  sign  it.  What  occurred  at  the  emperor's  levee  will  be 
best  told  by  Mr.  Buchanan  himself: 

On  Tuesday  morning,  the  18th,  we  went  to  the  emperor's  levee ;  and  on 
this  occasion  a  singular  occurrence  took  place  in  relation  to  the  treaty. 


170  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

The  strictest  secrecy  had  been  preserved  throughout  the  negotiation.  In 
deed  I  do  not  believe  an  individual,  except  those  immediately  concerned,  had 
the  least  idea  that  negotiations  were  even  pending.  A  rumor  of  the  refusal  of 
this  government  to  make  the  treaty  had  circulated  two  months  ago,  and  I 
was  then  repeatedly  informed  in  conversation,  that  it  was  in  vain  for  any 
nation  to  attempt  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  the  Russian  gov 
ernment,  whilst  Count  Cancrene  continued  to  be  minister  of  finance.  Count 
Nesselrode  had  on  one  occasion  intimated  a  desire  that  the  British  govern 
ment  should  not  obtain  a  knowledge  that  negotiations  were  proceeding, 
and  this  was  an  additional  reason  on  our  part  for  observing  the  greatest  cau 
tion. 

It  ought  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  this  intimation  was  given  be 
fore  information  had  reached  St.  Petersburg  of  the  conclusion  of  the  late 
treaty  between  France  and  England  in  relation  to  the  Belgian  question.  The 
diplomatic  corps,  according  to  the  etiquette,  were  arranged  in  a  line  to  re 
ceive  the  emperor  and  empress ;  and  Mr.  Bligh,  the  English  minister,  occupied 
the  station  immediately  below  myself.  You  may  judge  of  my  astonishment 
when  the  emperor,  accosting  me  in  French,  in  a  tone  of  voice  which  could  be 
heard  by  all  around,  said,  "  I  signed  the  order  yesterday  that  the  treaty 
should  be  executed  according  to  your  wishes ;  "  and  then  immediately  turn 
ing  to  Mr.  Bligh  asked  him  to  becomo  the  interpreter  of  this  information.  He 
(Mr.  Bligh)  is  a  most  amiable  man,  and  his  astonishment  and  embarrassment 
were  so  striking  that  I  felt  for  him  most  sincerely.  This  incident  has  already 
given  rise  to  considerable  speculation  among  the  knowing  ones  of  St.  Peters 
burg  ;  probably  much  more  than  it  deserves. 

I  ought  to  remark  that  when  I  was  presented  to  the  emperor,  I  under 
stood  but  little,  I  might  almost  say  no,  French ;  and  there  was  then  an  in 
terpreter  present.  Supposing  this  still  to  be  the  case,  the  emperor  must  have 
thought  that  an  interpreter  was  necessary,  and  he  was  correct  to  a  certain 
extent,  for  I  have  not  yet  had  sufficient  practice  to  attempt  to  speak  French 
in  the  presence  of  the  whole  court.  I  trust  this  may  not  long  be  the  case ; 
but  I  still  more  ardently  hope  I  may  not  very  long  continue  in  a  situation 
where  it  will  be  necessary  to  speak  that  language. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  all  which  occurred  was  designed  on  the 
part  of  the  emperor ;  and  what  must  have  rendered  it  stijl  more  embarrassing 
to  Mr.  Bligh  was,  that  one  object  of  Lord  Durham's  mission  is  said  to  have 
been  the  conclusion  of  a  commercial  treaty  with  Russia. 

After  the  emperor  had  retired,  Mr.  Bligh,  in  manifest  confusion,  told  me 
he  feared  he  had  been  a  very  bad  interpreter,  and  asked  me  what  kind  of  a 
treaty  we  had  been  concluding  with  Russia,  to  which  I  replied  it  was  a 
treaty  of  commerce. 

Count  Nesselrode  was  not  present  at  the  moment,  and  from  his  manner 
when  I  informed  him  of  the  incident,  I  believe  he  had  not  previously  re 
ceived  any  intimation  of  the  emperor's  intention  to  make  such  a  disclosure. 

The    count   and    myself  afterwards  proceeded  from  the  palace  to  the 


SIGNING    THE    TREATY.  171 

Foreign  Office  and  there  signed  the  treaty.  The  only  persons  present  were 
Baron  Brunnow  and  Baron  Sacken.  On  this  occasion  but  little  worthy  of 
repetition  occurred.  They  all  exhibited  the  greatest  cordiality  and  good  will, 
and  the  count  emphatically  declared  that  he  believed  we  had  that  day  com 
pleted  a  work  which  would  result  in  benefits  to  both  nations. 

On  taking  my  leave,  I  expressed  no  more  than  I  felt,  in  thanking  him  for 
his  kind  and  candid  conduct  throughout  the  whole  negotiation,  and  he  paid 
me  some  compliments  in  return 

Thus,  sir,  you  have  in  my  different"  despatches  a  faithful  history  of  the 
whole  progress  of  the  negotiation  up  to  its  termination.  Independently  of  the 
positive  advantages  secured  to  our  commerce  by  the  treaty,  and  of  the  stipu 
lation  prohibiting  Eussia  from  granting  favors  to  any  other  nation  at  our 
expense,  there  is  another  consideration  which  deserves  attention.  I  think  I 
cannot  be  mistaken  in  asserting  that  if  the  feelings  of  the  Russians  towards 
our  country  in  the  days  of  the  Emperor  Al  exander  were  of  a  kindly  charac 
ter,  which  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt,  they  have  undergone  some  change 
since  the  accession  of  his  present  majesty.  In  a  future  despatch  I  may 
probably  state  my  reasons  for  this  impression.  The  very  fact,  however,  of 
concluding  the  present  treaty  and  thus  distinguishing  us  from  other  commer 
cial  nations,  connected  with  the  time  and  manner  in  which  his  majesty 
thought  proper  to  announce  it,  will  have  a  powerful  influence  favorable  to  our 
country  among  the  members  of  a  court  where  every  look  and  every  word  of 
the  emperor  is  noted  and  observed  almost  as  if  he  were  a  Divinity.  I  may 
say  that  I  have  already  experienced  a  change :  even  Count  Cancrene,  in  a 
conversation  with  Baron  Steiglitz  of  this  city,  has  expressed  his  assent  to  the 
treaty,  observing  at  the  same  time  that  the  United  States  formed  an  excep 
tion  to  his  general  principles  on  this  subject.  He  added  a  compliment  to 
myself  of  such  a  character  as  I  know  I  do  not  deserve,  and  therefore  I  shall 
not  repeat.* 

In  announcing  to  the  Secretary  of  State  (on  the  20th  of  De 
cember,  1832,  N".  S.)  the  conclusion  of  the  commercial  treaty, 
Mr.  Buchanan  said : 

"  I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  transmitting  to  you  a  treaty  of  commerce 
and  navigation,  which  was  signed  on  Tuesday  last,  the  18th  instant,  between 
the  United  States  and  Russia,  by  Count  Nesselrode  and  myself.  I  congratu 
late  the  President,  that  after  many  fruitless  attempts  have  been  made  by  our 
Government  to  conclude  such  a  treaty,  it  has  at  last  been  accomplished. 

*  It  should  be  said  here  that  the  whole  course  of  this  negotiation  shows  that  the  details 
of  the  treaty  were  entrusted  largely  to  Mr.  Buchanan's  discretion.  At  that  time,  indeed,  it 
was  impracticable  for  an  American  minister  in  Europe,  and  especially  at  St.  Petersburg,  to 
be  guided  from  day  to  day,  or  even  from  month  to  month,  by  the  Secretary  of  State.  The 
Atlantic  had  not  then  been  crossed  by  steam.  I  have  gone  through  with  the  minute  discus 
sions  which  took  place  between  Mr.  Buchanan  and  the  "Russian  Foreign  Office,  but  have  not 
deemed  it  necessary  to  display  them  to  my  readers.  They  evince  on  his  part  a  thorough  ac 
quaintance  with  the  whole  subject,  and  a  remarkable  power  of  carrying  his  points. 


172  LIFE    OF    JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

"  Like  yourself,  I  confess,  I  did  not  entertain  sanguine  hopes  of  success 
when  I  left  Washington.  The  despatch  of  Mr.  Randolph  upon  this  subject  was 
indeed  very  discouraging.  The  difficulties  in  prospect,  however,  served  only  to 
inspire  me  with  a  stronger  resolution  to  accomplish,  if  practicable,  the  wishes 
of  the  President.  This  I  trust  has  been  done  without  the  slightest  sacrifice, 
in  my  person,  of  either  the  dignity  or  the  honor  of  the  country.  Should  my 
conduct  throughout  this  difficult,  and  in  some  respects  extraordinary  negotia 
tion,  receive  his  approbation  and  that  of  the  Senate,  I  shall  be  amply  com 
pensated  for  my  labors." 

That  Mr.  Buchanan  was  not  equally  successful  in  concluding 
a  treaty  concerning  maritime  rights  is  a  matter  that  admits  of 
easy  explanation.  In  the  communication  which  was  made  to 
him  by  Count  Nesselrode  in  October  (1832),  there  was  conveyed 
a  respectful  refusal  to  make  the  commercial  treaty.  At  the 
interview  which  took  place  afterward  between  Baron  Brun- 
now  and  Mr.  Buchanan,  at  the  house  of  the  latter,  after  they 
had  arranged  for  re-opening  the  negotiation  concerning  a  com 
mercial  treaty,  there  was  a  conversation  on  the  other  subject, 
which  was  thus  reported  by  Mr.  Buchanan  to  the  Secretary  of 
State: 

After  our  conversation  ended  on  this  subject, — I  referred  to  that  portion 
of  the  note  of  Count  Nesselrode  which  declined  our  offer  to  conclude  a  treaty 
on  maritime  rights,  and  said  that  the  President  would  probably  not  be  pre 
pared  for  this  refusal.  I  told  him  that  on  the  28th  August,  1828,  N.  S.,  a 
few  months  before  the  election  of  General  Jackson,  Baron  Krudener  had 
addressed  a  communication  to  the  Department  of  State  which  gave  a  strong 
assurance  that  the  emperor  was  willing  to  conclude  such  a  treaty.  That 
when  General  Jackson  assumed  the  reins  of  Government  in  the  month  of 
March  following,  he  had  found  this  communication  on  file,  and  that  was  the 
principal  reason  why  he  had  given  Mr.  Randolph  instructions  to  conclude  a 
treaty  concerning  neutral  rights.  I  was  therefore  surprised  no  allusion  what 
ever  had  been  made  to  this  important  letter  in  the  note  01  Count  Nesselrode, 
and  that  he  had  passed  it  over  as  though  it  had  never  existed,  whilst  he 
referred  to  the  note  he  had  addressed  to  Mr.  Middleton  so  long  ago  as  the 
1st  of  February,  1824,  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  the  views  of  the  imperial 
government  at  the  present  moment. 

I  then  produced  the  communication  of  Baron  Krudener  to  Mr.  Brent  of 
the  16-28th  of  August,  1828,  and  read  it  to  Baron  Brunnow.  After  he  had 
perused  it  himself,  he  expressed  his  surprise  at  its  contents,  and  said  he  did 
not  believe  a  copy  of  it  had  been  transmitted  to  the  Foreign  Office ;  that  he 
could  say  for  himself  he  had  never  seen  it  before.  He  thought  the  baron 
must  have  gone  further  than  his  instructions  had  warranted ;  and  that  instead 


TREATY  RESPECTING  MARITIME  RIGHTS  DECLINED.     173 

of  expressing  the  willingness  of  the  emperor  to  adopt  by  mutual  agreement, 
the  principles  concerning  neutral  rights  proposed  by  the  United  States,  he 
ought  merely  to  have  expressed  the  concurrence  of  the  emperor  in  those  prin 
ciples  and  his  desire  to  preserve  and  protect  them.  He  added  that  these 
rights  were  best  maintained  by  the  power  of  nations,  and  we  had  nobly  de 
fended  them  during  our  late  war  with  England.  I  replied,  that  was  very 
true,  and  the  United  States  were  becoming  more  and  more  powerful  every 
year,  and  had  Jess  and  less  occasion  to  rely  upon  treaties  for  the  maintenance 
of  their  neutral  rights. 

I  afterwards  remarked  that  I  thought  the  count,  from  the  tenor  of  his  note, 
had  probably  overlooked  one  circumstance  of  importance  in  considering  this 
subject,  as  he  had  placed  the  refusal  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  use 
less  for  only  two  powers  to  conclude  such  a  treaty  between  themselves.  That 
the  fact  was,  the  United  States  already  had  treaties  of  a  similar  character  with 
several  nations,  which  I  enumerated,  and  that  if  Russia  had  concluded  this 
treaty,  in  case  she  should  hereafter  unfortunately  be  engaged  in  war  with  any 
of  these  powers,  the  property  of  her  subjects  would  be  secure  from  capture 
by  their  ships  of  war,  on  board  of  American  vessels.  He  replied  that  as  to 
Prussia,  Sweden,  and  Holland  there  was  little  danger  of  any  war  between 
them  and  Russia ;  and  that  we  had  no  such  treaties  with  the  maritime  powers 
with  whom  Russia  was  likely  to  be  engaged  in  hostilities. 

(Evidently,  as  I  supposed,  alluding  to  England  and  France.) 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation,  I  regretted  that  I  had  never  seen  the 
note  addressed  by  Count  Nesselrode  to  Mr.  Middleton  in  February,  1824, 
and  that  there  was  no  copy  of  it  in  the  archives  of  the  legation  here.  He 
then  said  he  would  take  pleasure  in  sending  me  a  copy,  and  thought  he  might 
assure  me  with  perfect  confidence,  from  the  feelings  of  Count  Nesselrode  to 
wards  myself,  that  he  would  be  happy  to  send  me  at  all  times  copies  of  any 
other  papers  I  might  desire  from  the  Foreign  Office. 

He  at  first  proposed  to  repeat  this  conversation  to  Count  Nesselrode.  I 
replied  I  had  no  objection.  It  was  not  intended  by  me  as  an  attempt  to 
renew  the  negotiation  at  the  present  time ;  but  merely  to  make  some  sugges 
tions  to  him  in  free  conversation.  Before  he  took  leave,  however,  he  said 
he  believed  that  as  his  mission  to  me  had  been  of  a  special  character,  he 
would  report  nothing  to  the  count  but  what  had  a  relation  to  the  com 
mercial  treaty — except  that  I  desired  to  have  a  copy  of  his  note  to  Mr. 
Middleton;  but  that  after  the  other  subject  was  finally  disposed  of,  he 
thought  I  ought  to  mention  these  things  to  Count  Nesselrode  myself.  I  told 
him  I  probably  might,  that  what  I  had  said  to  him  on  this  subject,  had 
been  communicated  in  a  frank  and  friendly  spirit,  and  I  considered  it  alto 
gether  unofficial.  No  doubt  he  repeated  every  word. 


What  is  here  related  occurred  in  the  autumn  of  1832,  and 
the  subject  of  maritime  rights  was  not  again  alluded  to  until 


174  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

the  following  spring.     Writing  to  General  Jackson  a  private 
letter  on  the  29th  of  May,  1833,  Mr.  Buchanan  said : 

I  fear  I  shall  not  be  able  to  conclude  the  treaty  concerning  maritime 
rights,  though  I  shall  use  my  best  exertions.  My  late  attempt  to  introduce 
the  subject  was  not  very  successful,  as  you  will  have  seen  from  my  last 
despatch. 

I  have  now,  after  much  reflection,  determined  on  my  plan  of  operations. 
It  would  not  be  consistent  with  the  high  character  of  our  Government,  or 
with  what  I  am  confident  would  be  your  wishes,  that  I  should  make  another 
direct  official  proposition,  without  a  previous  intimation  that  it  would  be  well 
received ;  and  we  might  thus  be  subjected  to  another  direct  refusal  so  soon  after 
the  last.  It  is  therefore  my  intention  to  present  my  views  of  the  subject  in 
the  form  of  an  unofficial  note,  and  to  express  them  with  as  much  clearness 
and  force  as  I  am  capable  [of].  I  shall  not  in  this  note  seek  a  renewal  of  the 
negotiation ;  though  I  shall  leave  it  clearly  to  be  inferred  that  such  is  my 
desire.  If  they  should  not  move  in  the  business  afterwards,  it  would  neither 
be  proper  nor  dignified  to  press  them  further. 

I  am  convinced  they  are  endeavoring  to  manage  England  at  present,  and 
that  this  is  an  unpropitious  moment  to  urge  them  to  adopt  principles  of  public 
law  which  would  give  offence  to  that  nation.  Besides,  Eussia  has  now  a 
large  navy,  and  but  a  small  commercial  marine ;  and  it  is  not  for  such  a  power 
as  she  now  believes  herself  to  be,  to  desire  to  change  the  law  of  nations  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  abridge  her  belligerent  rights.  The  principle  "  that  free 
ships  shall  make  free  goods,"  will  always  be  most  popular  with  nations  who 
possess  a  large  commercial  marine  and  a  small  navy,  and  whose  policy  is 
peaceful.  But  I  shall  do  my  best.  I  hope  this  question  may  be  determined 
by  the  beginning  of  August,  as  I  should  then  have  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
something  more  of  Europe,  and  yet  reach  the  United  States  about  the  end 
of  November.  By  the  last  accounts,  my  mother's  health  was  decidedly 
better,  so  that  on  that  ground  I  need  not  so  much  hasten  rny  return. 

I  have  received  many  letters  which  give  me  strong  assurances  that  I  shall 
be  elected  to  the  Senate.  I  confess,  however,  that  I  feel  very  doubtful  of 
success.  The  men  in  Pennsylvania,  who  have  risen  to  power  by  the  popu 
larity  of  your  name,  while  in  heart  they  are  opposed  to* you,  will  do  every 
thing  they  can  to  prevent  my  election.  The  present  governor  is  greatly 
influenced  by  their  counsels,  and  his  patronage  is  very  great  and  very  power 
ful.  Besides,  the  Nullifiers  and  their  organ,  the  Telegraph,  will  show  me  no 
quarter.  Thank  God  !  I  know  how  to  be  content  with  a  private  station,  and 

I  shall  leave  the  Legislature  to  do  just  as  they  please 

Our  excellent  consul  here  is  in  very  bad  health  from  the  severity  of  the 
climate.  His  physician  says  that  he  must  travel,  and  that  immediately :  but 
I  entertain  some  doubts  whether  he  has  sufficient  strength  left  for  the  purpose. 
It  is  said,  however,  that  he  was  restored  once  before  by  a  change  of  climate, 
when  in  an  equally  weak  condition.  He  purposes  to  set  off  in  a  few  weeks, 


COMPLAINTS  ABOUT   THE  AMERICAN  PRESS.  175 

and  Mr.  Clay,  who  will  have  little  else  to  attend  to,  will  do  Ins  business 
cheerfully  during  his  absence.  I  sincerely  wish  he  could  obtain  a  situation  in 
a  milder  climate.  It  would  be  a  most  happy  circumstance  for  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States  if  all  our  consuls  were  like  Mr.  G.  After  sending  my 
note  to  Count  Nesselrode,  I  intend  to  visit  Moscow  for  a  few  days,  as  he  is 
to  be  absent  himself.  I  beg  to  present  my  respects  to  your  family,  and  to 
Messrs.  Barry,  Taney,  McLane  and  Woodbury. 

The  simple  truth  is,  that  the  Russian  government,  since  the 
intimation  made  by  Baron  Krudener  just  before  General 
Jackson  became  President,  had  changed  its  mind  in  regard  to 
the  subject  of  maritime  rights.  The  reason  for  declining  to 
make  the  treaty  in  1832-33,  as  explained  by  Count  Pozzo  di 
Borgo  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  Paris,  accords  entirely  with  what 
Mr,  Buchanan  had  learned  at  St.  Petersburg.*  The  attitude 
of  the  Belgian  question,  and  the  relations  of  Russia  towards 
England,  precluded  the  acceptance  of  the  American  proposal 
to  establish  by  treaty  between  Russia  and  the  United  States 
the  principle  that  "  free  ships  make  free  goods." 

All  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  official  duties  at  St.  Petersburg  were 
not,  however,  so  entirely  pleasant  as  the  negotiation  of  the 
commercial  treaty.  While  this  negotiation  was  in  its  early 
stage,  Baron  Sacken,  who  had  been  left  by  Baron  Krudener  as 
Russian  charge  d'affaires  at  Washington,  made  to  the  Secretary 
of  State  a  somewhat  offensive  communication,  complaining  of 
certain  articles  in  The  Globe,  the  official  paper  of  the  American 
Government,  concerning  the  conduct  of  Russia  towards  Poland. 
The  complaint  was  doubtless  made  in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that 
although  the  Globe  was  the  official  gazette  of  our  Government, 
the  President  had  no  control  over  or  responsibility  for  its  edi 
torial  articles,  or  the  articles  which  it  copied  from  English  or 
French  journals.  The  freedom  of  the  press  in  this  country 
was  not  understood  by  Russian  officials ;  and  although  it  does 
not  appear  that  Baron  Sacken's  act  was  directed  from  St. 
Petersburg,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  making  the  complaint 
he  did  what  he  believed  would  be  acceptable  to  his  superiors  at 
home.  He,  however,  considerably  overshot  the  mark,  in  the 
tone  and  manner  of  his  communication  to  the  Department  of 

*  See  post  an  account  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  conversation  with  Pozzo  di  Borgo  in  Paris. 


176  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

State,  and  it  became  necessary  for  the  President  to  direct  Mr. 
Buchanan  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  Russian  government. 
This  was  done  by  a  despatch  from  Mr.  Livingston,  courteous 
but  firm,  pointing  out  the  impossibility  of  exercising  in  this 
country  any  governmental  constraint  over  the  press,  and  making 
very  clear  the  offensive  imputation  of  insincerity  on  the  part 
of  the  President  contained  in  Baron  Sacken's  note.  This 
occurrence  was  not  known  at  St.  Petersburg,  at  least  it  was  not 
known  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  while  the  negotiation  of  the  commer 
cial  treaty  was  pending.  On  the  receipt  of  Mr.  Livingston's 
despatch,  which  was  written  early  in  January,  1833,  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  had  an  interview  with  Count  Nesselrode  on  the  subject, 
of  which  he  gave  the  following  account  to  the  Secretary  of 
State : 

February  26th,  1833. 

On  yesterday  at  2  o'clock,  p.  M  ,  I  had  a  conference  with  the  count.  I  in 
quired  if  he  had  yet  received  from  Washington  the  answer  of  Mr.  Livingston 
to  Baron  Sacken's  note  of  the  14th  of  October  last;  to  which  he  replied  in 
the  affirmative.  After  expressing  my  regret  that  anything  unpleasant  should 
have  occurred  at  Washington  in  the  intercourse  between  the  two  govern 
ments,  whilst  everything  here  had  been  proceeding  so  harmoniously,  I 
observed : 

That  Baron  Sacken  himself,  in  his  note  to  Mr.  Brent,  had  admitted  that 
the  President,  throughout  the  whole  course  of  his  administration,  had  con 
stantly  expressed  a  desire  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  Eussia.  But  the 
President's  feelings  had  not  been  confined  to  mere  official  declarations  to  the 
Russian  government ;  they  had  been  expressed,  in  strong  terms,  before  the 
world  in  each  of  his  annual  messages  to  Congress,  previous  to  the  date  of 
Baron  Sacken's  note.  Besides  they  had  been  always  manifested  by  his 
conduct. 

The  baron  [I  said],  with  a  full  knowledge  of  these  facts,  had  addressed  this 
note  to  Mr.  Brent,  which  was  not  only  offensive  in  its  general  tone,  but  more 
especially  so  in  imputing  a  want  of  sincerity  to  the  President,  and  in  effect 
charging  him  with  tacitly  encouraging  the  abuse  of  the  emperor  by  the 
American  newspapers,  whilst  he  was  professing  friendship  towards  the  Russian 
government.  Such  a  charge  was  well  calculated  to  make  a  strong  impression 
upon  General  Jackson,  a  man  who,  during  his  whole  life,  had  been  distin 
guished  for  sincerity  and  frankness.  When,  after  Mr.  Clay's  departure,  I  had 
perused  this  note,  with  which  his  excellency  had  been  good  enough  to  furnish 
me,  I  was  convinced  the  President  could  not  pass  it  over  in  silence ;  and  I 
had  since  been  astonished  not  to  have  received,  until  very  recently,  any  com 
munication  on  the  subject. 


BARON  SACKEX'S  IMPRUDENT  NOTE.  177 

I  had  now  discovered  that  the  reason  of  this  delay  was  an  anxious  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  President  to  avoid  everything  unpleasant  in  the  intercourse 
between  the  two  countries ;  and  had  formed  an  expectation  that  Baron  Sacken 
himself,  after  reflection,  would  have  rendered  it  unnecessary  to  bring  the  subject 
before  the  imperial  government.  In  this  hope  the  President  had  been  dis 
appointed.  Nearly  two  months  had  transpired  before  Mr.  Livingston 
answered  his  note.  In  the  meantime,  a  fair  opportunity  was  afforded  him  to 
withdraw  it,  and  a  verbal  intimation  given  that  this  would  be  more  agreeable 
to  the  President  than  to  take  the  only  notice  of  it  which  he  could  take  with 
propriety.  Mr.  Livingston  had  supposed  that,  under  the  circumstances,  the 
baron  would  have  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  visit  Washington,  where,  at  a 
verbal  conference,  the  affair  might  have  been  satisfactorily  adjusted.  In  this 
opinion  he  found  he  was  mistaken.  At  length,  on  the  4th  December,  he 
addressed  the  baron  this  answer,  which  places  in  a  striking  light  the  most 
offensive  part  of  his  note,  the  charge  of  insincerity.  Even  in  it,  however, 
the  President's  feelings  of  amity  for  Russia  and  respect  for  the  emperor  are 
reiterated. 

After  this  answer,  Mr.  Livingston  waited  nearly  another  month,  confident 
that  a  disavowal  of  any  offensive  intention  would,  at  least,  have  been  made. 
This  not  having  been  done,  he  has  sent  me  instructions,  under  date  of  the  3d 
January  last,  to  bring  the  subject  under  the  notice  of  the  imperial  govern 
ment  ;  and  it  is  for  that  purpose  I  have  solicited  the  present  interview. 

The  count  expressed  his  regret  that  any  misunderstanding  should  have 
occurred  between  Baron  Sacken  and  Mr.  Livingston;  it  was  evident  the 
former  never  could  have  intended  anything  offensive  to  the  President,  as  he 
had  taken  the  precaution  of  submitting  his  note  of  the  14th  of  October  to 
Mr.  Livingston  in  New  York  before  it  was  transmitted  to  the  Department, 
who  not  only  made  no  objection  to  it  at  the  time,  but  informed  him  it  should 
be  answered  in  a  few  days.  The  count  then  asked  if  Mr.  Livingston  had  not 
communicated  this  circumstance  to  me  in  his  despatches.  I  replied  in  the 
negative,  and  from  my  manner  intimated  some  doubt  as  to  its  existence  ; 
when  he  took  up  the  despatch  of  Baron  Sacken  and  read  to  me,  in  French,  a 
statement  of  this  fact.  He  said,  if  Mr.  Livingston  had  at  that  time  objected 
to  any  part  of  the  note,  the  baron  would  have  immediately  changed  its 
phraseology.  I  replied  that  the  President  at  least  had  certainly  never  seen 
the  note  previous  to  its  receipt  at  the  Department ;  and  it  appeared  to  me 
manifestly  to  contain  an  imputation  on  his  sincerity,  and  was  besides  offensive 
in  its  general  character.  He  did  not  attempt  to  justify  its  language,  but  re 
peated  that  he  thought  Baron  Sacken  never  could  have  intended  to  write 
anything  offensive  to  the  President.  If  he  had,  it  would  have  been  done  in 
violation  of  his  instructions.  That  the  feelings  of  the  emperor  as  well  as  his 
own  were  of  the  most  friendly  nature  towards  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  that,  in  particular,  both  the  emperor  and  himself  entertained  the 
highest  respect  and  esteem  for  the  character  of  the  President,  That  neither 
of  them  would  ever  think  of  sanctioning  the  imputation  of  insincerity  or 

L— 12 


178  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

anything  that  was  dishonorable  to  General  Jackson,  and  he  was  very  sorry 
Baron  Sacken  had  written  a  note  the  effect  of  which  was  to  wound  his 
feelings. 

As  the  count  did  not  still  seem  to  be  altogether  satisfied  that  the  note 
attributed  insincerity  to  the  professions  of  the  President,  I  then  took  it  up 
and  pointed  out  in  as  clear  and  striking  a  manner  as  I  could,  the  most  offen 
sive  passages  which  it  contained.  After  I  had  done,  he  repeated  in  substance 
what  he  had  said  before,  but  without  any  qualification  whatever,  expressing 
both  his  own  sorrow  and  that  of  the  emperor,  that  Baron  Sacken  should  have 
written  a  note  calculated  to  wound  the  feelings  of  General  Jackson,  or  to  give 
him  any  cause  of  offence.  He  added,  that  the  baron  either  already  had  left, 
or  would  soon  leave  the  United  States ;  and  he  had  no  doubt,  that  soon  after 
the  arrival  of  the  treaty  and  of  Baron  Krudener  at  Washington,  all  matters 
would  be  explained  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  President ;  by  whom,  he  trusted, 
this  unpleasant  occurrence  would  be  entirely  forgotten. 

With  this  explanation,  I  expressed  myself  perfectly  satisfied,  and  assured 
him  I  should  have  great  pleasure  in  communicating  it  to  the  President. 

He  then  observed  that,  judging  from  the  despatch  of  Baron  Sacken,  this 
unfortunate  business  seemed  to  have  been  a  succession  of  mistakes.  That 
Mr.  Livingston,  through  Mr.  Kremer,  had  pointed  out  to  the  baron  the 
exceptional  parts  of  his  note ;  but  whilst  he  was  engaged  in  correcting  them, 
and  before  sufficient  time  for  this  purpose  had  been  afforded,  he  had  re 
ceived  Mr.  Livingston's  note  of  the  4th  of  December. 

In  the  course  of  the  interview,  the  count  read  me  several  detached  para 
graphs  from  Baron  Sacken's  despatch,  and  from  their  character  I  received  the 
impression  that  he  had  become  alarmed  at  the  consequences  of  his  own  con 
duct,  and  was  endeavoring  to  justify  it  in  the  best  manner  he  could. 

We  afterwards  had  some  conversation  respecting  the  publications  in  our 
newspapers,  in  which  allusion  was  made  to  the  explanations  I  had  given  him 
on  this  subject  in  December.  He  stated  distinctly  that  they  were  now  fully 
aware  of  the  difficulties  which  would  attend  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the 
press  under  our  form  of  Government. 

In  obedience  to  your  instructions,  I  now  read  to  him  the  greater  part  of 
Despatch  No.  5,  and  explained  the  nature  of  the  only  connection  which  our 
Government  has  with  the  official  paper.  After  having  done  so,  I  asked  him 
to  consider  the  consequences  of  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
administration  at  Washington  to  control  the  Globe  ;  and  told  him  that  in  that 
event,  the  editor,  by  publishing  it  to  the  world,  would  make  both  the  em 
peror  and  the  President  subjects  of  abuse  throughout  the  Union.  The  press 
was  essentially  free  in  our  country.  Even  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
had  no  power  to  pass  any  law  for  the  punishment  of  a  libel  on  the  President. 
This  subject  was  exclusively  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  several  States. 

That,  it  was  true,  editors  were  often  influenced  by  the  counsel  of  those  whom 
they  respected,  therefore  I  had  communicated  his  request  to  General  Jackson, 
that  he  would  advise  the  editor  of  the  Globe  to  desist  hereafter  from  offensive 


SENSITIVENESS  OF  THE  EMPEROR  ON  POLAND.         179 

publications  against  Russia,  but  even  this  would  be  a  delicate  matter  to  pro 
ceed  from  a  person  holding  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States.  I 
then  informed  him  that  I  had  been  much  pleased,  some  weeks  since,  to  ob 
serve  in  the  St.  Petersburg  Journal  an  official  contradiction  of  some  of  the 
acts  attributed  to  the  Russian  government  of  Poland ;  that  I  had  sent  the 
paper  which  contained  it  to  the  Department  of  State,  and  had  no  doubt  it 
would  be  extensively  published  in  the  United  States.  He  expressed  great 
satisfaction  that  I  had  taken  the  trouble,  and  said  it  would  be  very  agreeable 
to  them  to  have  this  contradiction  circulated  throughout  our  country. 

It  is  scarcely  worth  repeating  that  he  objected,  in  a  good-natured  manner, 
to  the  designation  of  Baron  Sacken's  note  in  the  despatch  as  "  a  formal  note," 
observing  that  a  formal  note  always  commenced  with  "  the  undersigned,"  and 
not  the  first  person.  This  was  intended  to  be  an  informal  note,  and  that  was 
the  reason  it  had  been  submitted  to  Mr.  Livingston  before  it  was  transmitted 
to  the  Department  of  State. 

I  congratulate  you  that  this  unpleasant  affair  has  had  such  an  auspicious 
termination.  We  shall,  I  think,  hear  no  more  complaints  from  this  quarter, 
on  the  subject  of  publications  in  the  American  newspapers,  especially  if  the 
editor  of  the  Globe  should  be  a  little  more  circumspect  in  his  course  hereafter. 

In  regard  to  the  subject  of  Polish  affairs,  the  treatment  of 
which  by  the  Globe  was  the  occasion  of  Baron  Sacken's  impru 
dent  note,  it  will  be  seen  hereafter  that  the  emperor  was  pecu 
liarly  sensitive  to  the  comments  of  the  foreign  press.  Mr. 
Buchanan,  wrho  had  the  best  opportunity  for  observation  while 
he  was  in  St.  Petersburg,  formed  the  opinion  that  the  personal 
attacks  upon  the  emperor,  on  account  of  the  conduct  of  his  gov 
ernment  towards  the  Poles,  with  which  the  English,  French, 
and  American  journals  abounded,  were  to  a  certain  extent  un 
just  ;  that  the  inveterate  national  hatreds  with  which  the  Rus 
sian  and  Polish  races  regarded  each  other,  were  at  the  bottom 
of  most  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  emperor  had  to  con 
tend  ;  and  that  the  fact  that  Eussian  officers  were  intrusted  with 
power  in  Poland  over  a  race  whom  they  hated  and  by  whom  they 
were  hated  in  turn,  inevitably  led  to  many  of  the  cruelties  and 
oppressions  with  which  the  world  outside  of  Eussia  resounded, 
and  which  were  charged  upon  the  emperor  personally,  as  if  he  had 
designed  them.  Buchanan  did  not  palliate  or  excuse  the  conduct 
of  the  Eussian  government  towards  the  Poles ;  nor  does  he  seem 
on  any  occasion,  when  it  was  proper  for  him  to  refer  to  it,  to 
have  allowed  any  one  to  suppose  that  he  defended  it.  But  in 
writing  to  his  own  Government  or  to  his  friends  at  home,  he 


180  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  he  thought  many  of  the  causes 
which  produced  the  oppression  that  so  roused  the  indignation 
of  the  world,  lay  deep  in  the  national  hatred  between  the  two 
races,  and  were  not  to  be  imputed  to  an  arbitrary  and  cruel 
temper  in  the  emperor. 

He  looked  upon  the  despotism  which  he  saw  with  the  calm 
eye  of  an  observer  who  could  comprehend  its  character  and 
trace  its  operations,  without  doing  injustice  to  the  reigning 
monarch.  He  saw  a  vast  nation  entirely  incapable  of  any  thing 
like  constitutional  liberty,  and  governed  by  the  absolute  will  of 
one  man,  to  obey  whom  was  at  once  a  point  of  religion,  loyalty 
and  patriotism.  Between  the  nobility  and  the  throne,  there 
was  no  middle  class,  capable  of  thinking  or  acting  upon  any 
political  subject ;  and  the  nobility,  as  a  rule,  were  capable  and 
desirous  of  no  other  political  training,  ideas  or  aspirations  than 
such  as  would  lit  them  for  the  part  of  useful  servants  of  an  em 
peror  whom  they  adored,  and  of  a  system  which  constituted 
their  country  the  most  peculiar  and  the  least  free  of  any 'in 
Europe.  The  statesmen  who  were  formed  under  such  a  system 
were,  as  might  naturally  be  expected,  accomplished  in  many 
ways,  subtle  and  often  powerful  reasoners ;  and  they  were  not 
seldom  among  the  ablest  men  of  the  age.  When  they  were 
made  to  understand  how  completely,  as  Mr.  Buchanan  said, 
they  and  we  were  "  political  antipodes,"  they  found  no  diffi 
culty  in  yielding  to  the  necessity  of  respecting  a  state  of  things 
in  America  which  was  so  unlike  any  thing  that  they  knew  at 
home.  At  first,  Count  Nesselrode  could  not  understand  how  a 
government  could  have  an  official  organ,  and  yet  disclaim  re 
sponsibility  to  a  foreign  power  for  what  that  organ  said  in  its 
editorial  columns.  But  when  it  was  explained  to  him  that  the 
American  Government  did  disclaim  that  responsibility,  and  was 
obliged  to  do  so  by  the  nature  of  its  political  institutions,  he  did 
not  make  it  his  business  to  argue  the  point,  but  gracefully  ac 
cepted  the  explanation  and  put  an  end  to  the  whole  of  the  mis 
understanding. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  while  Mr.  Buchanan 
fully  and  firmly  carried  out  his  instructions  and  procured  all  the 
admission  that  his  own  Government  desired,  in  regard  to  Baron 
Sacken's  note,  it  was  a  pretty  fine  distinction  that  his  Govern- 


SENSITIVENESS  OF  THE  EMPEROR  ON  POLAND.         Igl 

ment  had  to  draw.  It  was  perfectly  true  that  the  Globe  was 
the  official  gazette  of  the  American  Government,  and  yet  that 
its  editorial  columns  could  not  be  legally  controlled  by  the 
President.  Still  it  might  be  a  question  whether  an  American 
administration  should  have  had  an  official  organ,  with  which  it 
was  connected  on  such  terms  that  the  editor  or  conductor  was 
just  as  independent  of  its  influence  or  its  power,  as  if  he  pub 
lished  a  newspaper  that  was  not  connected  in  any  way  wTith  the 
Government.  Both  at  home  and  abroad,  the  editorial  columns 
of  the  Globe  were  liable  to  be  regarded  as  speaking  the  senti 
ments  of  the  administration ;  and  when  it  became  necessary  to 
disclaim  that  they  did  so,  the  explanation,  although  made  upon 
undeniable  facts,  was  an  awkward  one  to  make.  Mr.  Buchanan 
certainly  felt  it  to  be  so,  for  in  writing  to  the  Secretary  of  State, 
after  he  had  obtained  from  Count  Nesselrode  all  the  disavowal 
that  was  desired,  he  said : 

I  have  time  but  for  few  remarks  upon  this  strange  interview. 

It  serves  to  show  how  indispensable  it  is  that  our  minister  to  this  country 
should  be  kept  advised  of  every  proceeding  in  the  United  States  which  may 
affect  the  relations  between  the  two  nations.  He  has  indeed  a  most  difficult 
part  to  perform.  He  must  be  cautious  in  the  extreme,  and  is  under  the  habit 
ual  necessity  of  concealing  his  real  sentiments.  It  is  utterly  impossible  for 
these  people  to  realize  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  United  States.  We  are 
political  antipodes,  and  hence  the  great  difficulty  of  maintaining  those  friendly 
relations  which  are  so  important  to  the  interests  of  our  country.  I  know 
not  when  the  despatch  was  received  containing  a  copy  of  Baron  Sacken's 
note  to  Mr.  Brent,  or  what  influence  it  might  have  had  upon  the  negotiation 
had  it  reached  him  [Nesselrode]  at  an  earlier  period.  Of  this,  however,  I 
feel  confident,  that,  if  a  copy  of  this  note  had  been  transmitted  [to  me]  im 
mediately  after  its  receipt,  this  unpleasant  interview  might  have  been  avoided 
altogether.  ...... 

I  would  suggest  the  policy  of  advising  the  editor  of  the  Globe  to  abstain 
at  least  from  severe  editorial  paragraphs  respecting  the  emperor  of  Russia. 
Neither  the  cause  of  Poland  nor  of  human  liberty  could  suffer  by  his  silence 
in  a  country  where  there  are  so  many  faithful  sentinels,  and  I  should,  ~by 
all  means,  advise  the  publication  of  a  strong  editorial  paragraph  in  the  Globe, 
expressing  a  proper  sense  of  the  good  feelings  of  the  emperor  of  Russia, 
evinced  towards  the  United  States  in  making  us  an  exception  to  his  general 
policy  by  concluding  the  commercial  treaty.  If  this  should  be  done,  and 
more  particularly  if  the  President  should,  even  in  the  slightest  manner,  allude 
to  the  circumstance  in  his  inaugural  address,  it  would  be  very  grateful  per 
sonally  to  the  feelings  of  the  emperor. 


182  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

I  have  felt  it  my  duty  to  take  measures,  though  they  may  be  expensive  to 
the  Government,  of  having  the  semi-weekly  Globe  transmitted  to  me  through 
the  post-office  from  London.  Will  you  be  particular  in  giving  directions 
that  it  shall  be  regularly  forwarded  from  New  York  by  every  packet.  It  is 
true  it  will  be  read  at  the  post-office  here;  but  should  it  contain  anything 
offensive,  I  shall  know  it  almost  as  soon  as  this  government  and  before  the 
Russian  minister  at  Washington  can  have  an  opportunity  of  transmitting  any 
inflammatory  commentaries.  I  assure  you,  I  feel  the  delicacy  of  my  position  ; 
but  knowing  your  distinguished  abilities  and  long  experience,  if  I  could  but 
only  attract  your  special  regard  to  this  mission,  I  think,  between  us,  we 
might,  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  high  and  independent  character  of  our 
own  country,  keep  his  imperial  majesty  in  a  state  of  better  feeling  towards 
us  than  almost  any  other  nation.  We  have  much  to  gain  by  such  a  course 
and  nothing  to  lose. 

I  requested  Mr.  Tail,  some  time  ago,  to  send  me  the  semi-weekly  Globe 
by  mail  from  London.  Although  this  may  be  expensive  to  the  Government, 
it  cannot  be  avoided,  and  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  I  should  receive  it. 
It  would  seem,  however,  that  the  department  has  ceased  forwarding  them  to 
London.  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  give  directions  that  they  shall  be  sent, 
in  a  separate  parcel,  by  every  Liverpool  packet  from  New  York. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
1832—1833. 

GENERAL  JACKSON' S  SECOND  ELECTION — GRAVE  PUBLIC  EVENTS  AT  HOME 
REFLECTED  IN  MR.  BUCHANAN'S  LETTERS  FROM  HIS  FRIENDS — FEEL 
INGS  OF  GENERAL  JACKSON  TOWARDS  THE  "  NULLIFIERS  "—MOVE 
MENTS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  FOR  ELECTING  MR.  BUCHANAN  TO  THE  SEN 
ATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES — HE  MAKES  A  JOURNEY  TO  MOSCOW — 
RETURN  TO  ST.  PETERSBURG — DEATH  OF  HIS  MOTHER— SINGULAR 
INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS  AT  HIS  AUDIENCE  OF 
LEAVE. 

"A  /T'R.  BITCH  AN"  AN,  as  the  reader  lias  seen,  went  abroad 
-LV_1_  jn  ^he  gpring  of  1832.  Events  of  great  consequence  oc 
curred  at  home  during  his  absence.  The  great  debate  in  the  Sen 
ate  on  nullification,  between  Mr.  Webster  and  Col.  Hayne,  which 
took  place  in  1830,  had  not  been  followed  in  South  Carolina 
by  any  surrender  of  the  doctrine  maintained  by  the  Nullifiers. 
In  November,  1832,  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  assembled  in 
convention,  adopted  their  celebrated  ordinance  which  declared 
the  existing  tariff  law  of  the  United  States  null  and  void  within 
her  limits,  as  an  unconstitutional  exercise  of  power.  General 
Jackson  who  had  been  re-elected  President  in  the  same  month, 
defeating  Mr.  Clay  and  all  the  other  candidates  by  a  very  large 
majority  of  the  electoral  votes,  issued  his  proclamation  against 
the  Nullifiers  on  the  10th  of  December.*  Then  followed  the 
introduction  of  the  "  Force  Bill "  into  the  Senate  in  January, 
1833  ;  a  measure  designed  to  secure  the  collection  of  the  revenue 
against  the  obstruction  of  the  State  laws  of  South  Carolina ; 
Mr.  Webster's  support  of  this  measure  of  the  administration ; 
and  the  consequent  expectation  of  a  political  union  between 
him  and  General  Jackson.  This  union,  however,  was  pre 
vented  by  an  irreconcilable  difference  between  Mr.  Webster 
and  General  Jackson  and  his  friends  on  the  subject  of  the  cur- 

*  General  Jackson  at  his  second  election  received  219  electoral  votes  out  of  288. 


184  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

rency  and  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  In  1832  the  Presi 
dent  had  vetoed  a  bill  to  continue  the  Bank  in  existence.  Early 
in  June  the  President  left  Washington  on  a  tour  to  the  Eastern 
States,  and  while  in  Boston,  during  the  month  of  June,  he 
determined  to  remove  the  public  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  place  them  in  certain  selected  State 
banks.  These  events  and  the  excitements  attending  them  are 

O 

touched  upon  in  the  private  letters  which  Mr.  Buchanan  re 
ceived  from  his  friends,  not  the  least  interesting  of  which  was 
one  from  General  Jackson,  expressing  his  feelings  in  regard  to 
his  proclamation  in  a  very  characteristic  manner.  From  one 
of  these  letters,  too,  we  may  gather  that  steps  were  already 
taking  to  elect  Mr.  Buchanan  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States. 

[FROM  A  FRIEND  IN  WASHINGTON.] 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  August  1,  1832. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

Of  course  you  receive  regular  files  of  American  papers,  and  I  shall  there 
fore  not  be  able  to  give  you  much  news  of  a  public  or  political  nature. 

Thinking,  however,  you  may  overlook  some  things  of  importance,  I  shall 
confine  myself  to  them.  The  tariff  bill,  having  passed  in  a  modified  form 
(reducing  the  duties  on  protected,  and  taking  them  off  nearly  altogether  on 
unprotected  articles,  to  the  wants  of  the  Government),  it  was  supposed  the 
excitement  in  the  South  would  be  allayed,  if  not  entirely  subdued ;  but  this, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  has  not  been  the  case  in  South  Carolina.  Messrs.  Hayne, 
Miller,  McDume,  etc.,  have  published  an  address  to  the  people  of  South  Car 
olina,  in  which  they  state,  that  the  protective  system  has  now  become  the 
settled  policy  of  the  country,  and  advise  an  open  resistance  to  the  act.  Their 
legislature  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  recommend  the  same  course,  and  before 
another  year,  I  am  firmly  of  the  opinion,  rebellion  will  be  the  order  of  the 
day,  accompanied  with  all  its  horrors.  The  moment  that  a  drop  of  blood  is 
shed  by  the  South,  in  resisting  the  laws,  there  will  be  a  general  rising  of  the 
people,  and  where  is  the  hand  that  will  be  able  to  stop  the  fearful  wrath  of 
the  sovereign  people  ?  Duff  Green,  in  his  paper  of  yesterday,  said :  "  That 
he  will  write  as  long  as  writing  will  be  of  any  effect ;  when  that  ceases,  he 
will  adopt  the  sword.  If  South  Carolina  is  to  be  sacrificed,  the  tyrant  will  be 
met  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  and  many,  very  many,  are  the  sons  of  her 
sister  States  who  will  rally  beneath  her  standard.  We  say  to  her  gallant 
sons,  go  on !  Yours  is  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  the  eyes  of  all  her  votaries  are 
upon  you!  " 

When  language  like  this  is  held  by  the  leader  of  the  party,  at  the  seat  of 


LETTERS   FROM   HIS   FRIENDS.  185 

Government  of  the  Union,  under  the  immediate  eyes  of  the  heads  of  the 
nation,  and  suffered  to  pass  unpunished,  it  is  indeed  time  for  the  people  seri 
ously  to  think  of  a  civil  war.  The  leaders  in  this  affair  will  have  much  to 
answer  for,  and  be  assured  they  will  be  held  accountable. 

The  bank  bill  has  passed,  by  a  small  majority,  in  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
and  the  President  (true  to  his  principles)  has  returned  it  (without  his  signa 
ture)  with  his  objections.  There  appeared  to  be  great  excitement  at  the 
time,  but  it  was  only  occasioned  by  the  brawling  of  the  opposition.  A  large 
meeting  was  got  up  in  Philadelphia,  at  which  a  few  Jackson  men  of  no  note 
attended,  but  all  would  not  do.  The  next  week,  the  Jackson  men  met  to 
express  their  opinions,  and  they  resolved  unanimously  to  support  "Andrew 
Jackson,  bank  or  no  bank,  veto  or  no  veto."  At  this  meeting  there  were 
between  ten  and  fifteen  thousand  people,  citizens  of  the  city  and  county, 
the  largest  meeting,  I  am  told,  that  ever  assembled  in  Philadelphia  within 
the  recollection  of  the  oldest  inhabitants. 

[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  WASHINGTON,  March  21,  1833. 

DEAR  SIR: — 

Your  letter  by  Mr.  Clay  was  handed  me  on  his  arrival.  The  fact  of 
there  being  no  means  of  conveyance,  my  not  having  ascertained  Mr.  Clay's 
determination  in  regard  to  his  return  to  you,  and  the  immense  and  heavy 
pressure  of  public  business  have  caused  me  to  delay  my  reply.  Nullification, 
the  corrupting  influence  of  the  Bank,  the  union  of  Calhoun  and  Clay,  sup 
ported  by  the  corrupt  and  wicked  of  all  parties,  engaged  all  my  attention. 
The  liberty  of  the  people  requires  that  wicked  projects,  and  evil  combinations 
against  the  Government  should  be  exposed  and  counteracted. 

I  met  nullification  at  its  threshhold.  My  proclamation  was  well  timed,  as  it 
at  once  opened  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  the  wicked  designs  of  the  Nullifiers, 
whose  real  motives  had  too  long  remained  concealed.  The  public  ceased  to 
be  deluded  by  the  promise  of  securing  by  nullification  "  a  peaceful  and  con 
stitutional  modification  of  the  tariff." 

They  investigated  the  subject,  and  saw  that,  although  the  tariff  was  made 
the  ostensible  object,  a  separation  of  the  confederacy  was  the  real  purpose  of 
its  originators  and  supporters. 

The  expression  of  public  opinion  elicited  by  the  proclamation,  from  Maine 
to  Louisiana,  has  so  firmly  repudiated  the  absurd  doctrine  of  nullification  and 
secession,  that  it  is  not  probable  that  we  shall  be  troubled  with  them  again 
shortly. 

The  advices  of  to-day  inform  us  that  South  Carolina  has  repealed  her 
ordinance  and  all  the  laws  based  upon  it.*  Thus  die  nullification  and  seces- 

*  This  I  believe  to  have  been  a  mistake,  in  respect  to  the  nullification  ordinance.  It  was 
adopted  by  a  State  convention,  and  consequently  could  only  be  repealed  by  another  conven 
tion.  This,  I  believe,  was  not  done  ;  but  the  laws  based  upon  this  ordinance  were  probably 
repealed  by  the  legislature  after  Mr.  Clay's  compromise.  See  the  Life  of  Webster,  by  the 
present  writer,  Vol.  I,  p.  156. 


186  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

sion,  but  leave  behind  the  remembrance  of  their  authors  and  abettors,  which 
holds  them  up  to  scorn  and  indignation,  and  will  transmit  them  to  posterity 
as  traitors  to  the  best  of  governments. 

The  treaty  is  as  good  a  one  as  we  could  expect  or  desire,  and  if  you  can 
close  the  other  as  satisfactorily,  it  will  be  a  happy  result,  and  place  you  in 
the  highest  rank  of  our  able  and  fortunate  diplomatists. 

Mr.  Clay  has  conversed  with  me  freely,  and  has  determined,  under  all  the 
circumstances,  to  return  to  you. 

If  Mr.  Clay  had  not  taken  this  determination,  be  well  assured  that  your 
request  in  respect  to  his  successor  would  have  received  my  most  anxious 
attention.  You  should  have  had  one  in  whom  you  could  with  safety  confide. 
I  had  thought  of  Mr.  Vail,  now  at  London,  who  has  signified  his  inclination 
to  remain  abroad,  as  secretary  of  legation,  when  relieved  by  a  minister. 

Mr.  Clay  can  be  left  as  charge*-d'affaires  when  your  duty  to  your  aged 
mother  may  make  it  necessary  for  you  to  return  to  her  and  your  country. 

Knowing,  as  I  do,  that  you  will  not  leave  your  post  until  you  bring  to  a 
close  the  negotiation  now  under  discussion,  I  have  said  to  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  grant  you  permission  to  return  whenever  you  may  ask  it.  But 
should  an  emergency  arise  which  will  render  it  inconvenient,  if  not  im 
possible,  for  you  to  write  and  receive  an  answer  from  the  state  department 
before,  from  the  feeble  health  of  your  mother,  it  may  be  necessary  for  you  to 
return,  you  will  consider  yourself  as  being  hereby  authorized  to  leave  the 
court  of  Russia,  and  return,  leaving  Mr.  Clay  in  charge  of  our  affairs  there. 

I  must  refer  you  to  Mr.  Clay,  and  the  newspapers,  which  I  have  requested 
the  Secretary  of  State  to  send  you,  for  the  news  and  politics  of  the  day.  I 
must,  however,  add,  that  in  the  late  election,  good  old  Democratic  Pennsyl 
vania  has  greatly  increased  my  debt  of  gratitude  to  her,  which  I  can  only 
attempt  to  discharge  by  renewed  and  increasing  vigilance  and  exertions  in 
so  administering  the  Government  as  to  perpetuate  the  prosperity  and  happi 
ness  of  the  whole  people. 

Accept  of  my  best  wishes  for  your  health  and  happiness,  and  for  your 
safe  return  to  your  country  and  friends.  Give  my  kind  respects  to  Mr. 
Barry,  and  believe  me  to  be  sincerely 

Your  friend, 

JACKSON. 


[MR.    BUCHANAN   TO    GENERAL   JACKSON.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  May  22,  1833 
DEAR  GENERAL:  — 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving,  by  Mr.  Clay,  your  kind  letter  of  the  21st 
March.  And  here  allow  me  to  tender  you  my  grateful  thanks  for  the  per 
mission  which  you  have  granted  me  to  return  home.  Indeed,  I,  for  some 
time,  had  scarcely  indulged  the  hope  that  I  should  be  allowed  to  leave  St. 
Petersburg  before  the  next  spring  ;  this  permission,  therefore,  was  a  most 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS    AT    HOME.  187 

agreeable  surprise,  and  adds  another  to  the  many  obligations  I  owe  to  your 
kindness.  I  hope  I  may  yet  have  an  opportunity  of  displaying  my  gratitude 
by  my  actions. 

Although  I  shall  leave  St.  Petersburg  with  pleasure,  yet  I  shall  always 
gratefully  remember  the  kindness  with  which  I  have  been  treated  here.  My 
great  objection  to  the  country  is  the  extreme  jealousy  and  suspicion  of  the 
government.  A  public  minister,  in  order  successfully  to  discharge  his  duties 
and  avoid  giving  offense,  must  conceal  the  most  ennobling  sentiments  of  his 
soul.  We  are  continually  surrounded  by  spies,  both  of  high  and  low  degree  in 
life.  You  can  scarcely  hire  a  servant  who  is  not  a  secret  agent  of  the  police. 

There  is  one  mitigating  circumstance  in  Russian  despotism.  In  other  por 
tions  of  Europe  we  behold  nations  prepared  and  anxious  for  the  enjoyment  of 
liberty,  yet  compelled  to  groan  beneath  the  yoke.  No  such  spectacle  is  pre 
sented  in  this  country.  The  most  ardent  Republican,  after  having  resided 
here  for  one  year,  would  be  clearly  convinced  that  the  mass  of  this  people, 
composed  as  it  is  of  ignorant  and  superstitious  barbarians,  who  are  also  slaves, 
is  not  fit  for  political  freedom.  Besides,  they  are  perfectly  contented.  The 
emperor  seems  to  me  to  be  the  very  beau  ideal  of  a  sovereign  for  Russia,  and 
in  my  opinion,  notwithstanding  his  conduct  towards  Poland,  he  is  an  abler 
and  a  better  man  than  any  of  those  by  whom  he  is  surrounded.  I  flatter 
myself  that  a  favorable  change  has  been  effected  in  his  feelings  towards  the 
United  States  since  my  arrival.  Indeed,  at  the  first  I  was  treated  with  great 
neglect,  as  Mr.  Clay  had  always  been.  I  was  glad  he  returned.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  find  a  more  agreeable  Secretary  of  Legation.  I  also  entertain  a 
very  high  opinion  of  Mr.  Vail. 

I  sincerely  rejoice  that  our  domestic  differences  seem  almost  to  have  ended. 
Independently  of  their  fatal  influence  at  home,  they  had  greatly  injured  the 
character  of  the  country  abroad.  The  advocates  of  despotism  throughout 
Europe  beheld  our  dissensions  with  delight ;  whilst  the  friends  of  freedom 
sickened  at  the  spectacle.  God  grant  that  the  restless  spirits  which  have 
kindled  the  flame  in  South  Carolina  may  neither  be  willing  nor  able  to  pro 
mote  disunion  by  rendering  the  Southern  States  generally  disaffected  towards 
the  best  of  governments. 

Whilst  these  dissensions  are  ever  to  be  deplored  in  themselves,  they  have 
been  most  propitious  for  your  fame.  We  generally  find  but  few  extracts  from 
American  papers  in  the  European  journals;  but  whilst  the  South  Carolina 
question  was  pending,  your  proclamation,  as  well  as  every  material  fact  neces 
sary  to  elucidate  its  history,  was  published  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  I 
have  a  hundred  times  heard,  with  pride  and  pleasure,  the  warmest  commenda 
tions  of  your  conduct,  and  have  not  met  with  a  single  dissenting  voice.  I 
was  the  other  day  obliged  to  laugh  heartilyat  the  sentiment  of  a  Russian 
nobleman,  which  he  considered  the  highest  commendation.  He  said  it  was  a 
pity  that  such  a  man  as  you  had  not  been  king  of  England  instead  of  William 
the  Fourth,  for  then  Ireland  would  have  been  kept  in  good  order  and 
O'Connell  would  long  since  have  been  punished  as  he  deserved. 


188  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

I  might  have  told  him  you  were  not  the  stuff  of  which  kings  are  made, 
and  if  you  had  possessed  the  power  Ireland  would  have  had  her  grievances 
removed  and  received  justice,  and  that  then  there  might  have  been  no  occa 
sion  for  severity 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[FROM  s.  PLEASONTON.] 

WASHINGTON,  April  3d,  1833. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  take  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  return  of  Mr.  Clay  to  St.  Petersburg 
to  write  to  you,  in  the  certainty  that  the  letter  will  be  safely  delivered. 

The  compromising  tariff  act  passed  at  the  last  session  has  been  accepted 
pretty  generally  at  the  South,  and  has  been  received  at  the  North  much 
better  than  I  expected,  so  that  the  alarm  and  anxiety  which  existed  on  the 
subject  have  been  removed. 

Much  clamor,  however,  is  yet  kept  up  at  the  South,  including  Virginia,  on 
the  subject  of  the  President's  10th  December  proclamation,  and  what  is 
called  the  enforcing  bill.  The  proclamation  in  my  opinion  contains  the  true 
Union  doctrine,  and  does  General  Jackson  great  honor ;  and  the  enforcing  bill 
was  absolutely  called  for  by  the  attitude  which  South  Carolina  had  assumed. 
The  State  rights  gentlemen,  however,  in  the  South,  are  for  denying  all  right 
to  the  Union,  as  if  the  two  governments  were  not  formed  by  the  same  people 
and  for  their  benefit.  Absurd  as  these  State  rights  doctrines  are  when  carried 
fully  out,  I  fear  they  will  be  pushed  to  an  open  rebellion  by  the  Southern 
States  before  many  years  shall  elapse. 

I  was  in  hopes  that  when  Mr.  Livingston  went  to  France,  as  he  will  do 
probably  in  June  next,  that  you  would  have  been  called  to  the  Department 
of  State,  but  it  seems  a  different  arrangement  is  to  be  made.  Mr.  McLane  is 
to  go  to  the  Department  of  State,  and  it  is  said  a  gentleman  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  who  has  never  been  spoken  of  for  the  Treasury,  is  to  be  appointed  to 
that  department.  As  Dallas  and  Wilkins  have  been  much  talked  of  for  this 
department,  I  am  somewhat  in  hopes  that  the  person  referred  to  may  be 
yourself.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  feel  pretty  confident  that  you  will  be  elected 
to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  at  the  next  meeting^of  the  legislature,  if 
you  should  be  at  home  in  season.  They  have  made  two  or  three  trials  to  elect 
a  senator  during  the  session  without  effect,  and  from  all  I  can  learn  the 
legislature  will  adjourn  without  making  an  election,  so  that  the  election  will 
lie  over  until  the  next  session. 

Mrs.  Pleasonton  is  now  pretty  well,  though  she  has  had  several  severe 
attacks  in  the  course  of  the  wmter.  Mathilda,  with  her  husband,  left  us  yes 
terday  morning  for  Philadelphia.  She  had  been  ill  for  nearly  two  months, 
and  was  not  able  to  leave  us  until  yesterday.  Augustus  is  exceedingly 
studious  and  is  getting  a  good  share  of  professional  business.  I  have  great 
hopes  of  him.  Laura  is  still  in  Philadelphia,  but  will  complete  her  education 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS  AT  HOME.  189 

in  the  month  of  May.  Mrs.  P.  intended  to  have  written  to  you  but  she  has 
not  had  it  in  her  power,  having  been  much  engaged  for  Mathilda.  I  send 
you  by  Mr.  Clay,  copies,  or  rather  duplicates,  of  two  letters  written  to  you 
some  time  ago  about  your  accounts. 

Mr.  Clay  can  inform  you  of  many  particulars  which  will  interest  you,  but  I 
presume  will  say  nothing  of  his  friend  [John]  Randolph,  who  is  now  decidedly 
and  zealously  in  the  opposition.  He  was  here  lately  and  behaved  in  the  most 
eccentric  manner. 

As  you  may  not  have  seen  all  the  documents  communicated  to  Congress  by 
the  President  in  relation  to  South  Carolina,  I  have  determined  to  burthen  Mr. 
Clay  with  them.  They  are  accordingly  enclosed. 

With  great  regard,  I  remain,  dear  sir,  your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

S.  PLEASONTON. 


[MR.  BUCHANAN   TO    JOHN   B.    STERIGERE.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  May  19,  1833. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  think  you  are  mistaken  in  supposing  I  should  have  been  elected  to  the 
Senate  had  I  been  at  home.  The  opposition  against  me  from  many  causes 
would  have  been  too  strong.  Indeed,  I  have  an  impression  that  my  public 
career  is  drawing  near  its  close,  and  I  can  assure  you  this  feeling  does  not  cost 
me  a  single  pang.  All  I  feel  concerned  about  is  to  know  what  I  shall  employ 
myself  about  after  my  return.  To  recommence  the  practice  of  the  law  in 
Lancaster  would  not  be  very  agreeable.  If  my  attachments  for  that  place  as 
well  as  my  native  State  were  not  so  strong,  I  should  have  no  difficulty  in 
arriving  at  a  conclusion.  I  would  at  once  go  either  to  New  York  or  Balti 
more  ;  and  even  if  I  should  ever  desire  to  rise  to  political  distinction,  I  believe 
I  could  do  it  sooner  in  the  latter  place  than  in  any  part  of  Pennsylvania. 
What  do  you  think  of  this  project?  Say  nothing  about  it.  I  have  not  written 
a  word  on  the  subject  to  any  other  person.  I  see  the  appointment  of  Judge 
Sutherland  announced  some  weeks  ago.  Judging  from  the  feelings  displayed 
in  the  election  of  printers  to  Congress,  I  should  not  have  been  astonished 
at  his  election  as  Speaker  by  the  next  House  of  Representatives. 

The  winter  here  has  been  very  long,  but  I  have  not  at  all  suffered  from 
the  cold.  The  great  thickness  of  the  walls  of  the  houses,  their  double 
windows  and  doors,  and  their  stoves  built  of  tile,  render  their  houses  much 
more  comfortable  in  very  cold  weather  than  our  own.  They  are  always 
heated  according  to  a  thermometer,  and  preserved  at  an  equal  temperature. 
Indeed,  I  have  suffered  more  from  the  heat  than  the  cold  during  the  winter. 
But  its  length  has  been  intolerable.  ,  The  Neva  was  frozen  for  nearly  six 
months.  It  broke  up  on  the  25th  ultimo ;  but  still,  until  within  a  few  days, 
there  is  a  little  ice  occasionally  running  which  comes  from  the  Lake  Ladoga. 

On  the  9th  instant  the  navigation  opened  at  Cronstadt.  Four  noble 
American  ships  led  the  way,  and  with  a  fine  breeze  and  under  full  sail  they 


190  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

passed  through  the  ice  and  made  an  opening  for  the  vessels  of  other  nations. 
The  character  of  our  masters  of  vessels  and  supercargoes  stands  much  higher 
here  than  that  of  the  same  class  belonging  to  any  other  nation.  They  have 
much  more  intelligence.  This  Court  requires  a  man  of  peculiar  talent.  There 
are  but  few  of  our  countrymen  fit  to  be  sent  here  as  minister.  Here  the 
character  of  the  country  depends  much  upon  that  of  the  minister.  The 
sources  of  information  respecting  our  republican  institutions  which  are  open 
throughout  the  rest  of  Europe  are  closed  in  this  country.  A  favorable  im 
pression  must  be  made  upon  the  nobility  by  personal  intercourse,  and  in 
order  that  this  may  be  done  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  minister  should 
occasionally  entertain  them  and  mix  freely  in  their  society.  Such  is  the 
difference  between  Russian  and  American  society,  I  am  satisfied  that  Levett 
Harris  would  be  a  more  useful  minister  here  than  Daniel  Webster.  1  make 
this  remark  on  the  presumption  that  for  years  to  come  we  shall  have  no 
serious  business  to  transact. 

After  looking  about  me  here,  I  was  much  at  a  loss  to  know  what  course  to 
pursue.  Without  ruin  to  my  private  fortune  I  could  not  entertain  as  others 
did.  Not  to  entertain  at  all  I  might  almost  as  well  not  have  been  here 
except  for  the  treaty.  After  some  time  I  determined  that  I  would  give  them 
good  dinners  in  a  plain  republican  style,  for  their  splendid  entertainments,  and 
the  plan  has  succeeded.  I  have  never  even  put  livery  on  a  domestic  in  my 
house ; — a  remarkable  circumstance  in  this  country. 

I  think  I  may  say,  I  am  a  favorite  here,  and  especially  with  the  emperor 
and  empress.  They  have  always  treated  me  during  the  past  winter  in  such  a 
manner  as  even  to  excite  observation.  I  am  really  astonished  at  my  own 
success  in  this  respect,  for  in  sober  truth,  I  say  that,  in  my  own  opinion,  I 
possess  but  few  of  the  requisites  of  being  successful  in  St.  Petersburg  society. 
I  trust  and  hope  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  return  to  my  beloved  native  land 
this  fall ;  and  if  Providence  should  continue  to  bless  my  endeavors,  I  think 
the  character  of  the  United  States  will  stand  upon  a  fairer  footing  with  his 
Imperial  Majesty  than  it  has  ever  done  since  his  accession  to  the  throne. 

May  22d. 

Mr.  Randolph  Clay  returned  here  on  the  19th,  bringing  me  a  great  number 
of  letters  from  my  friends  and  the  President's  permission  to  return  home 
this  fall.  God  willing !  I  shall  be  with  you  about  the  end  of  November. 
These  letters  hold  out  flattering  prospects  of  my  election  to  the  Senate  at  the 
next  session. 

I  confess  I  consider  this  event  very  doubtful,  and  shall  take  care  not  to  set 
my  heart  upon  it. 

Mr.  Barry  leaves  me  to-day  for  London,  and  I  have  no  time  to  add  any 
thing  more.  Please  to  write  soon,  and  believe  me  ever  to  be  your  sincere 
friend,  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

P.  S. — Remember  me  to  Paulding,  Patterson,  Kittera  and  my  other  friends. 
I  wrote  once  to  the  latter,  but  have  never  received  an  answer  from  him. 


JACKSON    AND    WEBSTER.  191 

[FROM  LOUIS  MCLANE.] 

(Unofficial.)  WASHINGTON,  June  20,  1832. 

Mr  DEAR  SIR  :- 

It  affords  me  sincere  pleasure  to  devote  a  portion  of  my  early  labors  in 
this  Department*  to  you,  whom  I  have  known  so  long,  and  esteemed  so 
highly.  In  one  form  or  other  you  will  hereafter  receive  more  frequent  com 
munications  from  me,  for  I  have  already  made  a  regulation  by  which  a  semi 
monthly  communication  will  be  kept  up  from  the  Department  with  our 
principal  ministers  abroad.  This  is  not  only  due  to  their  character,  but 
necessary  to  keep  them  informed  of  our  principal  domestic  and  foreign 
relations.  This  regulation  will  be  independent  of  such  special  communications 
as  the  particular  state  of  the  missions  respectively  may  [render]  necessary. 

You  have  no  friend  in  this  country  who  participated  more  sincerely  than  I 
in  the  success  of  your  negotiation,  and  if  the  President  needed  anything  to 
strengthen  his  friendship  for  you,  or  his  confidence  in  your  zeal  and  ability, 
your  labors  on  that  occasion  would  have  afforded  it.  He  has  probably  told 
you  so  himself,  as  I  understood  from  him  that  he  intended  to  write  you. 

The  President  is  on  a  tour  through  the  northern  and  eastern 

cities.  He  will  go  to  Portland  and  thence  up  the  lakes,  through  New  York 
to  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  and  expects  to  return  here  about  the  middle  of 
July.  I  accompanied  him  as  far  as  New  York,  and  thence  returned  to  my 
post.  His  health  and  spirits,  notwithstanding  the  great  fatigue  to  which  he 
was  perpetually  exposed,  had  considerably  improved,  and  I  now  have  great 
hopes  that  he  will  derive  advantage  from  his  journey.  His  journey  to  New 
York  was  quite  a  triumphal  procession,  and  his  reception  everywhere 
indescribably  gratifying  and  imposing.  The  enthusiasm  and  cordial  out 
pouring  of  the  kindest  feelings  of  the  heart,  with  which  he  was  everywhere 
greeted,  could  not  be  exceeded,  and  the  committees  from  the  East,  who  met 
him  in  New  York,  assured  us  that  a  similar  reception  awaited  his  further 
progress.  In  Boston,  both  parties  were  emulating  each  other's  exertions,  and 
Webster,  it  was  understood,  had  cut  short  his  tour  in  the  West,  in  order  to 
receive  him. 

This  would  be  a  sharp  alliance,  and  yet  it  is  altogether  probable.  On  the 
part  of  Webster's  friends,  it  is  ardently  desired  and  incessantly  urged ;  on  his 
own  part  he  affects  to  consider  the  President's  hostility  to  the  bank  as  the 
only  barrier.  But  I  consider  this  only  the  last  qualm  of  a  frail  lady,  who 
notwithstanding,  finally  falls  into  the  arms  of  the  seducer.  In  the  Senate, 
Webster's  accession  may  be  important,  in  the  country  its  effect  will  be  at 
least  doubtful ;  especially  with  the  democracy  of  New  England.  If,  however, 
the  President  can  identify  the  power  of  his  name  and  character  and  hold 
upon  the  affections  of  the  people  with  any  individual,  all  opposition,  however 

*  Louis  McLane,  of  Delaware,  became  Secretary  of  State  in  May,  1833.  He  was  suc 
ceeded  by  John  Forsyth,  of  Georgia,  in  June,  1834. 


192  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

combined,  must  be  hopeless.  It  is  evident  to  me  that  no  man  ever  lived, 
who  exerted  the  same  influence  over  the  great  body  of  the  people  as  General 
Jackson ;  and  if  he  devote  the  remainder  of  his  term  to  tranquilize  the  public 
mind,  he  will  go  into  retirement  with  greater  fame  than  any  other  man  in  our 
history.  The  bank  is  the  only  disturbing  question,  and  that  he  might  over 
throw,  after  all  its  iniquities,  without  a  jar,  unless  by  premature  changing  the 
[deposits],  he  should  seriously  derange  the  business  and  currency  of  the 
country.  He  is  strongly  disposed  to  take  that  step,  both  from  his  own 
hostility  to  the  institution,  and  from  the  importunate  [advice]  of  many  of  his 
friends.  It  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  injudicious  and  prejudicial  to  the  com 
munity  ;  but  the  probability  is  it  will  be  done  either  before  or  immediately 
after  the  commencement  of  the  next  session  of  Congress. 

The  affairs  in  the  South  are  once  more  tranquil,  and  nullification  may  be 
said  to  be  extinct.  There  are  men  in  that  quarter,  however,  who  seriously 
meditate  further  difficulties,  and  there  is  just  reason  to  apprehend  that  these 
will  not  be  satisfied  short  of  a  Southern  convention,  leading  to  a  Southern 
confederacy. 

The  elements  of  popular  excitement  only  are  wanting  to  make  their 
purpose  discernible  to  all,  and  the  grave  question  has  been  revived  for  this 
purpose.  So  far  it  has  not  been  successful,  though  it  is  evidently  making 
some  impression  in  one  or  two  of  the  States  south  of  the  Potomac,  and  you 
know  better  than  I  can  tell  you,  that  the  spirit  of  revolution  is  progressive, 
though  it  may  be  slow. 

On  all  other  points,  our  affairs  at  home  are  prosperous,  and  the  prospect 
gratifying;  and  the  new  lines  of  party  will  not  be  very  distinctly  defined 
until  toward  the  close  of  the  next  session  of  Congress. 

I  saw,  while  in  Philadelphia  with  the  President,  many  of  your  friends, 
who  affectionately  inquired  after  you,  and  you  may  be  satisfied  that  your 
absence  from  the  country  has  not  served  to  weaken  their  attachment. 

Now,  my  dear  sir,  I  have  taken  up  already  too  much  of  your  time  with 
this  uninteresting  letter,  and  I  will  therefore  relieve  you  from  a  greater  part 
of  it.  I  will  only  add  the  wish  of  Mrs.  McL to  be  brought  to  your  re 
membrance,  and  the  assurance  of  the  continued  respect  and  regard  with 
which  I  am  unaffectedly  your  friend  and  servant, 

t     LOUIS   McLANE. 

The  principal  object  of  the  mission  being  accomplished,  Mr. 
Buchanan  began  his  journey  to  Moscow  early  in  June,  and  was 
absent  from  St.  Petersburg  about  a  month.  In  making  selec 
tions  from  his  journals  and  letters  relating  to  this  tour,  as  well 
as  those  which  he  kept  on  his  travels  homeward  after  he  finally 
left  Kussia,  I  shall  omit  descriptions  of  places  and  countries 
that  are  now  familiar  to  multitudes  of  Americans,  and  shall 
quote  only  those  which  are  of  interest  because  they  give 


JOURNEY    TO    MOSCOW.    f/TT  J  r  | 'g$  !  T  Y 

accounts  of  persons  or  things  as  they  impressed  him  at  the  •  - 
time,  and  which  are  out  of  the  beaten  path  of  guide  books  as 
they  then  were  or  have  since  become,  or  which  relate  to  the 
public  affairs  of  that  period. 

Tuesday  at  8  P.  M.}  June  4,  1833. 

Left  Sfc.  Petersburg  and  arrived  at  Novogorod  about  12  midi  on  Wednes 
day.  Visited  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  said  to  be  founded  by  Wladimir  in 
1040.  His  tomb,  at  which  they  say  miracles  are  wrought,  is  in  it.  The 
paintings  are  numerous  and  barbarous.  The  interior  has  a  rude  magnificence. 
Went  into  the  sanctum  sanctorum,  where  women  are  never  admitted.  There 
they  consecrate  the  Eucharist  in  the  Greek  Church,  out  of  the  view  of  the 
people;  unlike  the  Latin  in  this  respect.  The  priest  afterwards  carries  it  out 
on  his  head,  to  be  adored  by  the  people. 

The  sides  of  the  western  door  are  lined  with  bronze,  from  which  jutted 
out  in  bronze  a  number  of  strange  and  barbarous  figures  not  unlike  those  of 
Mexico.  They  must  have  been  Christian  and  even  Russian  in  their  origin,  as 
one  of  them  represented  an  Archimandrite  in  full  dress.  The  inscriptions 
were  Sclavonian.  Our  guide  said  they  were  conquered  from  the  Swedes  by 
St.  Wladimir.  The  church  is  west  of  the  river.  It  and  several  other 
buildings  are  surrounded  by  a  brick  wall,  with  turrets,  etc.,  etc.,  about  twenty- 
five  feet  high  and  eighteen  thick  and  nearly  a  mile  in  circumference,  a  ditch 
beneath. 

There  are  also  the  remains  of  another  rampart  and  ditch,  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  former.  The  church  of  St.  Sophia  is  surrounded  by  a  dome 
and  four  cupolas  of  the  character  peculiar  to  Russia. 

The  former  is  gilt  and  the  others  plated  with  silver,  so  they  say.  The  cele 
brated  monastery  of  St.  Anthony  we  did  not  visit.  There  is  scarcely  any 
appearance  of  ancient  ruins  to  indicate  the  former  greatness  of  Novogorod. 
This  arises  from  the  nature  of  the  materials  of  which  it  was  built. 

On  Wednesday  night  we  stayed  at  Zaitsova,  an  excellent  inn. 

The  public  houses  are  generally  bad,  beyond  what  an  American  can  have 
any  idea  of;  nevertheless,  a  few  on  this  road  were  good.  This  inn  is  main 
tained  in  a  degree  by  the  emperor. 

The  peasants  are  jolly,  good-natured  fellows,  who  drive  furiously  and 
seem  happy.  They  are  all  rogues,  nevertheless.  In  appearance  and  conduct 
they  are  very  unlike  those  of  Petersburg. 

Saturday,  June  8. 

We  arrived  in  Moscow  at  10  o'clock  A.  M.  The  road  is  the  best  over 
which  I  have  ever  travelled.  It  is  macadamized  in  the  most  perfect  manner, 
and  the  traveller  pays  no  toll.  About  175  versts,  or  five  posts,  are  yet  unfin 
ished  between  Chotilova  and  Tiver.  This  fraction  is  the  old  road  and  partly 
composed  of  sand,  partly  of  the  trunks  of  trees  laid  across,  and  partly  of 
large  stones,  and  in  some  places  it  is  very  bad.  The  posting  is  eight  cents 
I— 13 


194  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

per  verst  for  four  horses  and  ten  cents  for  the  post  adjoining  St.  Petersburg 
and  Moscow. 

The  horses,  though  mean  in  their  appearance,  travel  with  great  speed. 
They  uniformly  place  the  four  abreast  when  travelling  by  post  in  Kussia.  The 
post-boys  always  cross  themselves  devoutly  before  ascending  their  seats; 
though  they,  in  common  with  all  the  other  Russian  mousiques  whom  I  have 
ever  met,  will  cheat  you  if  they  can. 

At  every  post  station  we  found  a  number  of  these — with  their  long 
beards  and  their  tanned  sheepskins — ready  to  grease  the  carriage  or  perform 
any  other  menial  service.  At  night  they  lie  down  on  the  road  and  around 
the  post-houses,  and  sleep  on  the  ground.  Indeed  Russians  of  the  highest 
class  appear  to  know  little  of  the  comforts  of  a  good  bed. 

The  country  presents  a  forlorn  aspect  for  150  versts  from  St.  Petersburg. 
It  is  both  poor  and  flat,  and  the  villages  have  a  wretched  appearance.  They 
all  consist  of  log  huts  with  their  gables  towards  the  street.  As  you  approach 
Waldi,  the  country  becomes  somewhat  better  and  more  undulating,  and  more 
attention  seems  to  have  been  paid  to  its  cultivation.  It  afterwards  resumes 
its  level  appearance  as  you  advance  to  Moscow,  but  still  it  is  much  better  in 
every  respect  than  near  St.  Petersburg.  With  a  single  exception  we  did  not 
observe  a  nobleman's  seat  along  the  whole  route,  and  this  one  had  a  mean 
appearance.  Nothing  affords  variety  to  the  dull  and  monotonous  scenery 
except  the  churches,  which  present  the  only  interesting  objects  in  the  land 
scape. 

Tiver  is  the  principal  town  of  the  government  of  that  name.  It  was  finally 
conquered  in  1483.  The  city  is  handsome  and  has  the  appearance  of  pros 
perity.  It  is  situated  on  both  sides  of  the  Volga.  When  I  approached  this 
river,  I  could  not  resist  the  feeling  of  how  strange  it  was  that  I  should  be  on 
its  banks. 

Sunday  afternoon,  9th. 

We  went  to  the  promenade,  at  three  versts  from  the  city,  on  the  Petersburg 
road. 

Monday  morning,  10th. 

We  visited  Madame  S and  had  some  conversation  with  her  which 

would  have  been  agreeable  but  for  the  constant  interruption  of  a  parrot 
which  screeched  as  if  it  had  been  hired  for  the  occasion.  She  had  accom 
panied  Mr.  Wells  of  Philadelphia  last  year  to  the  monastery  of  the  Trinity. 
Her  son  is  to  go  with  us  to  the  Kremlin  to-morrow. 

The  appearance  of  Moscow  must  have  greatly  improved  since  its  confla 
gration  in  1812.  It  has  lost,  however,  in  a  great  degree,  that  romantic  and 
Asiatic  appearance  which  it  formerly  presented.  The  cumbrous  and  rude 
magnificence  of  palaces  irregularly  scattered  among  Tartar  huts,  has  given 
place  to  airy  and  regular  streets  in  all  directions.  It  appears  to  be  in  a  pros 
perous  condition.  That  which  chiefly  distinguishes  it  from  other  cities  is  the 
immense  number  of  churches.  Their  cupolas,  of  all  colors  and  of  all  forms, 
rising  above  the  summits  of  the  houses  and  glittering  in  the  sun,  are  very 


JOURNEY   TO    MOSCOW.  195 

striking  and  imposing  objects.  In  this  respect  no  city  in  the  world,  except 
Constantinople,  can  be  compared  with  it.  In  the  evening  we  visited  the 
Russian  Theatre.  Both  the  infernal  regions  and  the  Elysian  fields  were  well 
represented  on  the  stage. 

Tuesday. 
It  rained  all  day.     Dined  with  Madame  Novaselsoff.     She  is  one  of  the 

three  daughters  of Orloff,  the  youngest  brother  of  the  three  who  left 

no  son — immensely  rich — had  one  son,  an  only  child,  who  was  killed  in  a 
duel  some  nine  years  ago.  Aide-de-camp  of  Emperor — Ischermoff  was  his 
antagonist.  Both  fell.  His  mother  lives  upon  his  memory.  She  says  she  is 
now  building  two  churches,  one  on  the  spot  where  he  expired  and  the  other 
on  her  estate — a  monument.  She  has  established  schools,  one  on  the  Lan- 
casterian  plan,  among  her  peasants.  I  told  her  she  ought  to  live  for  her  peasants 
and  consider  them  her  children.  Her  example  also  might  produce  great 
effect.  She  said  she  had  no  object  to  live  for,  and  when  it  was  the  will  of 
God,  she  would  go  cheerfully ;  that  her  affections  were  fixed  on  another 
world.  She  had  a  full  length  likeness  of  her  son  in  her  parlor,  and  different 
other  portraits  of  him  scattered  about ;  his  drawings,  etc.,  etc. 

Wednesday  morning. 

We  visited  the  Foundling  Hospital,  or  the  Imperial  House  of  Education,  as  it 
is  called.  We  had  a  letter  for  Dr.  Alfonskoi,  the  chief  medical  officer  at 
tached  to  the  institution,  and  he,  together  with  Baron  Stackelberg,  the  super 
intendent,  conducted  us  through  the  apartments.  This  hospital  is  the  glory 
of  Moscow  and  is  the  most  extensive  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the 
world.  It  is  perfectly  well  conducted  in  all  its  departments. 

The  object  of  the  institution  is  twofold.  The  first  is  limited  to  the  preser 
vation  of  the  lives  of  the  foundlings  and  rearing  them  as  peasants  of  the 
crown,  and  the  second  extends  to  their  education  and  their  freedom.  The 
number  of  infants  of  the  first  description  amounted  to  6500  the  last  year. 
Each  of  these  requires  a  separate  nurse,  and  from  the  peculiar  state  of  society 
in  Russia,  these  are  provided  without  the  least  difficulty.  The  peasant  women 
throughout  the  province  of  Moscow  (and  others  are  excluded)  come  daily  in 
considerable  numbers  to  offer  their  services  as  nurses.  Each  one  receives  a 
foundling  and  after  remaining  with  it  a  few  weeks  in  the  hospital,  she  and  the 
child  are  sent  to  the  village  to  which  she  belongs.  For  the  maintenance  of 
this  child,  until  it  attains  the  age  of  twelve  years,  she  receives  five  roubles  per 
month,  or  sixty  per  annum.  Three  thousand  foundlings  had  been  received 
during  the  present  year.  The  boys  and  girls  thus  raised  are  sent  upon 
the  lands  of  the  crown  and  become  peasants.  The  former  are  not  ex 
empted  from  serving  in  the  army. 

It  was  quite  a  novel  spectacle  for  me  to  pass  through  the  long  ranges  of 
women,  with  infants  in  their  arms,  or  in  the  cradle.  Everything  was  clean 
and  in  good  order ;  though  the  women  were  anything  but  good-looking. 

I  believe  most  of  the  children  received  are  legitimate,  of  poor  parents.     It 


196  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

is  called  the  Imperial  House  of  Education,  not  a  foundling  hospital,  and  the 
former  name  is  more  applicable  to  it  than  the  latter. 

They  borrow  at  4  and  lend  at  5 ;  not  5  and  6,  as  the  Guide  says. 

Baron  Stackelberg  told  Mr.  G.  that  the  institution  had  7,000,000  roubles 
clear  after  all  expenses  at  the  end  of  each  year — sed  quere. 

The  second  class  are  very  different  from  the  first.  They  consist  of  those 
foundlings  for  whom  150  roubles  are  advanced  at  the  time  they  enter  the  es 
tablishment.  But  as  the  institution  can  accommodate  a  greater  number  than 
are  sent  to  it  upon  these  terms,  the  deficiency  is  supplied  by  selections  made 
sometimes  from  children  of  the  first  class,  but  most  generally  from  those  of 
poor  parents  of  Moscow.  These  all  continue  in  the  institution  until  they 
receive  their  education.  They  are  free  when  they  depart  from  it  and  are  not 
liable  to  be  drafted  as  soldiers.  A  sufficiently  accurate  account  of  these  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Guide.  There  are  at  present  550  boys  and  as  many  girls  of 
this  description. 

We  dined  with  Dr.  Alfonskoi.  His  wife  is  a  communicative,  agreeable 
woman  who  expresses  her  opinion  freely  upon  all  subjects.  Whilst  at  table  I 
received  the  impression  from  her  conversation  that  she  took  me  for  an  Eng 
lishman,  notwithstanding  I  had  been  introduced  to  her  as  the  American  min 
ister.  I  did  not  consider  this  remarkable,  from  the  ignorance  which  prevails 
throughout  this  country  concerning  the  United  States.  On  the  evening  of 
this  day  I  had  a  still  more  decided  example.  Mr.  G.  and  myself  went  to  pay 
a  visit  to  "  The  Prince  Ouroussoff,  master  of  the  court  of  his  I.  M.,  and 
senator."  Whilst  I  was  conversing  with  the  daughter,  the  princess  asked 
Mr.  G.  if  the  United  States  still  belonged  to  England.  He  replied  that  they 
were  independent  and  constituted  a  separate  government.  She  said  this 
must  have  been  since  1812,  and  when  he  informed  her  that  their  indepen 
dence  had  been  recognized  by  England  since  1783,  she  was  much  astonished. 
Among  other  things  she  wished  to  know  whether  they  spoke  the  English 
language  in  America. 

We  visited  the  Souchareva  Bashnia.  This  is  a  lofty  and  extensive  building 
on  an  elevated  position,  in  the  second  story  of  which  is  the  reservoir  to  sup 
ply  the  city  with  water.  This  is  brought  eighteen  versts.  The  top  of  the 
edifice  affords  a  fine  view  of  the  city. 

All  the  buildings  of  this  establishment  escaped  the  conflagration  of  1812. 
They  contain  at  present  a  population  of  more  than  5,000.  and  have  a  distinct 
police. 

Thursday  Horning. 

Before  breakfast  I  visited  the  mineral-water  establishment.  It  is  situated 
near  the  Moscow,  ab.out  four  versts  above  the  Kremlin.  There  you  find 
waters  of  twenty-four  different  kinds  prepared  in  imitation  of  those  which  are 
most  celebrated  throughout  Europe.  I  took  a  glass  of  Carlsbad,  the  taste  of 
which  reminded  me  of  that  of  Saratoga.  Indeed  the  whole  scene  resembled 
that  exhibited  there.  There  were  a  great  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 


SIGHT    SEEING    IN    MOSCOW.  197 

walking  in  the  promenades,  drinking  and  talking ;  but  the  ladies  of  Saratoga 
•were  not  there.  The  water  is  drawn  by  cocks  from  different  vessels  prepared 
for  containing  it,  and  placed  contiguous  to  each  other  in  a  row. 

This  establishment  has  been  recently  made  by  a  joint  stock  company.  The 
emperor  has  subscribed  a  number  of  shares.  In  St.  Petersburg  they  are  about 
to  get  up  a  similar  establishment.  There  were  to  be  six  hundred  shares  at 
five  hundred  roubles  each;  but  three  times  that  amount  was  subscribed  at 
once.  Dr.  Myer,  whom  I  met  there  to-day,  is  now  here  as  agent  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  gain  information,  and  observe  the  operation  of  the  establishment 
at  Moscow. 

We  ascended  the  belfry  of  Ivan  Velikoi  (Jean  le  Grand).  It  receives  its 
name  from  the  Church  of  St.  John,  which  it  surmounts.  From  there  we  had 
another  fine  view  of  the  city.  There  are  thirty-one  bells  in  the  belfry.  All 
in  the  Kremlin  are  collected  in  it. — Vide  the  Guide. 

From  thence  we  proceeded  to  the  treasury  of  the  Kremlin  and  examined 
its  contents.  It  is  fully  described  in  the  Guide,  with  the  exception  of  some 
things  which  have  been  added  since  its  publication. 

These  are  chiefly  the  trophies  of  the  conquest  of  poor  unhappy  Poland. 
They  are  the  two  thrones — the  sceptre,  the  globe,  and  the  sword  of  the 
emperor  of  Russia  as  king  of  Poland,  which  have  been  brought  from 
Warsaw. 

The  portraits  of  all  the  kings  of  Poland  are  now  hung  up  in  their  order  in 
this  Russian  arsenal  where  the  treasure  is  kept.  We  saw  there  also  the  flags 
which  had  been  presented  to  the  Polish  army  by  the  Emperor  Alexander, 
and  also  the  original  constitution  of  Poland  on  the  floor  at  his  feet.  It  was 
placed  there  by  the  express  command  of  his  present  majesty. 

The  glorious  standard  of  Poland  which  waved  triumphantly  over  many  a 
well  fought  field,  but  which  the  most  exalted  courage  and  self-devotion 
could  no  longer  maintain  against  brutal  and  barbarian  force,  is  there  ex 
hibited.  The  white  eagle  has  been  obliged  to  cower  beneath  the  double- 
headed  monster  of  Russia.  May  it  again  soar !  though  to  all  human  appear 
ance  it  has  sunk  forever. 

The  head  of  John  Sobieski  is  one  of  the  most  noble  and  commanding  I 
have  ever  beheld.  The  famous  standard  which  he  took  from  the  Turks  at 
Vienna  when  Poland  saved  Europe  from  the  sway  of  the  Infidel,  is  now  in 
the  same  hall  with  the  portrait  of  the  hero  and  the  king  who  commanded 
her  army  on  that  celebrated  day.  We  afterwards  visited  the  ancient  and  the 
modern  palaces.  The  contrast  between  the  two  exhibits  the  change  be 
tween  ancient  and  modern  times  in  striking  colors.  In  one  of  the  rooms  of 
the  latter,  among  other  ancient  portraits,  we  saw  one  of  the  Princess  Sophia. 
She  was  an  extraordinary  woman,  and  must  have  had  a  very  fine  face.  I 
have  an  interest  in  this  woman,  and  am  willing  to  disbelieve  the  crime  which 
Peter  the  Great  attributed  to  her,  of  an  intention  to  assassinate  him.  How 
must  her  proud  and  ambitious  spirit  have  been  chafed  by  being  confined  to 
a  monastery  after  having  reigned  with  so  much  distinction.  Accompanied 


198  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

by  Mr.  Thai,  we  rode  out  of  the  Barrier  de  Drogomirov,  two  or  three  versts 
on  the  road  to  Smolensko,  to  the  summit  of  the  last  of  three  hills  which  rise 
gradually  above  each  other,  from  whence  we  had  a  fine  view  of  the  city.  It 
was  from  this  quarter  that  the  French  entered.  Bonaparte  slept  the  first 
night  at  Petrovski,  a  place  near  the  St.  Petersburg  road,  about  three  versts 
from  the  city. 

Friday  Morning,  June  2-14£A. 

I  went  with  Mr.  Gretsch,  the  editor  of  the  Bee  at  St.  Petersburg,  to  see 
the  famous  monastery  of  Novo  Devitcher  where  we  saw  the  tomb  of  the 
Princess  Sophia,  who  took  the  veil  under  the  name  of  Suzanna,  and  was 
buried  in  1704.  For  the  rest,  see  the  Guide,  183,  184.  Mr.  G.  and  myself 
visited  and  went  through  the  mosque.  In  this  country,  all  churches  must  be 
open.  Unfortunately  we  arrived  a  little  too  late  for  the  service. 

John  the  Third,  in  1473,  married  the  Princess  Sophia,  the  daughter  of 
Thomas  Paleologus  Porphyrogenetus,  who  was  the  brother  of  Constantine 
Paleologus,  who  died  in  1453,  whilst  seeing  his  capital  fall  under  the  domin 
ion  of  the  Turks.  By  his  union  with  the  last  descendant  of  the  Paleologus, 
John  the  Third  considered  himself  as  the  heir  of  their  crown,  and  after  his 
marriage  he  substituted  the  eagle  with  two  heads  for  the  cavalier  which  was 
then  the  arms  of  the  grand  principality,  and  it  was  then  that  he  took  the  title 
of  Tsar. 

Saturday. 

This  Mr.  Gretsch  is  the  editor  of  the  Northern  Bee  of  St.  Petersburg,  the 
principal  Russian  journal.  He  is  also  on  a  visit  here  for  the  first  time.  He 
came  up  to  me  the  other  day  at  the  Treasury  and  introduced  himself,  since 
when  he  has  been  uncommonly  kind.  He  appears  to  be,  for  I  know  not 
what  he  is,  a  frank,  open-hearted,  talkative,  well-informed  person,  but  some 
thing  of  a  bore.  He  laughingly  styled  the  sultan  this  morning  '-our  Governor 
General  of  Turkey."  I  am  persuaded  this  is  now  the  feeling  in  Russia.  They 
believe  themselves  to  be  already  the  virtual  masters  of  Constantinople. 

Mr.  G.  and  myself  afterwards  went  to  the  Mountain  of  Sparrows.  It  is 
on  the  southwest  of  the  city  opposite  or  nearly  so  the  monastery  of  Novo 
Devitcher.  From  thence  you  have  the  best  view  of  Moscow,  and  it  is  truly 
a  beautiful  and  magnificent  spectacle.  It  was  here  that^they  commenced  the 
foundation  of  the  cathedral  of  St.  Sauveur,  in  consequence  of  a  vow  of  the 
Emperor  Alexander  during  the  French  war ;  but  it  has  been  discontinued, 
and  will  be  erected  in  another  part  of  the  city.  The  place  was  found  to  be 
too  extensive  and  too  expensive,  though  the  vow  was  to  build  the  greatest 
and  most  magnificent  church  in  Russia. 

"We  next  visited  the  garden  of  Nieschouchin,  from  whence  also  we  had 
another  fine  view  of  the  city.  We  there  saw  a  theatre  sub  Jove. 

The  opinion  of  Dr.  Alfonskoi  on  the  cholera  is  that  it  arises  in  all  cases 
from  a  defect  of  heat  in  the  system,  and  his  universal  remedy,  after  he  came 
to  understand  the  disease,  was  the  hot,  very  hot  bath.  He  is  fully  con- 


VISITING  THE  ALEXANDER  INSTITUTION.  199 

vinced  it  was  not  contagious.  It  seized  on  those  whose  digestive  powers  had 
been  enfeebled  by  drunkenness  or  high  living.  I  told  him  of  Dr.  Stevens' 
saline  treatment,  and  he  said,  from  the  development  of  heat,  [which]  the  salt 
produced  in  the  system,  it  might  have  been  a  good  remedy.  The  cholera, 
Dr.  A.  thinks,  came  from  the  earth,  is  connected  with  gravity.  The  grip  is  its 
opposite  and  is  connected  with  electricity.  This  last  the  best  evidence  that 
the  cholera  has  finally  disappeared.  The  stomach  the  root,  as  of  a  tree,  etc. 

Sunday,  16th  June. 

I  went  to  the  English  chapel,  and  heard  an  excellent,  animated,  evangelical 
discourse,  from  the  Rev.  Matthew  Camidge,  the  pastor.  His  text  was  2  Peter 
3d  chapter,  from to .  It  was  on  the  subject  of  the  long  suffer 
ing  of  God  with  sinners,  and  the  repentance  to  which  this  should  naturally 
lead,  etc.,  etc.  The  judgment-day  will  come  by  surprise  as  many  temporal 
judgments  do  after  long  suffering. 

There  is  to  be  a  theatrical  entertainment  this  evening  in  the  open  air,  at 
the  garden  of  Nieschouchin,  and  afterwards  a  party  at  Madame  Paschkoff  's. 
My  old  Presbyterian  notions  will  prevent  me  from  attending  either.  After 
church  I  paid  some  visits  to  the  Skariatines,  etc. 

The  English  chapel  was  consumed  in  the  conflagration  of  1812,  and  has 
been  rebuilt  but  a  few  years  since.  It  contains  no  organ.  They  sing  well. 
The  pastor  receives  about  £200,  the  half  of  which  comes  from  England.  I 
was  struck  with  the  solemnity  of  this  little  congregation  in  a  strange  land. 
May  God  be  with  them !  It  was  the  most  impressive  sermon  I  have  heard 
since  I  left  America. 

Monday ,  5-17 tli  June. 

We  visited,  in  company  with  Mr.  Gretsch,  and  particularly  examined  the 
interior  of  the  cathedrals  of  the  Annunciation,  of  the  Assumption,  and  of  St. 
Michael  the  Archangel.  They  are  sufficiently  described  in  the  Guide.  We 
also  visited  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Patriarchs,  and  saw  everything  that  was 
contained  therein.  The  apartments  of  his  holiness  were  very  small  and 
simple,  though  the  state  rooms  must  have  been  considered  magnificent  in 
Russia  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  We  there  saw  the  apparatus  for  making 
the  holy  oil,  which  is  distributed  throughout  Russia.  It  is  only  prepared  once 
in  three  years.  How  wise  it  was  in  Peter  the  Great  to  abolish  the  Pa 
triarchate  !  Few  men  would  have  had  the  courage  to  make  the  attempt. 
From  the  ignorance  of  the  Russians  and  their  proneness  to  superstition,  he 
must  have  continued  to  be  as  he  formerly  was,  the  rival  of  the  czars 
themselves. 

From  thence  we  went  to  the  Alexander  Institution,  so  called  after  his 
majesty.  Whilst  the  cholera  raged  in  Moscow,  many  of  the  children  of  poor 
noble  families  were  deprived  of  their  parents,  and  thus  became  destitute 
orphans.  To  relieve  their  wants  and  furnish  them  with  an  education,  this 
institution  was  first  established  by  the  present  emperor.  Being  pleased  with 


200  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

its  operation,  he  has  made  it  permanent.  The  orphan  children  of  poor  nobles 
from  any  part  of  the  empire  are  now  received  there,  and  all  their  expenses 
defrayed.  The  emperor  purchased  for  the  purposes  of  this  institution  the 
house  and  grounds  of  a  nobleman,  Count  Rasoumoffsky,  for  which  he  gave 
1,200,000  roubles  B.  A. 

The  extent  of  these  private  establishments  of  the  .Russian  nobility  may  be 
judged  of,  from  the  circumstances  that  this  house  and  the  adjacent  buildings 
appertaining  to  it  now,  accommodate  250  boys  and  as  many  girls,  with  all 
the  necessary  professors  and  domestics. 

Heoe  the  former  are  taught  the  Russian,  French,  German  and  Latin  lan 
guages  ;  geometry,  geography,  drawing,  dancing,  etc.,  etc.,  and  the  latter  are 
instructed  in  all  these  branches,  except  Latin  and  geometry,  and  in  the  other 
accomplishments  which  more  particularly  belong  to  females.  There  are  three 
classes  of  each. 

We  heard  the  first  class  of  the  young  ladies  examined  in  French  and 
geography,  and  then  specimens  of  their  drawing,  embroidery  and  other 
needle-work  were  exhibited  to  us.  They  acquitted  themselves  very  credit 
ably.  They  also  played  for  us  on  the  piano.  As  a  compliment  to  myself, 
they  were  examined  on  the  geography  of  the  United  States.  What 
struck  me  with  great  force,  was  that  the  little  girls  in  the  second  and  third 
classes  recited  pieces  from  the  French  and  German,  as  well  as  the  Russian, 
with  apparent  facility,  and  so  far  as  I  could  judge,  with  a  perfect  accent. 

They  certainly  have  the  most  wonderful  talent  for  acquiring  languages  of 
any  people  in  the  world. 

We  afterwards  went  through  the  apartments  of  the  boys  and  heard  them 
examined.  One  of  the  boys  was  asked  who  was  the  greatest  man  that 
America  had  produced,  and  he  promptly  answered  Washington.  The  thrill 
of  delight  which  I  experienced  at  the  moment,  I  shall  not  undertake  to 
describe.  He  hesitated  in  his  answer  to  the  second  question,  who  was  the 
next,  as  probably  many  Americans  would  ;  and  was  then  asked  who  was  the 
celebrated  ambassador  of  the  United  States  at  Paris,  to  which  he  replied 
Franklin.  He  first  said  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  but  corrected  himself  im 
mediately. 

The  most  imposing  spectacle  I  witnessed  here  was  all  the  girls  collected  at 
dinner.  They  were  all  dressed  alike,  in  green  frocks  and  *yhite  aprons,  which 
came  over  their  arms.  When  we  entered,  they  were  all  ranged  at  their 
different  places  and  were  standing  up.  Those  who  were  distinguished,  were 
placed  at  two  small  tables  in  the  centre.  Previous  to  taking  their  seats,  they 
sang  a  hymn  in  Russian  as  a  blessing.  Their  performance  was  excellent.  ' 
Here  the  goodness  and  piety  of  the  female  heart  shone  out  in  a  striking 
manner.  The  little  girls  exhibited  the  warmest  and  most  lively  devotion,  and 
frequently  crossed  themselves  with  all  that  sincerity  and  ardor  of  manner 
which  can  never  be  counterfeited  at  their  age.  The  dinner  was  very  good. 
One  circumstance  is  worthy  of  remark.  Mr.  Gretsch  made  a  little  address 
in  Russian  to  one  of  the  female  classes,  which  Mr.  Guerreiro  understood. 


BENEVOLENT  INSTITUTIONS  OF  MOSCOW.  201 

He  informed  them  that  I  was  the  minister  of  the  United  States,  a  great  and 
powerful  republic.  That  the  people  there  were  well  educated  and  well 
informed ;  but  that  every  person  had  to  labor.  That  their  Government  was 
a  good  one  ;  but  no  paternal  emperor  existed  there,  who  would  become  the 
father  of  orphans  and  educate  them  at  his  own  expense.  He  concluded  by 
impressing  upon  their  minds  how  grateful  they  ought  to  be  to  the  emperor, 
and  how  much  a  monarchical  government  ought,  on  this  account,  to  be  pre 
ferred  to  a  republic. 

The  emperor  is  very  fond  of  this  institution,  of  which  he  is  the  founder. 
Indeed,  in  different  forms  and  in  different  manners  nearly  all  the  children  of 
the  Eussian  nobility  of  both  sexes  are  educated  in  imperial  institutions,  and  in 
some  degree  at  the  expense  of  the  government.  We  visited  the  garden 
where  there  was  a  considerable  number  of  very  little  boys  and  girls  too 
young  for  any  of  the  classes.  It  is  the  emperor's  delight,  they  say,  to  go 
among  them  and  play  with  them,  to  lie  down  upon  the  ground  and  let  them 
cover  him,  and  to  toss  them  about  in  all  directions.  From  all  I  have  heard,  a 
great  fondness  for  children  is  one  of  the  traits  of  the  emperor's  character. 
He  is  quick  and  warm  in  his  feelings,  and  at  the  moment  of  irritation  would 
be  severe ;  but  his  passion  soon  subsides,  and  the  empress  receives  great 
credit  for  correcting  this  fault  in  his  temper.  I  am  more  and  more  convinced 
every  day  that  he  could  have  pursued  no  other  course  with  safety  towards 
the  Poles  than  that  which  he  did.  The  bitterness  against  them  is  extreme, 
and  there  is  scarcely  a  monument  of  antiquities  in  the  Kremlin  which  does 
not  relate  to  battles  lost  and  won  between  the  two  nations.  Their  mutual 
enmity  is  truly  hereditary.  The  emperor  advances  two  hundred  thousand 
roubles  per  annum  to  this  institution,  and  has  lately  given  it  a  million  of  roubles, 
which  is  to  accumulate  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  capital  for  its  support. 
The  foundation  of  a  new  and  extensive  building  has  already  been  laid  for  the 
better  accommodation  of  the  pupils. 

The  chamberlain,  Tchenchine,  is  the  principal  director,  and  Mr.  Davydoff 
the  chief  professor,  with  both  of  whom  I  was  much  pleased,  as  well  as  with 
Madame  Tchenchine,  the  wife  of  the  former. 

From  thence,  accompanied  by  Messrs.  Tchenchine  and  Davydoff,  we  visited 
the  Armenian  institution,  founded  in  1806  by  the  Messieurs  Lazareff,  wealthy 
Armenian  noblemen,  for  the  benefit  chiefly  of  native  Armenians,  wheresoever 
they  may  be  scattered.  The  memoir  presented  to  me  by  Mr.  D.  will  suffi 
ciently  explain  the  object  of  it.  There  you  saw  in  the  form  and  in  the  face 
of  the  pupils  the  Asiatic  traits.  One  of  them,  a  native  of  Calcutta,  spoke 
English  to  me.  There  are  several  private  institutions  for  the  education  of 
youth  at  Moscow,  founded  by  private  munificence,  and  whether  ostentation 
may  have  been  the  moving  cause  or  not,  still  they  are  very  valuable  to  the 
community.  We  partook  here  of  an  elegant  dejeuner-a-fourchette.  There 
are  now  forty-five  scholars  gratis  and  twenty-five  who  pay  fifty  roubles  per 
month,  in  the  institution,  so  says  Mr.  Davydoff. 

We  dined  to-day  with   the   governor-general,   Prince   Galitzine,  and  a 


202  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

select  party.  He  is  a  dignified  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  with  great  sim 
plicity  of  manners,  and  is  revered  by  the  people  high  and  low  of  the  city  and 
province  of  Moscow.  He  speaks  English  tolerably  well,  and  we  had  much 
conversation  concerning  the  United  States.  He  commanded  the  cavalry  at 
the  battle  of  Borodino,  and  represented  it,  as  it  has  been  always  represented, 
as  a  most  murderous  battle  on  both  sides. 

We  spent  the  evening  at  Prince  Ourousoff 's.  I  had  almost  forgot  to 
mention  that  in  our  visits  to  the  cathedrals  and  the  patriarchal  palace  we  were 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Polevoy,  the  editor  of  the  Moscow  Telegraph,  at  Mos 
cow,  who  is  engaged  in  writing  a  history  of  Russia,  and  by  another  savant, 
Professor  John  Snequireff. 

The  former  gave  me  several  exemplaries  of  Russian  antiquities  as  a 
souvenir. 

Tuesday  Morning. 

Mr.  Gretsch,  Mr.  Guerreiro  and  myself  set  out  for  the  Trostza  monastery,  a 
place  famous  in  Russian  history.  It  is  sixty-two  versts  north  of  Moscow. 
We  left  by  the  barrier  of  Trostza.  We  found  the  road  covered  with  numerous 
parties  of  pilgrims  on  foot,  going  to  pay  their  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  St. 
Sierge,  the  founder.  The  women  were,  I  think,  nearly  ten  to  one  for  the 
men.  In  ancient  times  the  sovereigns  of  Russia  used  to  go  on  foot  from 
Moscow  to  worship  at  this  shrine;  the  pious  Catharine  was,  I  believe,  the 
last  who  performed  this  pilgrimage  in  this  manner. 

The  villages  and  churches  along  the  road  are  nearly  all  celebrated  in 
Russian  history.  At  about  seven  versts  from  the  principal  convent  there  is 
a  monastery  for  nuns  dependent  upon  it.  We  found  the  church  at  this 
monastery  crowded  with  pilgrims,  crossing  themselves;  many  were  on  their 
knees  before  the  pictures,  and  the  most  devout  touched  the  floor  with  their 
foreheads.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Greek  liturgy  which  sanctions  the  worship 
of  these  pictures.  Indeed,  images  are  excluded.  It  was,  however,  impossible 
to  resist  the  belief  that  these  poor  creatures  considered  them  something  more 
than  mere  pictures. 

When  we  arrived  at  Trostza  we  found  that  the  governor-general  had  sent 
an  officer  to  show  me  all  the  antiquities  and  curiosities  of  the  place ;  and  had 
not  Mr.  Guerreiro  told  them  in  my  absence  that  he  knew  it  would  be  dis 
agreeable  to  me,  I  should  have  been  received  by  a  nlilitary  guard.  I  thus 
avoided  what  to  me  would  have  been  unpleasant. 

We  were  first  presented  to  the  Reverend  Father  Antoine,  the  archiman 
drite  or  abbot  of  the  monastery.  In  my  life  I  have  never  beheld  a  more 
heavenly  expression  of  countenance.  It  spoke  that  h*e  was  at  peace  with 
heaven  and  with  his  fellow-men,  and  possessed  a  heart  overflowing  with 
Christian  benevolence  and  charity.  He  spoke  no  French  nor  English,  and 
my  conversation  with  him  was  through  Mr.  Gretsch  as  interpreter.  He  is 
very  intelligent  and  perfectly  modest  and  unassuming  in  his  manners.  In  his 
appearance  he  is  not  more  than  thirty-five.  His  long  beard  was  of  a  most 
beautiful  chestnut  color,  and  made  his  appearance  venerable  notwithstanding 


CHURCHES  OF  MOSCOW.  203 

his  comparative  youth.     I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  which  this  man 
made  upon  me. 

He  showed  us  all  the  antiquities  himself;  and  first  we  made  a  circuit  on 
the  ancient  wall.  It  is  a  mile  round  and  at  least  twenty-two  feet  thick,  and 
its  great  glory  is  that  the  Poles  have  never  been  able  to  pass  it.  This  he 
communicated  to  us  with  evident  satisfaction.  It  was  in  ancient  times  the 
strongest  fortification  in  Russia,  and  was  perfectly  impregnable  before  the  use 
of  artillery.  An  imperial  palace  formerly  existed  within  it,  not  a  trace  of 
which  now  remains. 

St.  Sierge  was  a  pious  and  patriotic  hermit  who,  in  the  reign  of  Dimitri 
Danshoy,  retired  to  this  spot,  which  was  then  a  wilderness.  Some  well 
authenticated  facts  exist  which  may  well  inspire  a  superstitious  people  with 
great  veneration  for  this  spot.  Among  others  of  a  recent  date,  when  the 
plague  raged  in  Moscow  during  the  days  of  the  Empress  Catharine,  notwith 
standing  the  gates  of  the  monastery  were  always  open  to  the  crowds  of 
pilgrims  who  then  frequented  the  shrine,  no  case  of  plague  occurred  within 
the  walls.  -  The  same  may  be  observed  in  regard  to  the  recent  cholera. 

After  the  circuit  of  the  walls,  we  passed  through  the  different  churches. 
That  where  the  reliques  of  St.  Sierge  are  deposited  was  much  crowded.  His 
shrine  is  very  rich.  The  church  was  crowded  with  pilgrims. 

The  interior  of  these  churches  resembles  the  others  we  had  seen.  The  icon- 
ostase  is  the  covering  ascending  from  the  floor  to  the  summit,  which  conceals 
from  public  view  the  place  where  the  sacrament  is  consecrated.  Upon  it  are 
uniformly  painted,  in  several  rows,  holy  pictures  of  the  Virgin  and  of  the 
saints.  In  the  ancient  churches  these  are  sufficiently  rude  and  barbarous, 
but  richly  ornamented. 

In  passing  from  one  church  to  another  we  saw  a  square  brick  wall  cov 
ered  with  boards,  but  without  any  inscription,  which  contains  the  remains  of 
Boris  Goudounoff  and  his  family.  The  bodies  of  the  father  and  the  son  were 
taken  by  the  fury  of  the  people  from  the  cathedral  of  St.  Michael,  where  they 
were  deposited  with  those  of  the  other  czars,  and  were  afterwards  brought  to 
Trostza.  They  were  formerly  within  the  walls  of  a  church ;  but,  it  needing 
repairs,  in  the  time  of  the  madman  Paul,  he  ordered  the  walls  which  ex 
tended  over  these  remains  to  be  taken  down,  and  the  limits  of  this  church  to 
be  restricted  so  as  to  leave  them  without  a  covering.  Whilst  the  good 
archimandrite  was  relating  this  circumstance,  he  was  evidently  much  af 
fected  by  the  barbarity  of  the  action.  This  was  done  because  Paul  believed 
Goudounoff  to  be  a  usurper. 

He  has  been  charged  with  the  crime  of  having  caused  the  murder  of  the 
true  Dimitri,  the  last  branch  of  the  family  of  Rurick.  But  this  is  a  most  ob 
scure  period  of  Russian  history,  and  their  great  historian,  Karamsin,  leaves 
the  question  in  doubt.  In  all  other  respects  he  was  an  excellent  sovereign, 
and  Peter  the  Great  always  spoke  of  him  in  terms  of  the  highest  respect. 

We  afterwards  visited  the  sacristy  and  there  saw  a  great  many  splendid 
sacred  robes  and  vessels.  All  the  sovereigns  in  succession  of  the  house  of 


204  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

Romanoff  have  presented  their  gifts,  with  the  exception  of  Peter  the  Great, 
and  there  are  several  prior  to  that  period.  The  specimens  of  embroidery 
wrought  by  the  Empresses  Elizabeth,  Anne  and  Catharine  the  Second  are  very 
rich  and  magnificent.  Peter  the  Great  deprived  this  monastery  of  all  its  dis 
posable  wealth  for  which  he  gave  them  receipts,  and  Catharine  took  their  lands 
and  their  peasants  from  them.  But  Peter  built  a  church  there,  at  least  so  the 
archimandrite  said,  and  pointed  it  out  to  us. 

The  greatest  curiosity  in  the  sacristy  is  the  miraculous  crystal,  or  white 
stone,  in  the  body  of  which  is  clearly  defined  and  represented  in  black  a 
monk  in  his  black  robes  kneeling  before  a  crucifix.  It  requires  no  effort  of 
the  imagination  to  present  this  spectacle  to  the  eye.  It  is  clearly  and  distinctly 
defined.  I  examined  this  stone  with  great  care,  and  certainly  but  with  little 
faith,  and  yet  I  am  under  the  impression  that  the  likeness  of  the  monk  and  the 
crucifix  are  contained  in  the  very  body  of  the  crystal  itself,  and  are  not  arti 
ficial Nature,  amid  the  infinite  variety  of  her  productions, 

has  given  birth  to  this  curious  piece  of  workmanship.  The  Father  Antoine, 
in  a  solemn  and  impressive  manner,  presented  each  of  us  with  a  consecrated 
picture  of  St.  Sierge. 

The  Father  Antoine  then  accompanied  us  to  that  portion  of  the  buildings 
destined  for  the  students  of  divinity,  of  which  there  are  100  at  Trostza,  and 
the  same  number  of  monks.  There  we  were  presented  to  the  archiman 
drites  ;  Polycarpe,  rector  of  the  ecclesiastical  academy,  a  fat  and  jolly-looking 
monk,  who  laced  his  tea  strong  with  cherry  brandy  and  took  his  wine  kindly ; 
to  Peter,  ancient  archimandrite  of  the  Russian  mission  at  Peking,  who  has  a 
long  white  beard  and  venerable  appearance,  and  read  Chinese  aloud  for  our 
amusement ;  to  Neophyte,  formerly  substitute  of  Peter  at  Peking ;  and  to 
the  monk  Tsidore,  librarian  of  the  ecclesiastical  academy.  Their  wine  and 
their  tea  were  both  excellent,  and  we  spent  an  hour  or  two  very  pleasantly 
with  them.  There  is  a  room  in  these  apartments,  the  ceiling  of  which  con 
tains  paintings  of  the  different  exploits  of  Peter  the  Great ;  a  tribute  of  his 
daughter,  the  Empress  Elizabeth.  Upon  taking  leave,  Polycarpe  presented 
me  several  treatises  in  Russ  as  a  keepsake.  Upon  taking  leave  of  Antoine,  I 
submitted  to  be  kissed  by  him  according  to  the  Russian  fashion,  first  on  the 
right  cheek,  then  on  the  left,  and  then  on  the  mouth.  This  was  my  first  reg 
ular  experiment  of  the  kind.  * 

Wednesday. 

We  dined  at  Mr.  Cavenaugh's  with  a  party  of  English.  Among  others  I 
met  Mr.  Camidge  there.  His  appearance,  manners  and  conversation  in 
private  society  did  not  answer  the  expectations  I  had  formed  of  him  from  his 

preaching. 

Thursday. 

On  the  20th  of  June  we  left  Moscow  at  eight  in  the  evening,  and  arrived 
at  St.  Petersburg  on  Monday,  the  24th,  at  2  P.  M.,  having  slept  two  nights 
on  the  road.  At  Vouischnije  Volotschok  we  saw  the  sluice  connecting  the 
Tivortza  with  the  Atsta.  It  can  only  be  used  by  vessels  going  towards  St. 
Petersburg. 


CORRESPONDENCE   WITH  FRIENDS   AT   HOME.  £05 

The  following  letter  to  one  of  his  Pennsylvania  friends  was 
written  immediately  after  his  return  to  St.  Petersburg. 

[MR.    BUCHANAN    TO    G.   LEIPER,    ESQ.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  July  3,  1833. 
MY  GOOD  FRIEND:— 

It  was  with  no  ordinary  pleasure  that.  I  received  a  letter  by  Mr.  Clay  with 
your  well-known  superscription.  You  make  a  strong  mark,  and  your  writing 
would  be  known  among  a  thousand.  I  now  have  the  joyful  anticipation  of 
being  ere  long  once  more  among  you.  A  land  reposing  under  the  calm  of 
despotism  is  not  the  country  for  me.  An  American  of  proper  feelings  who 
visits  any  portion  of  Europe,  must  thank  his  God  that  his  lot  has  been  cast 
in  the  United  States.  For  my  own  part,  I  feel  that  I  am  a  much  greater 
Republican  than  ever. 

I  hope  with  the  blessing  of  Heaven  to  be  able  to  leave  St.  Petersburg  in 
perfect  consistency  with  the  interests  of  my  country  some  time  during  the 
next  month.  I  shall  then  spend  a  few  weeks  in  seeing  other  parts  of  .Europe, 
and  embark  for  home  the  last  of  October  or  beginning  of  November. 

I  have  recently  returned  from  a  short  excursion  to  Moscow ;  the  city 
which  rolled  back  the  tide  of  victory  upon  Napoleon.  St.  Petersburg  is  a  cos 
mopolite  city  ;  but  at  Moscow  you  see  Russia.  It  is  a  most  picturesque  and 
beautiful  city.  Its  numerous  churches  surmounted  by  cupolas  of  every  form 
and  of  every  color  give  it  a  romantic  and  an  Asiatic  appearance.  Many  of 
these  are  gilt,  and  when  the  rays  of  the  sun  are  reflected  from  them,  the  eye 
is  dazzled  with  the  richness  and  splendor  of  the  spectacle.  From  Moscow  I 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Sierge,  a  distance  of  forty  miles.  Go 
ing  and  returning  I  suppose  we  saw  ten  thousand  pilgrims  upon  the  way. 
They  were  chiefly  of  the  fair  sex,  and  nearly  all  on  foot.  This  shrine  is  at 
the  Monastery  of  the  Trinity,  a  place  famous  in  Russian  history,  having  been 
at  the  same  time  a  convent,  a  palace,  and  a  fortification.  Here  the  family 
of  the  czars  have  often  taken  refuge.  In  passing  round  on  the  top  of  the 
walls  with  the  abbot  (which  is  more  than  a  mile  in  circumference),  he  told 
me  in  a  tone  of  triumph  and  national  antipathy  that  these  walls  had  never 
been  taken  by  the  Poles;  on  taking  leave  he  presented  me  with  a  consecrated 
picture  of  St.  Sierge,  and  from  him  I  submitted  to  the  operation  of  being 
kissed,  first  on  the  right  cheek,  then  on  the  left,  and  finally  plump  on  the 
mouth.  This  is  the  general  custom  of  the  country ;  but  it  was  my  first  experi 
ment  of  the  kind.  The  pious  Catharine,  although  she  seized  the  peasants 
and  the  broad  acres  of  this  monastery,  made  a  pilgrimage  on  foot  from  Mos 
cow  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Sierge.  But  enough  of  this  bagatelle. 

On  Saturday  last,  the  29th  ultimo,  we  had  news  from  New  York  via 
London  up  till  the  1st,  a  wonderfully  short  passage.  We  then  heard  of  the 
death  of  Randolph,  and  of  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Duane  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  I  have  no  doubt  the  latter  will  make  a  good  officer,  and  he  shows 


9 
206  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

great  courage  in  undertaking  the  Treasury  at  the  present  moment.     My  best 
wishes  attend  him. 

I  think  it  more  than  probable  that  my  political  life  is  drawing  to  a  close, 
and  I  confess  I  look  upon  the  prospect  without  regret.  Office  is  not  neces 
sary  for  my  happiness.  I  can  enjoy  myself  with  the  blessing  of  God,  under 
my  own  vine  and  my  own  fig  tree.  Whoever  embarks  on  the  ^  stormy  ocean 
of  politics  must  calculate  to  make  a  shipwreck  of  contentment  and  tranquility. 
I  have  served  the  old  hero  faithfully  and  zealously,  and  he  has  done  more  for 
me  than  I  could  have  expected.  But  I  hope  ere  long  to  talk  over  my  travels 
and  my  ups  and  downs  along  with  Edwards  and  yourself  and  a  few  other 
friends  in  the  good  old  county  of  Delaware.  By  the  bye,  I  have  a  crow 
to  pick  with  Edwards.  I  wrote  to  him  and  he  has  never  answered  my  letter. 

I  am  obliged  to  write  at  full  gallop.  Safe  opportunities  are  so  rare,  and 
when  they  occur,  so  much  of  my  time  is  taken  up  in  writing  despatches, 
that  I  have  but  little  left  for  my  private  friends. 

Kemember  me  kindly  to  Edwards  and  his  charming  wife,  to  Dick,  the 
doctor,  your  brothers,  Kane,  Lescine,  Judge  Engle,  and  my  other  friends. 
Please  to  present  my  most  respectful  compliments  to  Mrs.  Leiper,  and  believe 
me,  in  whatever  land  my  lot  may  be  cast,  to  be  always  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

The  following  brief  account  of  one  of  the  national  fetes  is 
recorded  soon  after  his  return  to  St.  Petersburg : 

THE  FETE  AT  PETERHOFF,  SATURDAY,  JULY  1-13,  1833. 

The  English  palace  was  provided  for  the  reception  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps, 
where  we  lived  with  Count  Daschkaw,  the  grand  master  of  ceremonies, 
Count  Matuscervie,  and  some  masters  of  the  court.  Everything  was  pro 
vided  for  us  in  handsome  style,  for  which,  according  to  custom,  I  paid  the 
court  servants  two  hundred  roubles  at  my  departure. 

In  the  morning  we  went  to  visit  the  gardens  upon  singular  vehicles  on 
four  wheels  and  drawn  by  two  splendid  horses.  I  can  describe  it  no  better 
than  by  imagining  a  double  sofa  with  a  single  back,  on  which  ten  of  us  could 
sit  back  to  back  comfortably,  five  on  each  side.  The  toot-board  was  within 
about  a  foot  of  the  ground. 

The  water- works  are  the  chief  object  of  attraction.  The  water  is  conveyed 
in  a  canal  for  the  distance  of  about  thirty  versts  to  the  palace  of  PeterhofF, 
which  is  situate  at  the  summit  and  on  the  brink  of  the  second  bank  of  the 
Gulf  of  Finland.  From  it  there  is  a  steep  descent  of  about  thirty  feet  to  the 
extensive  plain  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Gulf,  which  is  covered  by  the 
immense  garden.  It  is  this  descent  which  has  enabled  them  to  present  so 
many  varieties  of  water-works.  In  the  gardens  above,  on  a  level  with  the 
palace  (the  English  garden),  the  water  is  tastefully  distributed  into  several 
lakes,  etc. 


RETURN    TO    ST.  PETERSBURG.  207 

The  water  falls  in  several  broad  sheets  over  different  steps  immediately  in 
front  of  the  palace.  One  range  of  these  is  gilt,  and  in  a  clear  day  must  pre 
sent  a  splendid  spectacle.  They  place  caudles  under  the  shutes  of  the  water 
and  thus  have  an  illumination  under  the  water,  which  did  not,  however,  pro 
duce  the  effect  I  expected. 

There  are  many  long  walks  in  the  gardens,  I  should  say  more  than  a  verst 
in  length,  at  the  intersection  of  which  are  little  lakes,  and  in  the  centre  of 
them  jet  d'eaus. 

On  the  sides  of  these  walk?,  and  all  "around  the  little  lakes,  were  frame 
works  to  a  considerable  elevation,  destined  for  the  candles. 

We  rode  all  through  these  different  walks.  In  front  of  one  of  the  lakes 
stands  the  little  palace  of  Marly,  built  by  Peter  the  Great.  Everything  is 
preserved  there  just  as  he  left  it ;  and  it  was  curious  to  observe  the  progress 
of  luxury  in  comparing  his  clothing  and  accommodations  with  those  of  the 
imperial  family  in  the  present  day.  There  is  a  carp  which  has  been  in  the 
lake  for  a  century,  with  a  collar  round  its  neck.  It,  with  others,  comes  to  the 
edge  of  the  water  at  the  sound  of  a  bell,  every  morning,  to  receive  its  break 
fast. 

We  went  over  to  the  ball  about  eight  in  the  evening,  where  the  emperor 
and  empress  and  the  rest  of  us  polonaised,  and  all  things  were  conducted  as 
on  the  1st  January,  only  the  crowd  was  not  so  great.  After  supper,  about 
half-past  eleven,  the  emperor,  empress,  Prince  Albert  of  Prussia,  and  other 
members  of  the  I.  F.,  mounted  one  of  these  vehicles.  They  were  followed 
in  others  by  the  members  of  the  court  of  D.  C.,  and  thus  we  slowly  prome 
naded  through  all  these  walks,  the  sides  of  which  were  covered  by  immense 
crowds  of  spectators.  The  effect  of  the  illumination  was  brilliant.  The 
Grand  Duke  Michel  was  on  horseback,  and  great  precautions  were  evidently 
taken,  on  account  of  the  Polish  conspiracy. 

About  half-past  one  we  ended.  The  distance  to  Peterhoff  26  versts.  Mr. 
Lander  and  Captain  Ranlett,  Americans,  were  there  in  the  ball  room,  in  dom- 
inos,  etc.,  etc. 


[TO  THE  HON.  E.  LIVINGSTON,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.] 

AMERICAN  LEGATION, 
ST.  PETERSBURG,  July  3,  1833,  N.  S 


SIR:— 

On  the  28th  ultimo  I  had  an  interview  with  Count  Nesselrode  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  application  which  I  made  on  the  5-17  May,  in  behalf  of  Messrs. 
Shaw  &  Co.,  of  Boston.  The  question  has  not  yet  been  decided. 

After  the  conversation  upon  this  subject,  the  count  informed  me  that 
Baron  Krudener,  in  his  last  despatch,  had  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  the 
emperor's  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  on  the  first  instant  I  received  a  note 
from  him  communicating  the  intelligence  that  the  ratifications  had  been  ex- 


208  LIFE   OF   JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

changed  at  Washington  on  the  llth  of  May.  At  this  interview  I  had  hoped 
he  would  say  something  concerning  the  proposed  treaty  on  neutral  rights,  and 
gave  the  conversation  such  a  turn  as  would  naturally  lead  to  the  subject. 

I  enquired  when  the  emperor  would  leave  St.  Petersburg.  He  answered 
that  his  majesty  would  not  set  out  upon  his  journey  into  the  interior  until 
after  the  commencement  of  August.  I  then  replied  that  before  his  departure, 
I  should  solicit  my  audience  of  leave,  as  I  intended  to  return  to  the  United 
States  during  the  approaching  autumn. 

He  expressed  his  regret  at  my  determination  and  their  satisfaction  with 
my  conduct  as  a  minister ;  but  made  no  allusion  whatever,  either  to  the 
treaty  or  to  my  note  of  the  18-30  of  May.  I  felt  that  it  would  not  be  be 
coming  for  me  again  to  press  this  subject  upon  his  attention,  and  thus  we 
parted. 

Perhaps  it  might  have  been  better  under  the  circumstances  not  to  have 
attempted  a  renewal  of  the  negotiation  at  the  present  moment. 

This  government  has,  for  some  time,  been  in  possession  of  secret  informa 
tion  which  has  given  them  much  concern. 

The  impression  is  that  it  was  first  communicated  to  the  emperor  by  Louis 
Philippe.  A  number  of  Poles  at  Paris,  driven  to  desperation  by  their  sufferings, 
have  solemnly  sworn  before  God,  and  pledged  themselves  to  each  other,  to 
assassinate  the  emperor,  at  any  personal  peril. 

The  first  intimation  which  the  public  had  of  the  existence  of  the  con 
spiracy  was  the  publication  on  the  8-20  June,  in  the  St.  Petersburg  Journal, 
of  an  address  presented  to  the  emperor  at  Helsingfors,  during  his  late  visit  to 
Finland ;  the  subject  was  again  referred  to  in  the  succeeding  number  of  the 
15-27  of  the  same  month.  I  herewith  transmit  you  both  these  numbers. 

From  the  desperation  of  the  Poles,  and  their  determined  character,  this  in 
formation  has  excited  considerable  alarm  in  St.  Petersburg.  The  people  here, 
whilst  they  admire  and  respect  the  emperor  as  the  author  of  their  security 
and  prosperity,  look  with  fearful  apprehension  to  the  future,  in  the  event  of 
his  assassination. 

The  heir  apparent  is  yet  a  minor,  and  although  he  possesses  a  most  amia 
ble  disposition,  it  is  believed  he  is  deficient  both  in  talent  and  strength  of 
character.  The  Grand  Duke  Michel,  who  would  become  regent,  is  as  univer 
sally  disliked  as  the  emperor  is  esteemed.  Indeed,  in  such  an  event,  many  of 
the  foreigners  in  St.  Petersburg,  knowing  the  deadly  hostility  felt  against 
them  by  the  lower  orders  of  Russians,  would  entertain  serious  apprehensions 
for  their  lives  and  their  property.  Such  is  the  miserable  condition  of  des 
potism  ;  and  such  is  the  feeling  here,  at  the  very  moment  when  this  gov 
ernment,  more  by  its  superior  policy  than  its  power,  has  acquired  a  com 
manding  influence  throughout  Europe. 

Still  greater  precautions  now  exist  than  did  formerly,  in  regard  to  the  ad 
mission  of  strangers  into  the  country.  The  emperor  no  longer  appears  in  the 
streets  like  a  private  citizen.  It  is  said  that  he  is  always  surrounded  by 
guards.  But  from  what  I  have  heard,  he  rather  submits  to  these  regulations 


DEATH  OF  HIS  MOTHER.  209 

of  his  ministers  than  approves  of  them  himself.  He  is  a  bold  and  fearless 
man,  and  manifests  no  apprehension  whatever.  If  the  Poles  have  determined 
to  play  the  part  of  Scaevola,  he  at  least  will  not  enact  that  of  Porsenna. 

Three  of  the  conspirators  have  been  seized  in  Eussia.  After  all  I  cannot 
feel  that  there  is  much  danger.  I  send  you  the  Journal  of  yesterday,  con 
taining  our  latest  news  from  Constantinople. 

This  despatch  will  be  carried  to  London  by  Mr.  Gibson,  our  consul.  He 
has  been  ill  for  some  time,  and  his  disease  is,  I  fear,  now  approaching  its 
crisis.  He  is  very  feeble,  has  a  bad  cough,  and  throws  up  much  blood.  His 
physician  informed  him  that  his  only  hope  was  to  leave  St.  Petersburg,  and 
that  immediately.  Mr.  Clay  will  perform  his  duties  during  his  absence,  and 
we  are  both  happy  to  render  all  the  services  in  our  power  to  so  worthy  a 
man  and  so  good  an  officer. 

After  having  written"  the  foregoing,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  your 
Despatch  ISTo.  11,  dated  on  the  30th  April.  It  has  been  long  on  the  passage. 
By  the  Hamburg  Reporter  received  on  the  29th  ultimo,  we  had  New  York 
.dates,  via  London,  up  till  the  first  of  that  month. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  Mr.  Buchanan  received  the  melancholy 
news  that  his  mother  had  died  in  the  previous  May. 

[TO   REV.   EDWARD   Y.    BUCHANAN.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  July  20,  1833. 
Mr  DEAR  BROTHER  : — 

I  received  your  kind  letters,  of  the  7th  and  17th  May,  on  yesterday  after 
noon;  the  latter  communicating  the  melancholy  intelligence  of  mother's 
death.*  The  news  was  a  severe  and  unexpected  blow.  I  had  hoped,  by 
the  blessing  of  God,  to  see  her  once  more  on  this  side  of  eternity.  Indeed, 
this  desire  was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  which  made  me  so  reluctant  to  spend 
another  winter  in  Russia. 

*  Mrs.  Buchanan  died  on  the  14th  of  May,  1833,  at  the  house  of  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Lane, 
in  Greensburg,  Pennsylvania.  The  letters  of  Mrs.  Buchanan,  of  which  I  have  seen  many 
more  than  I  have  quoted,  although  rather  formal  in  expression,  show  a  mind  of  much  culti 
vation,  imbued  with  a  fervent  religious  spirit,  and  of  very  decided  and  just  opinions.  lr> 
one  of  her  letters  to  her  son  James,  written  in  1822,  she  says  :  "  Harriet  and  myself,  at  the 
request  of  Mr.  S.,  a  clergyman,  are  engaged  in  reading  Neale's  History  of  the  Puritans,  in 
which  I  observe  a  development  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  character  and  management,  not  much 
to  her  honor;  however,  it  appears  evident,  in  opposition  to  her  own  intentions,  she  was 
made  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Providence,  of  promoting  the  Reformation,  which  has 
certainly  rendered  an  essential  service  to  the  world."  If  the  good  lady  had  read  Mr.  Hallam's 
very  impartial  account  of  Elizabeth's  management  of  the  two  opposite  parties  among  the 
English  Protestants,  she  would  not  have  had  much  reason  for  changing  the  opinion  which 
she  formed  from  reading  Neale,  although  it  would  not  have  been  correct  to  say  that  the 
Queen's  course  was  in  any  just  sense  dishonorable  to  her.  The  truth  probably  is,  that 
Elizabeth,  in  nearly  everything  that  she  did  in  regard  to  religion,  was  governed  by  motives 
of  policy,  and  not  by  convictions  or  special  inclinations.  In  many  respects,  she  was  not 
a  Protestant,  according  to  the  Puritan  standard,  and  in  many  others  she  was  not  a  Catholic. 
I— 14 


210  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

But  it  has  been  the  will  of  the  Almighty  to  take  her  to  Himself,  and  we 
must  bow  in  humble  reverence.  I  received  at  the  same  time  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Henry,  which  gave  me  the  consolatory  assurance  that  she  had  died  the 
death  of  a  Christian,  and  that  her  latter  end  was  peace. 

It  is  my  present  intention  to  leave  St.  Petersburg  on  the  7th  August,  and 
I  feel  almost  confident,  with  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  that  I  shall  be  able  with 
propriety,  to  bring  all  the  business  of  my  mission  to  a  close  before  that  day. 

My  present  purpose  is  to  go  by  the  steamboat  to  Lubeck,  and  thence  by 
Hamburg,  Amsterdam,  the  Hague,  and  Brussels  to  Paris,  where  I  shall  prob 
ably  spend  a  fortnight  I  shall  then  proceed  to  London,  Edinburgh,  Glasgow, 
Belfast  and  Dublin,  from  which  city  I  intend  to  cross  over  to  Liverpool,  and 
sail  for  New  York  by  the  packet  of  the  24th  October.  It  is  my  intention, 
if  possible,  to  see  Romilton  and  Derry.  I  hope  to  reach  the  United  States  in 
the  beginning  of  December. 

I  have  recently  returned  from  a  very  agreeable  excursion  to  Moscow ;  but 
I  must  defer  a  description  of  this  city,  tjie  ancient  capital  of  the  czars,  until 
we  meet  again.  Whilst  there,  I  visited  the  celebrated  monastery  of  Iwitza, 
at  the  distance  of  forty  miles.  In  the  estimation  of  the  Russians,  it  is  a  very 
holy  place.  It  was  anciently  a  strong  fortress,  which  contained  a  palace  as 
well  as  a  convent,  and  is  much  connected  with  the  history  of  Russia.  The 
sovereigns  formerly  made  pilgrimages  on  foot  from  Moscow  to  the  shrine  of 
St.  Sierge,  at  this  monastery.  The  Empress  Catharine  the  Second,  was  the 
last  who  performed  this  act  of  devotion.  Going  and  returning  there,  I  am 
confident  we  met  at  the  least  10,000  pilgrims  on  foot.  They  appeared  to  be 
of  a  low  order  of  people,  and  the  great  majority  were  females. 

I  have  but  little  time  before  the  departure  of  the  boat,  and  must  close. 
Remember  me  affectionately  to  my  sister,  I  don't  know  her  Christian  name, 
to  the  Doctor  and  Maria.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  the  latter  are  so  comfort 
ably  situated,  and  hope  you  may  all  live  together  in  Christian  peace  and  in 
prosperity.  Remember  me  kindly  to  Judge  and  Mrs.  Shippen,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barlow,  and  believe  me  to  be  ever  your  affectionate  brother, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

P.  S. — I  wrote  to  our  dear  mother  on  the  3d  instant. 

[TO  THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.]  ^ 

LEGATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  July  31,  N.  S.  1833. 

On  Friday  last,  the  28th  instant,  I  had  an  interview  with  Count  Nessel- 
rode,  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  necessary  arrangements  previous  to  my 
departure  from  this  country. 

After  the  usual  salutations,  he  introduced  the  subject  of  the  commercial 
treaty,  which  is  one  of  his  favorite  topics.  The  opposition  made  to  it  in  the 
imperial  council,  and  the  difficulties  which  he  there  encountered  and  overcame, 
seem  to  have  inspired  him  with  a  feeling  of  paternity  towards  this  treaty. 


LAST  INTERVIEW  WITH  COUNT  NESSELP.ODE.          211 

After  some  general  conversation,  relating  chiefly  to  its  favorable  reception  in 
the  United  States,  I  changed  the  subject,  and  remarked,  that  in  our  last  inter 
view  I  had  entirely  forgotten  to  mention  that  his  explanation  in  regard  to  Baron 
Sacken's  note  was  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  President.  It  might  be  proper 
to  observe,  however,  that  Mr.  Livingston  differed  materially  from  the  baron 
in  relation  to  some  of  the  facts  attending  this  unpleasant  transaction,  and  it 
had,  at  first,  been  my  intention  to  bring  these  points  of  difference  specially 
under  the  notice  of  his  excellency ;  but  after  reflection,  I  had  determined 
that  it  was  best  upon  the  whole  not  to-revive  the  subject.  He  immediately 
replied  it  was  wholly  unnecessary ;  he  wished  the  whole  subject  to  be  buried 
in  oblivion  and  there  remain  as  if  it  had  never  existed.  He  expressed  his 
pleasure  in  the  strongest  terms  that  the  President  was  satisfied  with  the 
explanation,  and  then  laughingly  observed  that  Baron  Sacken  and  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  were  now  both  hors  du  combat :  the  one  was  no  longer  charge  nor 
the  other  Secretary  of  State. 

I  felt  the  less  inclined  to  enter  into  any  detail  upon  this  subject,  as  Mr.  Living 
ston  admits  that  Baron  Sacken  did  show  him  the  offensive  note  at  New  York, 
and  that  he  did  not  make  any  objections  to  its  style,  though  he  is  convinced  this 
took  place  after  the  note  had  been  sent  to  Mr.  Brent  and  not  before,  as  the 
baron  had  informed  Count  Nesselrode.  When  I  returned  home,  I  discovered 
that  the  count,  before  our  interview,  must  have  had  in  his  possession  a  copy 
of  Mr.  Livingston's  Despatch  No.  11,  giving  his  own  explanation  of  the 
whole  transaction.  During  my  absence,  the  post-office  had  sent  me  the  dupli 
cate  of  that  despatch  which,  like  all  the  communications  I  have  ever  received 
through  the  same  channel,  had  been  evidently  opened.  How  it  got  there,  I 
know  not,  because  it  had  been  forwarded  to  this  city  by  the  ship  Birmingham 
from  New  York  via  Charleston. 

After  this  subject  was  disposed  of,  I  told  the  count  that  as  all  our  official  inter 
course  had  been  of  the  most  frank  and  friendly  character,  I  felt  it  to  be  my 
duty  to  explain  to  him  the  reasons  which  would  induce  me  to  leave  Russia 
sooner  than  I  had  at  first  intended.  A  short  time  before  the  departure  of 
Mr.  Clay  with  the  treaty  last  winter,  I  had  received  information  of  my 
brother's  death  and  of  the  declining  health  of  my  mother  and  eldest  sister. 
These  circumstances  had  naturally  produced  a  desire  to  return  home,  and  had 
besides  imposed  upon  me  new  and  urgent  duties  towards  my  family.  In  a 
private  letter  which  I  addressed  to  the  President  by  Mr.  Clay,  I  suggested 
that  these  considerations  might  induce  me  to  ask  for  permission  to  leave  St. 
Petersburg  sooner  than  I  had  intended ;  and  upon  his  return  in  May  last,  I 
had  received  my  letter  of  recall  with  the  discretionary  power  of  presenting 
it  when  I  might  think  proper.  The  recent  melancholy  intelligence  of  my 
mother's  death  had  increased  my  anxiety,  and  made  the  reasons  for  my  de 
parture  still  more  urgent. 

He  expressed  his  sorrow  that  I  had  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  lost 
my  mother  and  my  brother  since  my  arrival  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  his  regret 
that  these  circumstances  should  have  rendered  my  departure  necessary. 


212  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

I  told  him  I  had  not  in  the  beginning  intended  to  remain  longer  than  two 
years, — I  was  no  diplomat,  and  had  never  any  desire  to  pursue  this  career. 
That  I  should  now  return  to  private  life  ;  but  in  whatever  circumstances  I 
might  hereafter  be  placed,  it  would  always  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  exert 
any  humble  influence  I  might  possess  in  cementing  the  bonds  of  friendship 
which  now  so  happily  united  the  two  countries. 

He  complimented  me  by  saying,  I  had  shown  myself  to  be  both  an  able 
and  a  successful  diplomat,  and  he  could  assure  me  I  had  contributed  much, 
since  my  arrival  in  this  country,  to  promote  kindly  feelings  between  the  two 
governments.  He  hoped  I  would  carry  with  me  agreeable  souvenirs  of  my 
residence  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  that  my  influence  at  home  might  be  used  in 
perpetuating  the  good  understanding  which  now  so  happily  existed. 

I  had  taken  with  me  a  copy  of  my  letter  of  recall  and  of  the  concluding 
paragraph  of  Despatch  No.  9,  and  upon  presenting  them,  I  read  the  latter 
to  the  count,  containing  an  assurance  of  the  high  consideration  with  which 
the  personal  character  of  the  emperor  had  inspired  the  President,  and  of  the 
wishes  he  formed  for  his  happiness  and  the  prosperity  of  his  empire.  To 
this  I  added  that  such  an  assurance,  proceeding  from  the  source  it  did,  was  in 

itself  the  strongest  evidence  of  its  own  sincerity 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

All  things  being  arranged  for  his  departure,  Mr.  Buchanan 
had  his  audience  of  leave  of  the  emperor  on  the  5th  of  August, 
of  which  he  gave  a  striking  account  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
in  the  following  despatch  written  two  days  afterward : 

[TO    THE    HON.    LOUIS    McLANE,  SECRETARY    OF    STATE.] 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  August  7,  1833,  N.  S. 
SIR;— 

On  Monday  last,  the  5th  instant,  I  had  my  audience  of  leave  of  the  em 
peror,  at  the  Palace  of  Peterhoff,  twenty-six  versts  distant  from  this  city. 
The  conduct  and  conversation  of  his  majesty  throughout  the  interview  were 
highly  gratifying  to  myself;  because  they  convinced  me  that  I  had  conciliated 
his  favorable  opinion.  This  ought  to  be,  next  to  the  honest  and  independent 
discharge  of  his  duty,  the  first  object  of  a  minister  to  Kussia.  Without  it,  he 
can  never  effectually  serve  his  country. 

Towards  the  conclusion  of  this  interview,  you  will  perceive  that  the  em 
peror  appeared  to  lay  aside  his  official  dignity  and  conversed  frankly  and  with 
great  feeling  upon  subjects  which  I  could  never  have  imagined  he  would 
introduce. 

When  I  first  entered  he  said :  "  What  is  the  reason  you  are  going  to  leave 
us  ?  I  am  very  sorry  for  it.  You  have  given  us  great  satisfaction  whilst 
you  have  been  amongst  us."  After  explaining  to  him  the  reason  for  my 


AUDIENCE  OF  LEAVE  OF  THE  EMPEROR.  213 

departure,  he  expressed  his  sympathy  for  me  on  account  of  the  recent  loss  of 
my  mother,  and  made  some  inquiries  in  relation  to  my  family  which  I  need 
not  repeat.  I  then  observed  that,  at  the  first,  I  had  not  intended  to  remain 
longer  than  two  years.  I  was  no  diplomat,  having  never  been  engaged  in 
that  service  before,  and  it  was  probable  I  should  never  again  represent  my 
country  abroad.  He  said  he  liked  me  the  better  for  it.  He  was  no  diplomat 
himself;  his  policy  was  always  frank  and  open,  and  those  who  believed 
otherwise  had  greatly  mistaken  his  character. 

I  then  presented  to  him  my  letter  of  recall,  and  told  him  I  had  been  in 
structed  to  assure  him  on  this  occasion  of  the  continued  desire  felt  by  the 
President  to  foster  the  good  understanding  which  now  so  happily  subsisted 
between  the  two  nations ;  and  to  express  the  high  consideration  with  which 
his  majesty's  personal  character  had  inspired  the  President,  and  the  wishes 
which  he  cherished  for  his  happiness  and  the  prosperity  of  his  empire. 

He  said  it  was  very  gratifying  to  his  feelings  to  receive  such  an  assurance 
from  General  Jackson.  He  had  shown  himself  to  be  a  man  both  of  integrity 
and  firmness,  and  he  valued  his  good  opinion  very  highly.  He  felt  a  great 
respect  for  the  people  of  the  United  States.  They  were  a  true  and  loyal  peo 
ple,  and  he  should  always  endeavor  to  promote  the  most  friendly  relations 
with  our  country. 

1  then  added,  to  that  of  General  Jackson,  my  own  humble  testimonial  of 
regard  for  his  personal  character,  and  the  gratitude  which  I  felt  for  his  uniform 
kindness  towards  myself  upon  all  occasions  when  I  had  the  honor  of  meeting 
him.  He  replied  that  he  felt  much  indebted  to  me  for  my  good  opinion,  and 
trusted  I  should  never  have  occasion  to  change  it.  He  hoped  I  would  re 
member  him  with  kindness  when  I  returned  to  my  own  country.  He  enter 
tained  a  high  personal  regard  for  myself ;  and  it  was  a  source  of  peculiar 
pleasure  to  him,  that  it  had  fallen  to  my  lot  to  conclude  the  commercial  treaty 
between  the  two  countries.  He  was  glad  this  treaty  had  given  satisfaction 
in  the  United  States,  and  he  believed  it  would  serve  to  strengthen  the  attach 
ment  between  two  nations  who  ought  always  to  be  friends. 

I  observed  it  was  one  of  the  most  agreeable  occurrences  of  my  life,  to  have 
been  instrumental  in  concluding  this  treaty.  I  had  no  doubt  it  would  be 
mutually  beneficial  to  both  countries.  That  wherever  I  was  and  whatever 
might  be  my  lot,  I  should  never  cease  to  cherish  the  most  ardent  wishes  for 
his  happiness,  and  to  use  my  humble  influence  in  cementing  the  friendship 
between  the  two  nations.  This  had  been  my  constant  object  throughout  the 
period  of  my  mission.  He  said  I  had  been  eminently  successful,  and  again 
assured  me  that  my  conduct  had  given  him  great  satisfaction. 

•He  then  alluded,  with  considerable  feeling,  to  the  late  debate  in  the 
House  of  Commons  concerning  Polish  affairs ;  he  observed  that  he  was  the 
representative  of  a  great  and  powerful  nation.  This  station  imposed  upon 
him  many  and  arduous  duties.  He  had  acted  in  his  public  character,  and 
upon  views  of  public  policy.  But  instead  of  considering  the  subject  in  this 
light,  they  seemed  to  have  been  instigated  by  a  desire  to  abuse  him  person- 


214  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

ally.  He  could  appeal  to  God  and  his  own  conscience  for  the  purity  and 
correctness  of  his  conduct;  and  whilst  that  was  the  case,  he  should  have 
peace  within  his  own  bosom,  and  would  not  regard  the  opinion  of  the  world. 
This  was  a  delicate  subject.  I  replied  that  I  had  read  the  debate  with  con 
siderable  surprise.  The  distance  at  which  my  rank  placed  me  from  his 
majesty  had  enabled  me  to  know  but  comparatively  little  of  his  personal 
character  from  my  own  observation;  but  judging  from  that  knowledge,  as 
well  as  from  the  information  I  had  been  able  to  collect,  since  my  arrival  in 
St.  Petersburg,  I  entertained  not  a  doubt  he  had  been  treated  with  great 
injustice.  Indeed,  it  was  impossible  for  any  person  who  knew  him,  to  believe 
that  the  representation  made  in  that  debate  could  be  true. 

And  here  permit  me  to  declare  that  this  is  my  honest  conviction.  I  yield 
to  no  man  in  abhorrence  for  the  different  partitions  of  Poland,  and  in  a  desire 
to  see  the  independence  of  that  brave  and  gallant  people  re-established;  but 
truth  compels  me  to  say  that  the  cruelties  of  the  Imperial  Government 
towards  them  have  been  greatly  exaggerated.  It  is  even  notorious  here  that 
in  several  instances  the  sons  of  Polish  patriots  who  died  fighting  for  national 
independence  are  receiving  their  education  at  the  expense  of  the  emperor,  and 
are  treated  by  him  with  distinguished  kindness.  The  exaggerated  impressions 
which  have  been  spread  throughout  the  world  upon  this  subject  arise,  in  a 
great  degree,  from  the  want  of  anything  like  a  free  press  in  Russia.  From 
this  cause,  the  representations  of  the  injured  party  pass  every  where  current, 
almost  without  contradiction.  Still,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  whenever 
Russian  officers  are  entrusted  with  power  over  Poles,  it  will  most  probably 
be  abused.  This  arises  from  the  ancient  and  malignant  personal  hatred  exist 
ing  between  the  two  races. 

The  emperor  afterwards  observed  that  the  English  nation  had,  in  his 
opinion,  been  acting  very  unwisely.  They  had  got  tired  of  a  constitution 
under  which  they  had  risen  to  a  high  degree  of  greatness,  and  which  had 
secured  them  many  blessings,  and  he  feared  they  were  now  about  to  prostrate 
their  most  valuable  institutions.  He  then  asked  me  what  route  I  intended  to 
take  on  my  return  home.  I  told  him  I  should  pass  through  Hamburg, 
Amsterdam,  the  Hague  and  Brussels  to  Paris,  where  I  expected  to  spend  a 
few  weeks.  From  thence  I  should  pass  over  to  London,  and  finally  embark 
from  Liverpool  for  the  United  States.  I  said  I  had  *o  particular  desire  to 
visit  Paris;  on  the  contrary,  I  should  rather  spend  what  time  I  had  to  spare 
in  seeing  a  part  of  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland ;  but  it  would  be  considered 
strange  for  an  American  to  return  from  Europe  without  seeing  Paris,  the 
centre  of  so  many  attractions.  This  gave  him  occasion  to  speak  of  France. 
He  said  I  was  quite  right  in  my  intention  to  visit  Paris.  The  French  were  a 
singular  people.  They  were  so  fickle  in  their  character,  and  had  such  a  restless 
desire  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  world  that  they  were  always  dangerous. 
They  had  tried  every  form  of  government  and  could  not  rest  satisfied  with  any. 

French  emissaries  were  now  endeavoring  every  where  to  excite  disturb 
ances  and  destroy  the  peace  all  over  Europe. 


AUDIENCE  OF  LEAVE  OF  THE  EMPEROR.  215 

I  observed  we  had  always  pursued  a  different  course  in  America.  We 
were  no  propagandists.  Perfectly  satisfied  with  our  institutions,  we  left  to 
every  other  nation  the  task  of  managing  their  own  concerns  in  their  own 
manner.  This  had  been  the  uniform  policy  of  our  Government  since  its  origin. 

He  replied  that  he  knew  the  character  of  our  nation  well,  and  repeated 
they  were  a  true  and  loyal  people.  He  had  the  greatest  confidence  in  them. 
His  own  policy  was  the  same  as  ours.  He  was  no  propagandist  himself.  All 
he  desired  was  peace.  He  never  interfered  with  the  concerns  of  other 
nations  when  it  could  possibly  be  avoided.  He  desired  peace  above  all  things 
for  Russia.  But  he  said  it  seemed  as  if  there  were  at  present  an  evil  spirit 
abroad  throughout  the  world.  He  appeared  to  be  particularly  the  object  of  its 
malevolence.  (Evidently  alluding  to  the  Polish  conspiracy.)  He  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Almighty,  and  would  endeavor  to  do  his  duty  fearlessly  and 
honestly  in  the  station  where  Providence  had  placed  him,  and  in  humble 
submission  would  leave  the  event  to  His  will.  Here  he  was  evidently 
affected. 

He  then  bade  me  adieu,  and  embraced  and  saluted  me  according  to  the 
Russian  custom,  a  ceremony  for  which  I  was  wholly  unprepared,  and  which  I 
could  not  have  anticipated.  Whilst  we  were  taking  leave,  he  told  me  to  tell 
General  Jackson  to  send  him  another  minister  exactly  like  myself.  He 
wished  for  no  better. 

Upon  leaving  his  presence  I  was  sensibly  impressed  with  the  vanity  of 
human  greatness.  The  circumstances  brought  forcibly  to  memory  the  closing 
scene  of  the  life  of  the  Emperor  Alexander.  Throughout  his  last  illness  he 
refused  to  take  medicine,  and  thus  suffered  his  disease,  which  was  not  at  the 
first  considered  dangerous,  to  become  mortal.  When  Sir  James  Wylie,  his 
physician,  told  him  that  unless  he  would  submit  to  medical  treatment  his 
disease  must  prove  fatal,  the  Emperor  Alexander  regarded  him  earnestly,  and 
exclaimed  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  "  and  why  should  I  desire  to  live  ?  " 
He  continued  to  reject  all  remedies,  and  his  death  was  the  consequence.  On 
the  truth  of  this  anecdote  you  may  rely.  There  was  no  foundation  for  the 
report  that  he  had  been  poisoned. 

At  the  first,  I  had  determined  to  suppress  such  parts  of  this  conversation  as 
were  evidently  confidential,  together  with  the  kind  things  which  the  emperor 
said  to  me  personally;  but  I  afterwards  concluded  that  it  was  my  duty  under 
my  instructions  to  report  the  whole.  This  is  done,  under  a  full  conviction  that 
it  will  never  meet  the  public  eye. 

I  had  on  the  same  day  my  audience  of  leave  of  the  empress,  who  was 
very  gracious,  but  what  passed  upon  this  occasion  is  not  properly  the  subject 
for  a  despatch. 

I  took  leave  of  Count  Nesselrode  this  morning,  and  presented  Mr.  Clay  as 
charge-d'affaires.  Time  presses,  and  I  shall  leave  him  in  his  first  despatch  to 
give  you  a  particular  account  of  this  interview.  It  was  entirely  satisfactory. 

Thus  has  my  mission  terminated ;  and  I  cannot  be  mistaken  when  I  say 
that  these  people  now  evince  a  much  better  feeling  both  towards  our  Govern- 


216  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

ment  and  the  head  of  it  than  they  did  on  my  arrival.  I  have  taken  great 
pains,  upon  all  proper  occasions,  to  make  the  character  and  conduct  of  General 
Jackson  known.  Nothing  more  was  necessary  to  make  the  man  who  enjoys 
the  highest  rank  in  our  country  stand  also  the  first  in  their  esteem. 

I  have  not  seen  or  heard  anything  of  Baron  Sacken  since  his  arrival  in 
this  city. 

Within  the  past  few  days  it  has  been  known  here  that  the  emperor  had 
refused  to  receive  Sir  Stratford  Canning  as  ambassador  from  England.  As 
his  reasons  were  altogether  personal,  this  refusal  can  produce  no  serious 
difficulty  between  the  two  nations.  The  Russians  say  that  Sir  Stratford,  when 
here  before,  evinced  a  captious  and  jealous  disposition,  which  rendered  him 
very  disagreeable. 

I  expect  to  reach  the  United  States  about  the  last  of  November  or  begin 
ning  of  December. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


CHAPTEE    X. 

1833. 

DEPARTURE  FROM  ST.  PETERSBURG — JOURNEY  TO  PARIS — PRINCESS  LIE- 
YEN — POZZO  DI  BORGO — DUG  DE  BROGLIE — GENERAL  LAFAYETTE — 
LOUIS  PHILIPPE — ARRIVAL  IN  LONDON — DINNER  AT  PRINCE  LIEVEN'S 
AND  LORD  PALMERSTON'S— PRINCE  TALLEYRAND. 

MR.  BUCHANAN  commenced  his  homeward  journey  on 
the  8th  of  August  (1833).     Omitting  what  merely  re 
lates  to  places  and  things  now  well  known  to  all  travelers,  I 
select  the  following  passages  from  his  diary : 

Thursday,  August  8,  1833. 

I  left  St.  Petersburg.  Mr.  Bligh,  Mr.  Gevers  and  Mr.  Clay  accompanied 
me  as  far  as  Cronstadt.  At  6  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  passed  the  guard 
ship  and  arrived  at  Travemunde,  on  Tuesday,  the  13th,  between  12  and 
1  o'clock  in  the  day,  after  a  rough  and  stormy  passage.  The  boat  (Alexandra) 
has  not  sufficient  steam  power  for  her  tonnage,  having  only  140  horse-power 
for  more  than  700  tons,  and  the  consequence  is  that  she  can  make  but  little 
way  against  a  head  wind.  The  price  of  the  passage  is  250  roubles  ($50), 
the  consequence  of  an  indiscreet  monopoly  which  has  been  granted  by  the 
emperor. 

"We  had  on  board  the  Princess  Lieven  and  her  two  youngest  sons,  the 
Princes  Greorge  and  Arthur,  called  after  the  late  king*  and  the  Duke  of 
Wellington — the  one  about  thirteen,  the  other  nine — fine  boys.  Count  Matus- 
cervie  was  also  on  board,  bound  for  Aberdeenshire  on  a  hunting  expedition. 
He  is  excessively  fond  of  horse-racing,  hunting  and  all  field  sports,  and  seems 
to  take  much  greater  delight  in  talking  of  these  subjects,  than  those  of  a 
serious  nature.  The  princess  has  in  a  great  degree  lost  that  beauty  which 
captivated  the  king  and  the  Duke  of  W.  Her  nose  is  now  sharp  and  her 
face  somewhat  red;  but  her  manners  and  conversation  are  very  fine.  I 
consider  her  superior  to  Matuscervie  as  a  diplomatist.!  I  endeavored  to  cul- 

*  George  IV. 

t  This  remarkable  woman  is  regularly  chronicled  in  Encyclopedias  and  Biographical  Dic 
tionaries  as  a  Russian  diplomatist.  She  certainly  fulfilled  that  character  in  an  extraordinary 
manner  for  a  period  of  about  forty  years.  When  Mr.  Buchanan  met  her,  on  his  passage  down 
the  Baltic,  she  was  on  her  way  to  join  her  husband  in  London.  She  was  then  forty-nine. 
The  children  referred  to  both  died  in  1835.  The  princess  died  at  Paris,  January  25, 1857,  at 
the  age  of  73.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a  Protestant.  In  her  later  years  she  was  a  very  in- 


218  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

tivate  her  good  graces,  not  by  assiduous  attentions,  which  are  often  annoying, 
but  by  kind  and  respectful  conduct  towards  her  whenever  the  opportunity 
occurred  unsought.  I  succeeded.  She  is  a  woman  and  possesses  all  the 
superstitious  feelings  in  regard  to  omens  which  distinguish  the  Russians.  The 
count  and  myself  made  a  bet  on  the  length  of  the  voyage,  and  drank  the 
wine  before  its  termination.  This  gave  her  much  uneasiness,  and  the  wind 
became  more  violent  immediately  after.  The  count  wrote  a  complimentary 
certificate  in  the  captain's  [log]  book,  and  it  was  signed  before  the  close  of  the 
voyage.  Immediately  after  we  had  quite  a  storm,  which  continued  the  whole 
night.  I  should  have  been  alarmed  myself,  but  thanks  to  the  Yankee 
captain  with  whom  I  crossed  the  Atlantic,  who  would  carry  sail  in  a  hurricane. 
Captain  Dietz,  of  the  boat,  a  round-faced  and  pleasant  Dutchman,  and  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States,  attributed  our  bad  voyage  entirely  to 
the  circumstance  of  having  a  parson  aboard  (The  Rev.  Mr.  Kneill).  He  swore 
he  could  show  all  his  [log]  books  and  prove  that,  since  he  commanded  a  ves 
sel,  he  had  never  made  a  single  prosperous  voyage  with  a  clergyman  on 
board.  This  was  added  to  the  stock  of  the  princess's  superstition,  and  I 
found  her  uneasy  at  the  idea  of  having  him  on  board,  on  their  passage  from 
Hamburg  to  London.  I  told  her  I  considered  it  almost  a  moral  phenomenon 
to  see  such  a  woman  believing  in  these  presages.  She  said  she  had  not  un  esprit 
fort.  She  could  not  help  it.  She  said  Lady  Holland  was  as  bad  as  herself 
in  this  respect.  It  was  she  [Lady  Holland]  who  had  first  informed  her  that 
it  was  bad  luck  to  set  out  on  a  journey  on  Friday.  The  princess  did  not  be 
lieve  it;  but  she  had  once  tried  it;  her  carriage  was  broken,  and  she  injured, 
so  as  not  to  be  entirely  recovered  for  a  year. 

Lord  Wellington,  she  said,  never  thought  himself  wrong.  He  was  always 
right,  in  his  opinion.  He  had  committed  three  great  blunders  whilst  he  was 
minister. 

The  first  was  in  sending  Prince  Polignac  to  govern  France.  The  duke  had 
told  her  that  this  prince  was  the  greatest  man  in  France.  Politeness  alone 
had  prevented  her  from  laughing  in  his  face.  He  was  mediocre  parmi  les 
mediocres ;  besides,  he  was  obstinate  to  the  very  last  degree.  The  second 
was  on  the  Catholic  emancipation  question ;  and  the  third  in  refusing  all 
reform  after  having  himself  opened  the  door  for  it. 

Lord  Lowther  had  called  to  see  her  in  Hamburg,  a*d  informed  her  that 
there  would  have  been,  a  few  days  ago,  a  new  ministry  in  England,  but  for 
the  timidity  of  Sir  Robert  Peel.  I  told  her  I  thought  this  was  prudence  in 
Sir  Robert,  The  Tories  could  not  now  govern  England.  She  concurred  in 
opinion  with  me  ;  said  the  duke  was  now  near  seventy,  and  could  not  afford 
to  wait,  but  that  was  not  the  case  with  Sir  Robert.  We  talked  of  the 

Polish  question,  etc.,  etc Met  Mr.  Wheaton,  his  wife  and  daughter 

in  Hamburg.* 

timate  friend  of  M.  Guizot,  who  was  present  at  her  death-bed.  See  further  mention  of  her, 
post. 

*  Henry  Wheaton,  the  learned  author  of  "  Elements  of  International  Law,"  long  in  the 
diplomatic  service  of  the  United  States. 


ARRIVAL   IN    PARIS.  219 

Tuesday,  at  12  o'clock  (day). 

We  left  Cologne  and  arrived  in  Aix-la-Chapelle,  a  distance  of  nine  and  a 
quarter  German  miles,  through  Bergheim  and  Juliers.  The  latter  strongly 
fortified. 

The  king  of  Prussia  seems  to  be  determined  to  strengthen  himself  in  this 
country.  Judging  from  what  I  have  observed  myself  and  heard  from  others, 
he  cannot  rely  upon  the  affections  of  the  people.  Indeed,  they  talk  very 
freely.  They  all  refer  to  the  days  of  Napoleon;  and  compare  their  situation 
then  with  what  it  is  at  present.  The"  old  maitre  d'hotel  at  Bergheim,  who 
has  kept  a  public  house  for  fifty  years,  and  who  seems  to  be  a  sensible  and 
honest-hearted  old  man,  told  me  that  the  taxes  were  not  half  so  heavy  under 
Napoleon  as  they  were  at  present.  That  he  was  the  greatest  man  there  had 
ever  been  in  the  world,  and  they  loved  the  French  much  better  than  the 
Prussians.  Other  travelers,  who  understand  German,  have  told  me  that  at 
the  public  tables  they  talk  of  a  revolution  as  certain ;  without  pretending  to 
conjecture  when  it  will  take  place. 

But  the  king  of  Prussia  is  a  wise  man.  He  has  been  taught  in  the  school 
of  misfortune,  and  has  been  greatly  benefited  by  the  lessons  of  that  stern 
mistress.  There  is  great  freedom  of  speech  allowed  throughout  the  Prussian 
dominions,  and  in  those  east  of  the  Rhine  the  king  is  popular,  notwithstand 
ing  the  violation  of  his  promise  to  give  them  a  constitution.  This  arises  from 
a  general  conviction  of  his  wisdom  and  justice,  and  particularly  from  the 
equal  conduct  he  has  pursued  towards  all  classes  of  his  subjects.  The  people 
are  pleased  with  him,  because  his  conduct  towards  the  nobles  has  given  them 
no  cause  of  jealousy.  He  is  a  democratic  despot,  and  this  is  perhaps  the  true 
policy  of  all  despots. 

In  the  Rhenish  provinces,  it  is  difficult  for  the  people  to  rebel,  in  the  midst 
of  strong  and  almost  impregnable  fortifications  and  of  troops  faithful  and 
well  disciplined. 

Saturday  night,  August  31.  (1833). 

Arrived  in  Paris,  and  went  to  lodgings  provided  for  me  by  Mr.  Harris,* 
in  the  Rue  de  Paix. 

Sunday. 

I  walked  to  the  Place  Vendome,  and  saw  the  triumphal  column.  The 
statue  of  Napoleon  was  again  placed  upon  its  summit  during  the  anniversary 
of  what  are  called  here  the  glorious  days  of  the  revolution  of  July  (1830). 
I  also  visited  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  the  Champs  Elysees,  and  the  Place 
of  Louis  XVI,  between  the  two.  Here  this  unfortunate  monarch  was 
executed. 

A  column  is  to  be  erected  in  the  centre,  exactly  resembling  Cleopatra's 
Needle.  There  is  a  model  of  it  now  standing.  Dined  with  Mr.  Harris — a 

man  sufficiently  civil  and  ceremonious,  but  a  mannerist He  has 

been  so  long  in  Europe  as  to  have  lost  much  of  his  American  feelings,  if  he 

*  At  that  time  American  charge"  d'affaires  in  Paris. 


220  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

ever  possessed  them  in  a  strong  degree.  Not  unskilful  as  a  diplomatist.  He 
is  remembered  kindly  in  Russia,  whilst  such  men  as  Bayard  and  Pinkney  are 
forgotten.  He  seems  to  have  done  his  duty  in  relation  to  the  confirmation 
of  the  French  treaty  by  the  chambers. 

Monday. 

Called  on  the  Duke  of  Treviso  (Mortier)  and  General  Lafayette;  found 
them  both  in  the  country ;  took  a  drive  with  Mr.  Harris  into  the  Bois  de 
Boulogne.  He  is  exceedingly  anxious  to  be  appointed  minister  to  Russia. 
I  also  visited  Notre  Dame. 


Visited  the  Louvre.  Whilst  there,  met  very  unexpectedly  Walter  Patter 
son,  Esq.,  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Stevenson  and  Mr.  Burns,  of 
the  same  State. 

Afterwards  called  with  Mr.  Harris  on  Count  Pozzo  di  Borgo ;  *  had  an 
interesting  conversation  with  him.  He  thinks  the  French  selfish,  that  their 
courage  proceeds  from  vanity,  and  that  they  are  wholly  unfit  for  the  enjoy 
ment  of  constitutional  liberty.  He  says  they  will  fight  well,  when  seen,  but 
are  incapable  of  sustaining  disasters.  He  has  done  everything  he  could  to 
preserve  peace ;  but  if  war  must  come,  he  thinks  the  French  mistaken  as  to 
its  result.  If  one  were  to  judge  merely  from  the  striking  superiority  of  the 
Russian  over  the  French  troops  in  appearance,  this  conclusion  would  seem 
very  natural. 

Saturday,  Sunday  and  Monday. 

So  unwell  that  I  could  not  go  out.  Mr.  Harris  made  a  dinner  party  of 
Americans  for  me  on  Saturday,  which,  much  to  my  regret,  I  could  not  attend. 
General  Lafayette  called  and  sat  nearly  an  hour  with  me  before  he  went  to 
this  dinner ;  but  I  was  in  great  pain  the  whole  time. 

Judging  from  what  I  have  heard  from  the  General,  Major  Poussin  and 
others,  I  have  no  doubt  the  Republican  party  are  making  rapid  advances  in 

*  Carlo  Andrea  Pozzo  di  Borgo  was  a  native  of  Corsica,  born  at  Ajaccio,  in  1764.  His 
efforts,  along  with  those  of  Paoli,  to  accomplish  the  liberation  of  Corsica  from  the  French 
power,  and  place  it  under  the  protection  of  England,  produced  in  him  a  decided  leaning 
against  France  through  his  whole  career.  In  1803  he  entered  the  diplomatic  service  of 
Russia,  in  which  he  continued  for  the  remainder  of  his  long  life,  under  both  the  emperors 
Alexander  I  and  Nicholas  I.  He  was  Russian  ambassador  at  Paris  from  1815  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  with  temporary  absences  in  London  on  special  missions.  He  died  in  1845.  At 
the  period  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  visit  to  Paris,  di  Borgo  was  seventy  years  old,  with  as  full  and 
varied  a  diplomatic  experience  as  any  man  of  his  time.  He  was  celebrated  for  the  brilliancy 
of  his  conversation  in  the  French  language.  In  the  private  journal  of  the  late  Mr.  George 

Ticknor,  written  at  Paris  in ,  I  find  the  following  passage :    "  I  do  not  know  how  a 

foreigner  has  acquired  the  French  genius  so  completely  as  to  shine  in  that  kind  of  conversa 
tion  from  which  foreigners  are  supposed  to  be  excluded,  but  certainly  I  have  seen  nobody 
yet  who  has  the  genuine  French  wit,  with  its  peculiar  grace  and  fluency,  so  completely  in  his 
power,  as  M.  Pozzo  di  Borgo."  In  a  note  to  this  passage  Mr.  Ticknor  adds:  ''I  have 
learned  since  that  he  is  a  Corsican,  and  by  a  singular  concurrence  of  circumstances,  was 
born  in  the  same  town  with  Bonaparte,  and  of  a  family  which  is  in  an  hereditary  opposition 
to  that  of  the  emperor."  It  was  no  doubt  with  singular  zest,  that  di  Borgo,  in  1814-15,  took 
part  in  the  great  European  settlement  which  dethroned  Bonaparte. 


VISIT    TO    THE    DUG    DE    BROGLIE.  221 

France.  This  is  not  confined  to  the  lower  orders,  but  extends  to  the  highest 
circles.  From  all  I  can  observe  and  learn,  they  are  wholly  unprepared  for 
republican  institutions.  They  want  political  virtue  as  much  as  any  people. 
They  are  very  selfish,  destitute  in  a  great  degree  of  religion,  and  are  always 
discontented  with  the  present  because  they  hope  something  from  change. 
Political  virtue,  with  the  exception  of  Lafayette  and  a  few  others,  don't  exist 
among  them. 

The  policy  of  the  latter  [Lafayette]  is  that  France  shall  now  school  herself 
preparatory  to  republican  institutions,  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  But  I 
think  he  is  afraid  the  change  will  take  place  sooner.  He  has  lost  much  of 
his  popularity  in  France,  because  they  believe  him  to  be  an  imbecile,  and  be 
cause  he  will  not  lead  the  Eepublican  party  to  immediate  action.  He  has  lost 
all  confidence  in  Louis  Philippe,  who,  in  my  opinion,  is  as  desirous  of  being  a 
Legitimate  as  the  Emperor  Alexander. 

In  case  of  general  republican  commotions  in  France,  a  continental  war 
becomes  inevitable.  The  three  great  powers  of  Europe  are  preparing  for  it, 
and  if  one  were  to  judge  from  the  appearance  of  the  Russian  and  Prussian 
soldiers  compared  with  the  French,  he  would  be  tempted  to  doubt  the  result. 
There  is  an  energy  in  liberty,  however,  and  there  will  probably  be  such  an  aid 
to  its  cause  among  the  oppressed  of  Germany,  Poland  and  other  nations,  that 
we  may  cherish  the  hope  that  France  will  not  be  overrun.  I  do  not  consider 
the  French  either  safe  or  good  apostles  of  liberty.  I  sincerely  hope  I  am 
mistaken.  Everything  here  is  now  Bonaparte  ;  and  at  present  they  appear  to 
live  upon  the  memory  of  their  greatness  under  him. 

I  ought  always  to  remember  with  gratitude  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Emlen, 
Doctor  Fisher  and  Mr.  Patterson*  during  my  three  days'  sickness.  Hope  to 
be  out  to-morrow  again. 

Thursday,  12th. 

Thank  God !  a  fine  day.  Visited  the  Due  de  Broglie,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Harris.  Conversation  concerning  the  omission  of  the  French  Chamber  to 
ratify  the  treaty. 

I  told  him  that,  however  the  government  here  might  be  able  to  satisfy  that 
at  Washington,  and  understand  each  other  on  the  subject,  their  explanations 
could  not  reach  the  people  of  the  United  States.  I  had  no  doubt  the  trans 
action  would  give  rise  to  much  unpleasant  feeling  among  our  people,  and 
might  lead  to  an  unhappy  state  of  feeling  between  the  two  countries.  That  I 
should  not  be  astonished  if  this  were  to  manifest  itself  on  the  meeting  of 
Congress.  He  said  that  he  was  very  sorry,  Mr.  Harris  could  appreciate  his 
exertions ;  he  was  happy  to  say  tnat  the  feeling  in  favor  of  the  treaty  was 
growing ;  the  advantages  of  the  commerce  were  becoming  more  manifest,  and 
he  had  no  doubt  that  one  of  the  first  acts  which  the  Chamber  would  perform 
after  its  meeting,  would  be  to  ratify  it.  He  hoped  it  would  come  so  soon 
that  Congress  would  receive  the  news  before  there  was  any  expression  of 

*  American  friends. 


222  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

feeling.  [He]  Criminated  Mr.  Dupin  in  relation  to  it — said  he  only  called  for 
the  papers  because  he  knew  that  all  the  reports  of  previous  commissions  had 
been  against  the  treaty.  He  said,  although  not  a  member  of  the  administra 
tion  which  made  it,  he  approved  it  and  would  now  make  such  a  treaty.* 

September  13th. 

I  dined  to-day  with  Count  Pozzo  di  Borgo.  Before  dinner  he  took  Mr. 
Harris  and  myself  into  a  room  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  company,  and  told 
me  he  wished  to  communicate  to  me,  so  that  I  might  inform  the  President,  on 
my  return,  what  was  the  true  condition  of  Europe  at  the  present  moment.  He 
said  there  did  not  exist  at  the  present  any  immediate  apprehension  of  war ; 
though  from  the  state  of  things  there  was  no  telling  at  what  time  war 
might  take  place. 

Everything  was  unsettled  in  France ;  they  were  a  turbulent  and  restless 
people,  and  busily  employed  with  their  propaganda.  They  were  wholly  un 
fit  for  liberal  institutions ;  and,  in  fact,  these  were  not  what  they  wanted. 
They  wished  again  for  the  glory  of  the  times  of  Bonaparte.  He  could  him 
self,  in  a  month,  raise  an  insurrection  in  France ;  but  what  the  allied  powers 
wanted  was  peace,  and  peace  they  would  maintain  so  long  as  they  could  con 
sistently  with  propriety.  That  this  they  did  not  wish  from  fear  of  the  re 
sult.  Far  from  it.  They,  to  wit,  Russia,  Prussia  and  Austria,  were  indissolu- 
bly  united,  and  war  with  one  would  be  war  with  all. 

Those  three  powers,  with  the  German  Confederation,  could,  in  three 
months,  bring  an  army  of  600,000  men  into  the  field,  500,000  infantry  and 
100,000  cavalry,  and  have  an  army  of  reserve  of  the  same  number.  The 
French  journals  were  continually  attacking  them  without  cause,  for  interfer 
ing  with  foreign  states,  but  I  understood  him  to  say  that  Austria  would  in 
terfere  in  Piedmont,  and  if  the  French  should  attempt  to  prevent  it,  the  allies 
would  make  common  cause  against  them.  They  disliked  and  distrusted 
France  very  much ;  England  not  so  much.  If  the  latter  would  act  a  prudent 
and  proper  part,  she  might  have  great  influence  on  the  affairs  of  Europe ;  but 
the  English  ministry  were  fools.  They  were  encouraging  France,  and  yet  it 
was  almost  certain  they  would  not  fire  a  gun  in  defence  of  the  latter.  Eng 
land  depended  upon  her  commerce,  and  she  could  not  afford  to  lose  that  of 
the  whole  continent  of  Europe,  which  she  would  do  in  the  event  of  war. 
She  had  acted  very  foolishly  in  giving  Belgium  to  Franc!. 

What  he  wished  me  especially  to  tell  the  President  was  that  he  hoped  the 
United  States  in '  the  event  of  a  war  would  cause  their  neutrality  to  be  re 
spected,  and  would  not  suffer  the  existence  of  illegal  blockades.  That  in  the 
event  of  war,  England  would  have  every  interest  to  cripple  American  com 
merce  ;  for,  in  that  event,  the  commerce  of  the  world  would  fall  into  the 
hands  of  Americans.  That  the  English  must  even  use  their  vessels  to  carry 
articles  essentially  necessary  to  them  from  the  north  of  Europe. 

*  See  post,  in  relation  to  this  collision  between  France  and  the  United  States. 


CONVERSATION    WITH    COUNT    DI   BORGO.  223 

I  promised  I  would  communicate  all  he  had  said  to  the  President,  and 
observed  that  when  we  were  comparatively  feeble,  we  had  gone  to  war  for 
the  purpose  of  maintaining  our  neutral  rights  upon  the  ocean ;  and  that  at 
this  time  of  day,  when  we  were  much  more  powerful,  neither  the  President 
nor  people  of  the  United  States  would  suffer  them  to  be  violated  with  impun 
ity.  Our  policy  was  peaceful;  we  never  interfered  with  the  political  con 
cerns  of  other  nations.  The  strictest  neutrality  we  should  observe  both  from 
principle  and  from  policy.  This  had  been  the  course  of  our  Government  ever 
since  the  celebrated  proclamation  of  neutrali ty  of  General  Washington,  which 
I  explained  to  him.  I  was  not  now  afraid  that  England  would,  as  she  had 
done  before,  attempt  to  violate  the 'neutral  rights  of  a  nation  which  in  six 
months  could  put  to  sea  fifty  ships  of  the  line  and  heavy  frigates.  He  ex 
pressed  some  admiration  and  astonishment  at  this  statement,  which  was  con 
firmed  by  Mr.  Harris,  and  observed  he  could  not  believe  that  they  would. 

The  conversation  then  turned  upon  the  French  treaty.  He  said  he  had 
been  speaking  several  times  to  Broglie,  as  he  called  him,  upon  the  subject. 
He  had  done  what  he  could  for  us.  Broglie  was  well  disposed,  and  he 
thought  with  the  assistance  of  Lafayette  and  his  friends,  it  would  be  ratified 
very  early  in  the  next  session.  I  told  him  I  had  understood  that  Mr.  Dupin, 
the  President  of  the  Chamber,  was  rather  opposed  to  us.  He  said  that  Dupin 
was  an  unprincipled  man,  I  think  he  said  a  rascal,  very  selfish,  and  fond  of 
money.  He  was  now  receiving  a  pension  of  200  or  300  pounds.  I  did  not 
understand  exactly  from  whom. 

After  we  went  to  table,  we  had  much  conversation  in  nearly  the  same 
strain.  He  told  me  he  wished  I  could  be  present  at  two  or  three  sittings  of 
the  Chamber.  They  were  like  cats,  all  in  a  passion,  and  all  making  a  noise, 
and  afterwards  laughing ;  wholly  unfit  for  liberty.  They  wanted  such  a  man 
as  Bonaparte  and  glory  again,  not  liberty. 

Before  we  went  to  .table  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  Louis  Philippe, 
and  whether  the  allied  sovereigns  had  confidence  in  his  character.  He  an 
swered  equivocally.  Said  Louis  Philippe  might  be  well  disposed ;  but  he 
might  be  controlled  by  the  factions,  and  made  to  do  what  he  did  not  approve. 
His  government  wanted  strength. 

At  table,  in  speaking  of  the  emperor  [Nicholas],  I  said  I  had  taken  occa 
sion,  since  my  arrival  in  France,  to  speak  of  the  personal  character  of  the 
emperor  to  some  persons,  as  I  thought  it  deserved.  He  replied  as  if  I  had 
mentioned  the  name  of  Lafayette,  which  I  did  not,  and  asked  what  Lafayette 
had  thought  of  that.  I  said  that  General  Lafayette  was  aware  of  the  good 
personal  character  of  the  emperor,  and  that  of  the  empress,  and  the  happy 
influence  of  their  example  on  the  Russian  nobility,  and  had  freely  admitted 
it.  He  said  that  the  general  had  lost  his  influence  with  Louis  Philippe,  and 
in  a  great  degree  in  France.  I  observed  that  whatever  opinion  others  might 
express  concerning  him,  I  considered  it  the  duty  of  every  American  to  speak 
with  gratitude  of  him.  Mr.  Harris  here  shook  his  head  at  me,  but  I  continued, 
to  talk  about  him.,  and  the  donation  we  had  made  him.  The  count  said  it 


224  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

was  all  spent,  and  I  replied  I  was  very  sorry  for  it.  Various  subjects  were 
talked  over,  and  the  count  took  leave  of  me  in  the  kindest  and  most  affec 
tionate  manner.  He  was  glad  to  have  an  opportunity  of  communicating 
this  information  to  a  gentleman  of  my  character,  who  had  been  sent  on  a 
special  mission  to  Russia,  and  acquitted  himself  in  such  a  manner  as  I  had 
done.  General  Jackson  might  probably  have  never  heard  of  him;  but  he 
had  often  [heard]  of  the  general,  and  respected  his  character  very  highly.  I 
told  him  his  name  was  known  throughout  the  political  world.  General 
Jackson  would  be  proud  of  his  good  opinion,  which  I  should  not  fail  to  com 
municate. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that,  at  the  proper  place,  I  introduced  the  subject  of 
the  treaty  concerning  maritime  rights,  and  said  one  object  of  my  mission  was 
to  make  a  treaty  which  should  assert  these  rights  as  between  the  two  nations. 
He  replied  that  he  presumed  it  had  been  explained  to  me  that  the  reason 
why  Eussia  did  not  accede  to  this  treaty  at  the  present  moment  was  the 
delicate  relations  between  them  and  England.  Such  a  treaty  at  this  time 
would  set  England  in  a  flame.  Russia  was  but  a  second-rate  naval  power. 
She  agreed,  however,  entirely  with  the  principles  concerning  maritime  rights 
maintained  by  us,  and  at  the  proper  time  would  assert  them  in  the  same 
manner  as  if  she  had  entered  into  the  treaty.  In  the  course  of  the  conversa 
tion,  he  observed  that  the  influence  of  Russia  was  firmly  established  in  Con 
stantinople.  Yes,  I  observed,  she  had  been  acting  whilst  the  other  powers 
were  talking.  I  asked  the  true  character  of  the  sultan,  and  he  spoke  of  him 
as  rather  a  wavering  and  weak  man,  etc. 

Mr.  Buchanan,  after  visiting  the  interesting  old  city  of 
Rouen,  embarked  at  Havre  for  Southampton,  and  arrived  at 
Thompson's  Hotel  in  Cavendish  Square,  London,  on  the  18th  of 
September.  A  dinner  at  Prince  Lieven's  and  another  at  Lord 
Palmerston's  are  the  only  things  worthy  of  note  that  I  find  in 
his  journal  kept  during  this  visit. 

Monday,  September  23. 

Dined  at  Prince  Lieven's. 

The  company  were  the  Prince  and  Princess,  Prince  Talleyrand  and  the 
Duchess  de  Dino*  Prince  Esterhazy,  Baron  Wessenberg,  Lord  Palmerston, 
Baron  Billow,  Mr.  Dedal,  Mr.  Yail,  the  Earl  and  Countess  of  Sefton,  Mr. 
Lomonosoff  and  myself — fourteen.  The  whole  London  conference  there.  A 
dinner  given  to  Prince  Talleyrand,  who  left  London  the  next  day  for  Paris. 

They  were  all  very  civil  and  kind  to  me,  particularly  Princess  Lieven,  Lord 
Palmerston  and  Prince  Esterhazy.  After  dinner,  I  was  introduced  to  Prince 
Talleyrand  by  Lord  Palmerston,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  latter.  He  at  once 

*  The  wife  of  Prince  Talleyrand's  nephew,  the  Due  de  Dino. 


PRINCE  LIEVEN  AND  LORD  PALMERSTON.  225 

asked  me,  in  French,  if  I  could  speak  French.  I  told  him  not  well,  but  I 
could  understand  it.  He  then  asked  some  questions  about  America,  and 
inquired  particularly  for  the  family  of  General  Hamilton,  and  about  the 
descendants  of  General  Schuyler.  He  said  that  when  he  was  minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  Colonel  Burr  came  to  Paris  and  sent  his  card  to  him.  He 
returned  the  card,  with  a  message  that  he  had  the  portrait  of  General  Hamil 
ton  hanging  up  in  his  parlor. 

They  told  me,  before  I  made  his  acquaintance,  that  though  eighty-three,  by 
his  own  acknowledgment,  his  mind  was  as  active  as  ever.  This  I  doubt. 
He  has  the  appearance  of  a  very  old  man,  though  not  very  thin,  like  the 
French.  At  dinner  he  spoke  very  little,  though  he  ate  with  a  good  appetite. 
They  say  he  eats  but  one  meal  a  day.  After  dinner  he  was  a  little  more 
sprightly.  He  accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  again  with  the  Prince  and 
Princess  on  the  8th  December,  at  half-past  seven,  with  pleasantry.  Baron 
Billow  told  me  the  next  day  that  his  ability  and  skill  in  the  conference  were 
wonderful.  He  would  lie  down  and  say  nothing  whilst  all  the  rest  were 
talking,  but  when  they  got  tired  and  into  confusion,  he  would  come  out  with 
great  power,  and  restore  all  things  to  their  proper  order. 

Lord  Palmerston  did  not  arrive  at  the  dinner  till  after  we  bad  sat  down, 
about  eight  o'clock.  They  say  he  is  never  punctual.  He  is  an  agreeable  and 
open-hearted  man  to  appearance.  I  had  much  conversation  with  him  on  three 
occasions,  particularly  after  his  own  dinner,  and  he  must  be  a  great  hypocrite 
if  not  in  favor  of  promoting  the  most  friendly  relations  between  England  and 
the  United  States.  Prince  Esterhazy  on  this  day  expressed  his  admiration  of 
the  President,  and  his  warm  friendship  towards  the  American  people,  and 
said  this  was  the  feeling  of  Prince  Metternich.  He  had  recommended  to  the 
emperor  to  open  diplomatic  relations  with  us,  which  the  latter  had  acceded 
to,  and  a  minister  would  soon  be  sent.  He  spoke  of  his  own  country, 
Hungary,  with  great  devotion,  and  said  he  never  would  have  been  a  diplomat 
but  for  the  friendship  of  the  late  king  (George  IV.).  He  pressed  me  several 
times  to  give  Americans  letters  of  introduction  to  him. 

Tuesday,  24. 

Dined  at  Lord  Palmerston's. 

Lord  Palmerston's  dinner  consisted  of  his  Lordship,  Princes  Esterhazy  and 
Lieven,  Barons  Billow,  Wessenberg  and  Ompteda,  Mr.  Backhouse,  Mr.  Vail, 
Mr.  Bacourt,  Sir  George  Shea,  Mr.  Sullivan,  Mr.  Sullivan,  Jr.  and  myself. 

I  sat  next  Baron  Billow  at  table.  He  talked  freely  of  the  conduct  of  the 
King  of  Holland.  Blamed  his  obstinacy  and  perverseness.  Said  he  might 
yet  bring  ruin  on  his  own  head.  The  Dutch  were  an  excellent  people.  He 
had  deceived  them,  induced  them  to  believe  that  all  he  wanted  was  the  sepa 
ration  of  Holland  from  Belgium  upon  fair  terms,  when  he  was  only  keeping 
the  question  open  in  the  hope  that  he  might  get  Belgium  under  his  dominion 
again,  which  the  Dutch  did  not  wish.  When  they  discovered  they  had  been 
deceived,  he  did  not  know  what  might  be  the  consequence.  He  said  he 
could  not  anticipate  when  the  conference  would  end.  The  King  of  Holland 

I.— 15 


226  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

could  have  got  better  terms  formerly  than  it  was  possible  for  him  now. 
He  told  me  significantly  that  the  King  of  Prussia  would  not  meet  the 
emperors  of  Russia  and  Austria  in  conference.  The  whole  conversation 
coming  from  the  Prussian  minister  to  the  conference  astonished  me. 

Mr.  Bates*  told  me  the  English  were  fifty  years  behind  the  Americans  in 
commercial  enterprise  and  shipbuilding.  He  was  examined  before  a  com 
mittee  of  the  House  of  Commons.  When  questioned  upon  this  subject,  he 
said  he  had  been  kindly  received  and  treated  in  England,  and  did  not  like  to 
answer  the  question  and  have  his  answers  published.  They  then  told  him  to 
give  his  opinion,  and  it  should  not  be  taken  down. 

He  told  them  the  reason  of  the  superiority  was  in  the  character  of  masters 
and  sailors.  They  were  educated,  had  a  sense  of  character  and  responsibility, 
entirely  different  from  the  same  classes  in  England.  Masters  were  respectable 
men,  and  sailors  were  now  shipped  from  a  reading-room  in  Boston. 

He  expressed  his  opinion  to  me  that  the  Americans  would,  before  long, 
carry  on  the  chief  trade  between  England  and  China.  Everything  favored 
them.  The  destruction  of  the  East  India  Company's  charter  and  of  the  West 
India  merchants,  etc. 

[He  speaks  of]  The  astonishment  of  the  shipbuilder,  when  he  gave  the  di 
mensions  of  a  vessel  to  him,  and  his  astonishment  afterwards  at  being  shown 
the  American  vessel  which  was  his  model,  etc. 

*  Joshua  Bates,  Esq.,  Ions?  the  American  partner  of  the  house  of  Baring  Brothers  & 
Co.,  and  for  many  years  its  head. 


CHAPTEE    XI. 

1833—1836. 

MR.  BUCHANAN  RETURNS  HOME — GREETING  FROM  GENERAL  JACKSON — 
ELECTED  TO  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES — STATE  OF  PAR 
TIES — THE  GREAT  WHIG  LEADERS  IN  THE  SENATE — PERIL  OF  A 
WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 

ME.  BUCHANAN  was  greeted  on  his  arrival  at  his  home 
in  Lancaster  by   the  following    letter  from   General 
Jackson : 

[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

WASHINGTON,  Nov.  18,  1833. 
Mr  DEAR  SIR  : — 

I  have  received  your  note  by  Mr.  John  Van  Buren,  and  am  delighted  to 
hear  that  you  have  reached  your  country  in  good  health,  after  so  long  an 
absence  in  her  service.  I  anticipate  much  pleasure  from  the  personal  inter 
view,  which  you  have  promised  me  I  shall  have  in  the  course  of  this  week, 
but  do  not  desire  to  hasten  you  more  than  your  convenience,  or  the  wishes 
of  your  friends  will  permit.  I  leave  until  then  all  else  that  I  would  say, 
except  my  congratulation  on  your  safe  arrival,  which  I  beg  you  to  accept 
with  my  best  wishes  for  your  health  and  happiness. 

Very  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

The  winter  of  1833-34  appears  to  have  been  passed  in  pri 
vate  occupations  which  have  left  no  traces.  But  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer  of  1834,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  appointed  one 
of  the  commissioners  on  the  part  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  arrange  with  commissioners  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  con 
cerning  the  use  of  the  waters  of  the  Delaware.  It  was  not 
entirely  convenient  for  him  to  accept  this  appointment ;  but  as 
it  was  to  be  a  public  service  without  any  pecuniary  compensa 
tion,  he  felt  that  he  had  no  alternative.  How  long  he  was 
occupied  about  it,  I  have  not  discovered.  In  the  following 
December,  the  election  of  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  to 


228  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

succeed  Mr.  Wilkins,  who  had  been  appointed  minister  to 
Russia,  was  to  be  made  by  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania. 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  chosen  on  the  6th  of  December  (1834),  upon 
the  fourth  balloting;  his  principal  competitors  being  Joel  B. 
Sutherland,  James  Clarke,  and  Ainos  Ellmaker.  He  was  of 
course  elected  by  the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature, 
and  as  a  supporter  of  the  administration  of  President  Jackson.* 
The  correspondence  which  took  place  between  him  and  those 
who  elected  him,  is  of  interest  now,  chiefly  because  it  discloses 
that  he  held  to  what  has  been  called  the  doctrine  of  instruc 
tion  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  right  of  a  State  Legislature  to  direct 
the  vote  of  a  Senator  of  the  State  in  Congress,  and  the  duty 
of  the  Senator  to  obey  the  direction. 

[TO    THE   HON.    JAMES    BUCHANAN.] 

HARRISBURG,  Dec.  8,  1834. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

Ere  this  reaches  you,  doubtless  you  will  have  been  notified  of  your  elec 
tion  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  by  the  Legislative  body  of  this  State 
to  which  we  have  the  honor  to  belong.  And  it  is  with  unfeigned  gratification 
that  we  individually  can  claim  a  participation  in  the  confidence  which  has  on 
this  occasion  been  reposed  in  your  talents  and  integrity.  Nor  is  that  gratifica 
tion  by  any  means  lessened,  from  the  consideration  that  you  are  the  personal 
as  well  as  the  political  friend  of  both  our  State  and  National  Executives,  who 
have  done  so  much  within  their  respective  spheres  to  exalt  the  character  and 
promote  the  interests  of  our  State  and  Nation.  And  above  all,  who,  in  their 
official  relations,  so  nobly  stood  forth  in  the  rescue  of  our  common  country 
from  the  grasp  of  a  corrupt  moneyed  monopoly,  as  reckless  as  it  was 
aristocratical,  and  as  merciless  as  it  was  powerful.  And  it  is  with  no  less  pride 
than  pleasure  that  we  shall  look  to  you,  in  your  new  and  high  relations,  as  the 
champion  of  the  measures  projected  by  our  venerable  President,  Andrew 
Jackson,  and  seconded  by  our  worthy  Executive,  George  Wolf. 
Respectfully  your  friends  and  obedient  servants, 

(Signed  by)  JACOB  KERN, 

and  Seventy  other  Members. 

The  following  communication,  in  reply,  was  laid  before  the 
members,  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  Capitol  on  the  7th  instant, 
by  Col.  Jacob  Kern,  Speaker  of  the  Senate : 

*  General  Jackson's  first  term  extended  from  March  4th,  1829,  to  March  4th,  1833.  His 
second  term  ended  March  4th,  1837. 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  INSTRUCTION.  229 

[TO  JACOB  KERN,  ESQ.,  AND  OTHERS,  MEMBERS  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF 
PENNSYLVANIA.] 

WASHINGTON,  Dec.  22,  1834. 
GENTLEMEN  : — 

I  want  language  to  express  my  feelings  on  the  perusal  of  your  kind  letter, 
which  was  delivered  to  me  at  the  moment  I  was  about  to  leave  Harrisburg. 
Elevated  by  your  free  and  unsolicited  suffrages  to  the  only  public  station  I 
desire  to  occupy,  it  shall  be  my  constant  endeavor  to  justify,  by  my  conduct, 
the  generous  confidence  which  you  have  thus  reposed.  The  interest  and  the 
honor  of  Pennsylvania,  so  far  as  you  have  committed  them  to  my  hands, 
shall  never  be  wilfully  abandoned  or  betrayed. 

Although  you  have  not  asked  me  for  any  pledge  or  promise  relating  to  my 
course  in  the  Senate,  yet  I  am  sensible  that  many  of  you  desire  I  should 
express  my  opinion  publicly  in  regard  to  the  right  of  legislative  instruction. 
I  shall  do  so  with  the  utmost  frankness.  On  this  question  I  have  not,  and 
never  have  had,  any  serious  difficulties.  The  right  results  from  the  very 
nature  of  our  institutions.  The  will  of  the  people,  when  fully  and  fairly 
expressed,  ought  to  be  obeyed  by  all  their  political  agents.  This  is  the  very 
nature  and  essence  of  a  representative  democracy. 

Without  entering  into  an  argument  upon  the  general  question,  which 
would  be  altogether  misplaced  upon  the  present  occasion,  it  may  not  be  im 
proper  to  observe  that  the  principle  applies  with  redoubled  force  to  Senators 
in  Congress.  They  represent  the  sovereign  States,  who  are  the  parties  to 
that  constitutional  compact  which  called  the  federal  union  into  existence.  In 
the  Senate,  these  States  are  represented  as  distinct  communities,  each  entitled 
to  the  same  number  of  votes,  without  regard  to  their  population.  In  that 
body  they  are  all  equal,  as  they  were  before  the  adoption  of  the  federal  con 
stitution.  Here,  emphatically,  if  any  where,  the  voice  of  the  States  ought 
to  be  heard,  and  ought  to  be  obeyed.  Shall  it  then  be  said  that  a  Senator 
possesses  the  constitutional  right  to  violate  the  express  instructions  of  the 
sovereign  State  which  he  represents,  and  wield  the  power  and  the  vote 
which  have  been  conferred  upon  him  for  the  benefit  of  his  constituents  in  a 
manner  which  they  have  solemnly  declared  to  be  ruinous  to  their  dearest 
interests,  or  dangerous  to  their  liberties !  The  bare  statement  of  the  proposi 
tion  carries  conviction  to  my  mind.  All,  or  nearly  all  the  State  Legislatures, 
have  long  been  in  the  practice  of  instructing  their  Senators,  and  this  affords 
the  strongest  evidence  of  the  principle  upon  which  the  custom  is  founded. 

It  has  been  objected,  that  the  right  of  instruction  may  destroy  the  tenure 
of  the  Senatorial  office,  and  render  it  subject  to  all  the  political  fluctuations  in 
the  several  States.  But  the  Senator  is  only  bound  to  obey :  he  is  not  called 
upon  to  resign.  And  although  there  may  be  circumstances  in  which  a  man 
of  honor  might  feel  himself  constrained  to  retire  from  the  public  service 
rather  than  give  the  vote  of  his  State  against  his  own  convictions,  yet  these 
cases  must,  from  their  nature,  be  of  rare  occurrence. 


230  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

Besides,  this  objection  implies  an  entire  want  of  confidence  in  the  State 
legislatures.  It  supposes  that  they  may  become  the  instruments  of  faction  for 
the  purpose  of  harassing  Senators,  and  compelling  them  to  resign.  In  fact, 
it  results  in  the  principle  that  the  people  are  incapable  of  managing  their  own 
concerns,  and  are,  therefore,  under  the  necessity  of  conferring  an  irresponsible 
political  power  upon  one  of  their  own  number,  to  save  them  from  themselves. 
From  the  nature  of  our  institutions,  we  must  repose  such  a  degree  of  confi 
dence  in  the  State  legislatures  as  to  presume  that  they  will  not  abuse  the 
power  with  which  they  have  been  intrusted. 

If  it  should  ever  clearly  appear,  in  any  case,  that  the  immediate  represen 
tatives  of  the  people  have  not  obeyed  their  will  in  voting  instructions,  this 
might  present  an  exception  to  the  general  rule.  Such  an  occurrence,  how 
ever,  though  possible,  is  highly  improbable.  It  is  not  to  be  presumed  that 
State  legislatures  will  exercise  this  important  power,  unless  upon  grave  and 
solemn  occasions,  after  mature  deliberation  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  public  will. 

I  have  thus  expressed  my  opinion  freely  upon  this  important  question, 
though  I  am  well  aware  it  differs  from  that  of  some  of  the  ablest  and  best 
men  of  our  country.* 

In  relation  to  the  course  which  I  intend  to  pursue  in  the  Senate,  I  shall 
say  but  little.  My  conduct  must  speak  for  itself.  I  feel  sensible  that  in  point 
of  ability  I  shall  disappoint  the  partial  expectations  of  my  friends.  To  become 
distinguished  in  that  body,  the  ablest  in  the  world  in  proportion  to  its  num 
bers,  requires  a  stretch  of  intellect  and  a  range  of  political  knowledge  and 
experience,  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  possess.  Whilst,  therefore,  I  cannot 
become  "the  champion  of  the  measures  projected  by  our  venerable  President," 
I  shall,  both  from  principle  and  inclination,  give  them  an  honest  and  consis 
tent  support. 

Before  concluding  this  letter,  permit  me  to  state  my  entire  concurrence  in 
the  sentiments  you  have  expressed  concerning  "  our  worthy  executive,  George 
Wolf."  In  the  darkest  hour  of  pressure  and  of  panic  during  the  last  winter, 
when  the  internal  improvements  of  the  State  were,  to  all  appearance,  about 
to  be  arrested,  he  stood  unmoved,  and  met  the  storm  in  a  manner  which 
proved  him  to  be  the  able,  faithful,  and  fearless  representative  of  Pennsylvania 
Democracy.  His  message  contributed  much  to  dispel  thfe  gloom  which,  for  a 


*  Upon  this  vexed  question  of  instruction  there  is  perhaps  no  more  important  distinc 
tion  than  that  which  was  drawn  by  Mr.  Webster  in  his  celebrated  speech  of  March  7,  1850: 
namely,  that  where  a  State  has  an  interest  of  her  own,  not  adverse  to  the  general  interest  of 
the  country,  a  Senator  is  bound  to  follow  the  direction  which  he  receives  from  the  legisla 
ture  ;  but  if  the  question  be  one  which  affects  her  interests,  and  at  the  same  time  affects 
equally  the  interests  of  all  the  other  States,  the  Senator  is  not  bound  to  obey  the  will  of  the 
State,  because  he  is  in  the  position  of  an  arbitrator  or  referee.  The  first  proposition  seems 
evident  enough,  but  of  course  it  embraces  none  but  a  limited  class  of  questions.  It  is  in  the 
far  more  numerous  cases  which  fall  under  the  second  proposition  that  the  difficulty  inherent 
in  the  doctrine  of  instruction  arises.  Mr.  Buchanan,  it  will  be  seen  hereafter,  consistently 
acted  upon  the  view  with  which  he  began  his  senatorial  career. 


STATE    OF   PARTIES.  231 

time,  seemed  to  have  settled  on  our  country.     It  was  the  bright  dawn  of 
that  glorious  day  of  prosperity  which  we  have  since  enjoyed. 

With  sentiments  of  the  most  profound  gratitude  and  respect,  I  remain 
Your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

As  I  am  now  to  trace  a  long  senatorial  career,  which  began 
at  a  period  when  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  contained 
men  of  the  very  highest  ability  and  renown,  it  is  proper  to  give 
a  brief  account  of  the  state  of  parties  and  the  questions  of  the 
time,  and  to  fix  Mr.  Buchanan's  position  among  the  statesmen 
whom  he  had  to  meet.  When  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate, 
on  the  15th  of  December,  1834,  General  Jackson  was  in  his 
second  term  of  office,  which  began  on  the  4th  of  March,  1833. 
He  had  received  a  very  large  majority  of  the  electoral  votes — • 
seventy-four  more  than  wTere  necessary  to  a  choice.  Mr.  Yan 
Buren  had  become  Yice-President  by  a  majority  of  electoral 
votes  less  than  General  Jackson's,  by  the  number  of  thirty.  He 
was,  of  course,  in  the  chair  of  the  Senate.  In  Congress  and 
throughout  the  country,  the  supporters  of  the  administration 
had  become  known  as  the  Democratic  party,  the  old  term  of 
"  Republicans,"  and  the  more  recent  one  of  "  Jackson  men," 
being  generally  dropped.*  The  opposition  had  become  classified 
and  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the  Whig  party,  a  term 
substituted  for  that  of  "  National  Republicans."  Their  leader 
and  candidate  in  the  presidential  election  of  1832  was  Mr. 
Clay.f  There  was  a  third  party,  known  as  the  "  Anti-Masons," 
who  gave  the  seven  electoral  votes  of  Vermont  to  Mr.  Wirt,  as 
their  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and  to  Amos  Ellmaker  of 
Pennsylvania  as  their  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 

Notwithstanding  General  Jackson's  great  popularity  and  influ 
ence  throughout  the  country,  a  large  majority  of  the  Senate  were 
opposed  to  his  administration  and  his  measures.  This  opposi 
tion  became  concentrated  and  intensified  by  the  President's  re 
moval  of  the  public  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  into  certain  selected  State  banks.  A  resolution,  strongly 

*  General  Jackson  himself  continued,  during  his  Presidency  and  after  his  retirement,  in 
his  correspondence  to  apply  to  his  party  the  term  "  Republican." 

t  John  Sergeant  of  Pennsylvania  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency  along 
with  Mr.  Clay,  and  he  received  the  same  electoral  vote. 


232  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

condemning  this  act,  had  been  carried  in  the  Senate,  by  twenty- 
eight  yeas  against  eighteen  nays,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1834, 
nine  months  before  Mr.  Buchanan  entered  the  Senate.  This 
vote  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  a  general  index  of  the  rela 
tive  strength  of  parties  in  that  body  when  Mr.  Buchanan  be 
came  a  member  of  it.  How  this  great  opposition  majority 
became  so  changed  three  years  afterward,  that  the  friends  of 
General  Jackson  were  able  to  expunge  this  resolution  from  the 
records  of  the  Senate,  will  appear  hereafter.  The  leading 
Senators  of  the  opposition  at  the  commencement  of  the  session, 
in  December,  1834,  and  distinctly  classified  as  Whigs,  were 
Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Clayton  of  Delaware,  Mr.  Ewing  of 
Ohio,  and  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  and  Mr.  Southard  of  New  Jersey. 
The  most  important  Democratic  or  administration  Senators 
\vere,  Messrs.  Wright  of  New  York,  Benton  of  Missouri,  and  Mr. 
King  of  Alabama.  Calhoun  stood  apart  from  both  the  political 
parties.  He  had  been  chosen  Vice-President  in  1828  by  the  same 
party  which  then  elected  General  Jackson  for  the  first  time,  and 
he  then  had  the  same  electoral  votes,  with  the  exception  of  seven 
of  the  votes  of  Georgia.  He  was  consequently  in  the  Chair  of  the 
Senate  in  1830,  when  the  great  debate  took  place  between  Mr. 
Webster  and  Colonel  Hayne  on  the  subject  of  nullification. 
In  1832,  when  the  South  Carolina  doctrine  of  nullification  cul 
minated  in  a  threatened  resistance  to  collection  of  the  Federal 
revenue  within  her  borders,  and  made  it  necessary  for  General 
Jackson  to  issue  his  celebrated  proclamation,  Mr.  Calhoun 
was  elected  as  a  senator  in  Congress  from  South  Carolina,  and 
he  determined  to  resign  the  Vice-Presidency.  In  December, 
1832,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  The  breach  between  him 
and  the  President,  which  was  caused  by  the^  attitude  of  the 
latter  towards  the  "  Nullifiers,"  was  understood  to  be  widened 
by  the  probability  that  Mr.  Yan  Buren  would  be  the  Demo 
cratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  to  succeed  General  Jackson 
in  1837,  and  by  the  well-known  wish  of  the  latter  that  Mr. 
Yan  Buren  should  become  his  successor.  The  breach  between 
Mr.  Calhoun  and  the  President  became  still  farther  widened, 
when  the  State  of  South  Carolina  adopted  her  famous  ordinance 
for  preventing  the  collection  of  the  Federal  revenue  within  her 
limits.  From  General  Jackson's  known  firmness  of  character 


THE  GREAT  LEADERS  IN  THE  SENATE.       233 

and  tendency  to  severe  measures,  Mr.  Calhoun  found  himself  in 
some  personal  danger.  Then  followed  Mr.  Clay's  interposition, 
by  means  of  his  compromise  tariff,  which  was  designed  to  ward 
off  an  actual  collision  between  the  federal  executive  and  the 
nullifying  leaders  of  South  Carolina.  Mr.  Calhoun  was  thus 
saved  from  personal  humiliation,  and  perhaps  from  some  per 
sonal  peril.  But  no  real  reconciliation  took  place  between  him 
and  General  Jackson,  and  he  remained  in  an  isolated  position 
in  the  Senate,  a  great  and  powerful  debater,  vindicating  with 
singular  ability,  when  a  proper  occasion  offered,  his  peculiar 
views  of  the  nature  of  the  Constitution,  always  discharging  his 
duties  as  a  senator  with  entire  purity,  but  never  acting  upon 
any  measure  as  a  member  of  either  of  the  political  parties  into 
which  the  Senate  was  divided. 

Taking  the  entire  composition  of  the  Senate  at  that  period, 
with  the  opposing  forces  of  the  Democratic  and  the  Whig 
parties,  and  with  Mr.  Calhoun's  intermediate  position,  there  has 
never  been  a  period  in  the  history  of  that  body,  when  there  was 
more  real  power  of  debate  displayed,  or  when  public  measures 
were  more  thoroughly  considered.  If  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Calhoun 
and  Mr.  Webster  towered  above  the  other  senators,  there  were 
not  wanting  men  who  may  be  said  to  have  approached  them  in 
ability ;  and  if  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster,  on  the  Whig  side, 
sometimes  appeared  to  give  to  the  opposition  a  preponderating 
intellectual  force,  it  was  not  always  a  supremacy  that  could  be 
said  to  be  undisputed  by  their  Democratic  opponents,  although 
they  did  for  a  long  time  control  the  action  of  the  Senate.  The 
country  looked  on  upon  these  great  senatorial  contests  with 
predilections  which  varied,  of  course,  with  the  political  feelings 
and  associations  of  men ;  but  the  President,  his  measures  and 
his  policy,  notwithstanding  the  power  of  the  Senatorial  opposi 
tion,  continued  to  grow  in  the  popular  favor,  and  to  receive 
constant  proofs  of  the  popular  support.  To  some  of  the  prin 
cipal  questions  of  the  time  I  now  turn.  The  first  in  which 
Mr.  Buchanan  took  part,  soon  after  he  entered  the  Senate, 
related  to  the  conduct  of  France. 

In  1831  a  convention  was  concluded  between  the  United 
States  and  the  government  of  King  Louis  Philippe,  by  which 


234  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

the  latter  bound  itself  to  pay  to  the  United  States  twenty-five 
millions  of  francs,  for  the  liquidation  of  certain  claims  of 
American  citizens  against  France,  and  to  be  distributed  to  the 
claimants  by  the  American  Government,  as  it  should  determine. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States,  on  its  part,  engaged  to 
pay  to  the  French  government  one  million  five  hundred 
thousand  francs,  to  liquidate  the  claims,  urged  by  the  French 
government  for  its  citizens,  on  the  United  States,  and  to  be  dis 
tributed  by  the  French  government,  as  it  should  determine. 
Each  party  bound  itself  to  pay  its  stipulated  sum  in  six  annual 
instalments :  those  payable  by  the  United  States  to  be  deducted 
from  the  larger  sums  payable  by  France.  The  first  French  in 
stalment,  4,166,666.66  francs,  became  due  at  the  expiration  of  one 
year  next  following  the  exchange  of  ratifications.  The  exchange 
of  ratifications  took  place  February  2d,  1832,  and  consequently 
the  first  French  instalment  became  due  on  the  3d  of  February, 
1833.  A  bill  of  exchange  was  drawn  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  on  the  French  Minister  of  Finance,  for  the  amount 
of  the  instalment,  and  sold  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
Payment  was  refused  at  the  French  Treasury  when  the  bill 
was  presented,  for  the  reason  that  the  Legislative  Chambers 
had  made  no  appropriation  to  meet  the  instalment.  We  have 
seen  that  when  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  Paris,  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1833  he  held  conversations  on  this  matter  with  the 
Due  de  Broglie  and  Count  Pozzo  di  Borgo;  from  which  it 
appears  that  moderate  and  rational  persons  in  France  then 
believed  that  the  Chambers  would  at  the  next  session  make 
the  necessary  appropriation.  In  December,  1833,  President 
Jackson,  in  his  annual  message  to  Congress,  adverted  to  this 
subject,  and  said  that  he  had  despatched  an  enwy  to  the  French 
government  to  attend  to  it,  and  that  he  had  received  from  that 
government  assurances  that  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Cham 
bers  it  would  be  brought  forward  and  satisfactorily  disposed  of. 
He  added  that  if  he  should  be  disappointed  in  this  hope,  the 
subject  would  be  again  brought  before  Congress,  "  in  such 
manner  as  the  occasion  might  require."  The  opposition  in 
France  regarded  this  as  a  menace.  The  subject  was  brought 
before  the  Chambers  several  times,  but  in  April,  1834,  the  ap- 


PERIL  OF   A   WAR   WITH   FRANCE.  235 

propriation  necessary  to  carry  the  treaty  into  effect  was  re 
fused.  The  king's  government  then  sent  a  national  vessel  to 
this  country,  bearing  the  king's  assurance  that  the  Chambers 
should  be  called  together,  after  the  election  of  new  members,  as 
soon  as  the  charter  would  permit,  and  that  the  influence  of  the 
executive  should  be  exerted  to  procure  the  necessary  appropria 
tion,  in  time  to  be  communicated  to  the  President  before  the 
assembling  of  Congress  in  December,  1834.  The  Chambers 
met  on  the  31st  of  July,  but  this  matter  was  not  acted  upon, 
and  they  were  prorogued  to  the  29th  of  December.  New 
assurances  were  given  by  the  French  government  that  at  the 
ensuing  session  the  appropriation  should  be  pressed.  In  his 
annual  message  of  December,  1834,  the  President  made  severe 
comments  on  the  course  of  all  branches  of  the  French  govern 
ment,  and  recommended  a  law  authorizing  reprisals  on  French 
property,  in  case  the  appropriation  should  not  be  made  at  the 
ensuing  session  of  the  Chambers.  This  wras  the  attitude  of  the 
matter  when  Mr.  Buchanan  entered  the  Senate.* 

The  Senate's  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs,  at  the  head  of 
which  was  Mr.  Clay,  had  made  a  report  against  the  adoption 
of  the  President's  recommendation.  On  the  14th  of  January, 
(1835)  on  a  resolution  introduced  by  Mr.  Cuthbert  of  Georgia, 
Mr.  Buchanan  took  occasion  to  say : 

*  The  secret  history  of  such  collisions  between  governments  not  infrequently  throws  an 
unexpected  light  upon  their  public  aspects.  When  General  Jackson  was  preparing  his  an 
nual  message  of  December,  1834,  some  of  his  friends  in  Washington  were  very  anxious  that 
it  should  not  be  too  peremptory  on  the  subject  of  the  French  payment.  At  their  request, 
Mr.  Justice  Catron,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  waited  upon  the  President,  and  advised  a  moder 
ate  tone.  The  President  took  from  his  drawer  an  autograph  letter  from  King  Louis  Philippe, 
and  handed  it  to  the  judge  to  read.  In  this  letter  the  king  represented  that  a  war  between 
the  United  States  and  France  would  be  especially  disastrous  to  the  wine-growing  districts, 
and  that  the  interests  of  those  provinces  could  be  relied  upon  to  oppose  it ;  but  that  it  was 
necessary  that  the  alternative  of  war  should  be  distinctly  presented  as  certain  to  follow  a 
final  refusal  of  the  Chambers  to  make  the  payment  demanded.  The  king  therefore  urged 
General  Jackson  to  adopt  a  very  decided  tone  in  his  message,  being  confident  that,  if  he  did 
so,  the  opposition  would  give  way  and  war  would  be  avoided. 

Another  anecdote  concerning  this  message  was  communicated  to  the  writer  from  an 
entirely  authentic  source.  After  the  message  had  been  written,  some  of  its  expressions 
vrere  softened  by  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  before  the  MS.  was  sent  to  the  printer,  without 
the  President's  knowledge.  When  it  was  in  type,  the  confidential  proof-reader  of  the  Globe 
office  took  the  proof-sheets  to  the  President ;  and  he  afterwards  said  that  he  never  before 
knew  what  profane  swearing  was.  General  Jackson  promptly  restored  his  own  language 
to  the  proof-sheets. 


236  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

IN  SENATE,  January  14,  1835. 

France  had,  before  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  declared  that 
it  was  the  unanimous  determination  of  the  king's  government  to  appear  before 
the  new  legislature  with  its  treaty  and  its  bill  in  hand,  and  that  its  intention 
was  to  do  all  that  the  charter  allowed  to  hasten,  as  much  as  possible,  the 
period  of  the  new  presentation  of  the  rejected  law.  The  President  rested 
satisfied  with  this  assurance,  and,  on  the  faith  of  it,  did  not  present  the  sub 
ject  to  Congress.  How  has  France  redeemed  this  pledge  ?  Has  that  gov 
ernment  hastened,  as  much  as  possible,  the  presentation  of  the  rejected  law  ? 
At  the  first  meeting  of  the  new  legislature  the  law  was  not  presented ;  and 
in  the  face  of  this  engagement,  the  Chambers  were  prorogued,  not  to  meet  in 
the  autumn,  but  on  the  29th  of  December,  the  very  latest  day  which  custom 
had  sanctioned.  If  this  assurance  had  any  meaning  at  all,  it  was  that  the 
Chambers  should  be  convened  at  least  in  sufficient  time  to  communicate  to 
the  President  information  that  they  had  assembled,  before  the  meeting  of 
Congress.  The  President,  at  the  date  of  the  message,  was  not  aware  that 
the  Chambers  would  assemble  on  the  first  of  the  month.  No  such  informa 
tion  had  been  communicated  to  him.  It  now  appears  that  they  did  assemble 
on  that  day.  And  the  only  reason  that  he  should  vote  for  the  resolution 
was,  that  he  was  willing  to  wait  until  the  result  of  their  deliberations  could 
be  known. 

What  effect  this  circumstance  might  have  had  on  the  President's  mind, 
had  he  known  of  its  existence,  he  was  not  prepared  to  say.  He  had  no 
information  to  give  on  that  subject. 

There  is  a  point,  sir,  said  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  the  intercourse  between  na 
tions,  at  which  diplomacy  must  end,  and  a  nation  must  either  consent  to 
abandon  her  rights,  or  assert  them  by  force.  After  having  negotiated  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  to  obtain  a  treaty  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  our  injured 
citizens,  and  after  the  French  Chamber  has  once  deliberately  rejected  that 
treaty,  will  not  this  point  have  been  reached,  should  the  Chamber  again  re 
fuse  to  make  the  appropriation  ?  If  this  be  so,  is  it  not  right,  is  it  not  fair,  to 
present  the  alternative  to  France  ?  Would  she  not  have  just  cause  to  complain 
if  we  should  not  adopt  this  very  course  ?  To  inform  her  frankly  and  freely 
that  we  have  arrived  at  this  point,  I  am  solemnly  convinced,  is  the  best  diplo 
macy  to  which  we  can  resort  to  obtain  redress  for  the  wrings  of  the  injured 
claimants.  France  will  then  have  the  alternative  fairly  presented ;  and  it  will 
be  for  her  to  decide  whether  she  will  involve  herself  in  war  with  her  ancient 
ally,  rather  than  pay  those  claims  which  the  Executive  branch  of  her  Gov 
ernment  have  determined  to  be  just  by  a  solemn  treaty.  Such  an  attitude  on 
the  part  of  America  will  do  more  for  the  execution  of  the  treaty  than  any 
temporizing  measures  of  policy  which  we  can  adopt.  I  never  was  more 
clearly  impressed  with  the  truth  of  any  proposition. 

France,  from  the  language  of  the  President,  will  have  no  right  to  consider 
this  a  menace.  It  is  no  more  than  to  say,  diplomacy  has  ended,  and  the 
treaty  must  be  executed,  or  we  shall,  however  reluctantly,  be  compelled  to 


PERIL    OF    A    WAR    WITH    FRANCE. 

take  redress  into  our  own  hands.  France  is  a  brave  and  a  chivalrous  nation ; 
her  whole  history  proves  that  she  is  not  to  be  intimidated,  even  by  Europe 
in  arms ;  but  she  is  wise  as  well  as  warlike.  To  inform  her  that  our  rights 
must  be  asserted,  is  to  place  her  in  the  serious  and  solemn  position  of  deciding 
whether  she  will  resist  the  payment  of  a  just  debt  by  force.  Whenever  she  is 
convinced  that  this  result  is  inevitable,  the  money  will  be  paid ;  and  although 
I  hope  I  may  be  mistaken,  I  believe  there  will  be  no  payment  until  she 
knows  we  shall  assume  this  attitude.  France  has  never  appeared  to  regard 
the  question  in  this  serious  light. 

It  has  been  asked  what  the  American  Congress  would  do  placed  in  similar 
circumstances.  Would  they  appropriate  money  with  a  menaca  impending 
over  their  heads?  I  answer,  no,  never.  But  I  should  never  consider  it  a 
menace,  if,  after  refusing  to  vote  an  appropriation  to  carry  a  treaty  into  effect, 
a  foreign  government  in  the  spirit  of  candor,  in  language  mild  and  courteous, 
such  as  that  used  by  the  President,  were  to  inform  us  they  could  not  abandon 
their  rights,  and,  however  painful  it  may  be,  they  should  be  compelled,  by  a 
sense  of  duty,  to  assert  them  by  force. 

After  some  further  discussion,  the  resolution  was  so  modified 
as  to  declare  that  it  was  at  that  time  inexpedient  to  adopt  any 
legislative  measure  in  regard  to  the  state  of  affairs  between 
the  United  States  and  France.  In  this  form  the  resolution 
was  unanimously  adopted. 

The  President's  message  was  received  in  Paris  in  the  early 
part  of  January  (1835).  It  was  resented  as  a  threat.  The 
French  minister  at  Washington  was  recalled,  and  on  the  13th  of 
January,  the  day  before  the  vote  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Livingston, 
the  minister  of  the  United  States  at  Paris,  was  informed  that 
his  passports  were  at  his  service.  But  a  bill  was  introduced  by 
the  ministry  in  the  Chambers,  to  make  the  necessary  appropria 
tion.  It  was  passed  in  the  latter  part  of  April,  but  with  an 
amendment  making  the  payment  conditional  upon  an  apology 
from  President  Jackson  for  the  language  of  his  message  of  the 
previous  December.  There  was  little  likelihood  that  any  such 
apology  would  be  made  for  language  addressed  by  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  through  their  represen 
tatives  in  Congress.  On  the  contrary,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
next  session  (January,  1836)  the  world  was  somewhat  startled 
by  a  recommendation  made  to  Congress  by  the  President,  of 
partial  non-intercourse  with  France.*  On  the  18th  of  January, 

*  Mr.  Ticknor,  writing  from  Paris,  February,  1836,  f-aid  :  "  One  thing,  however,  has  done 
us  much  honor.  General  Jackson's  message,  as  far  as  France  is  concerned,— for  they  know 


238  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

on  a  motion  by  Mr.  Clay  to  refer  this  recommendation  to  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs, 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  that  he  had  been  so  much  gratified  with  the  message 
which  had  just  been  read,  that  he  could  not,  and  he  thought  he  ought  not,  at 
this  the  very  first  moment,  to  refrain  from  expressing  his  entire  approbation 
of  its  general  tone  and  spirit.  He  had  watched  with  intense  anxiety  the  pro 
gress  of  our  unfortunate  controversy  with  France.  He  had  hoped,  sincerely 
hoped,  that  the  explanations  which  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Livingston,  and 
officially  approved  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  would  have  proved 
satisfactory  to  the  French  government.  In  this  he  had  found  his  hopes  to  be 
vain.  After  this  effort  had  failed,  he  felt  a  degree  of  confidence,  almost 
amounting  to  moral  assurance,  that  the  last  message  to  Congress  would  have 
been  hailed  by  France,  as  it  was  by  the  American  people,  as  the  olive  branch 
which  would  have  restored  amity  and  good  understanding  between  us  and 
our  ancient  ally.  Even  in  this,  he  feared,  he  was  again  doomed  to  be  disap- 
pointed.  The  government  of  France,  unless  they  change  their  determination, 
will  not  consider  this  message  as  sufficient.  We  have  the  terms  clearly  pre 
scribed  by  the  Duke  de  Broglie,  upon  which,  and  upon  which  alone,  the 
French  government  will  consent  to  comply  with  the  treaty,  and  to  pay  the 
five  millions  of  dollars  to  our  injured  fellow-citizens.  Speculation  is  now  at 
an  end.  The  clouds  and  darkness  which  have  hung  over  this  question  have 
vanished.  It  is  now  made  clear  as  a  sunbeam.  The  money  will  not  be  paid, 
says  the  organ  of  the  French  government,  unless  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  shall  address  its  claim  officially  in  writing  to  France,  accompanied  by 
what  appeared  to  him,  and  he  believed  would  appear  to  the  whole  American 
people,  without  distinction  of  party,  to  be  a  degrading  apology.  The  striking 
peculiarity  of  the  case,  the  one  which  he  would  undertake  to  say  distinguished 
it  from  any  other  case  which  had  arisen  in  modern  times,  in  the  intercourse 
between  independent  nations,  was,  that  the  very  terms  of  this  apology  were 
dictated  to  the  American  Government  by  the  French  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  One  of  these  terms  was,  that  it  had  never  entered  into  the  inten 
tion  (pensee),  the  thought  of  this  Government,  to  call  in  question  the  good 
faith  of  the  government  of  France. 

But  the  French  Government  proceed  still  further.  Upon  the  refusal  to 
make  this  apology,  which  they  ought  to  have  known  would  never  be  made — 
could  never  be  made — they  are  not  content  to  leave  the  question  where  it  then 
was.  They  have  given  us  notice  in  advance  that  they  will  consider  our  refusal  to 

nothing  about  the  rest  of  it,— has  been  applauded  to  the  skies.  The  day  it  arrived  I  hap 
pened  to  dine  with  the  Russian  minister  here,  in  a  party  of  about  thirty  persons,  and  I  assure 
you  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  nine-and-tvvcnty  of  them  came  up  to  me  with  congratulations. 
I  was  really  made  to  feel  awkward  at  last ;  but  this  has  been  the  tone  all  over  the  Continent, 
where  they  have  been  confoundedly  afraid  we  might  begin  a  war  which  would  end  no 
prophecy  could  tell  where."  (Life,  &c.,  of  George  Ticknor,  I.  480.)  Count  Pozzo  di  Borgo's 
company  would  not  be  likely  to  be  composed  of  persons  sympathizing  with  the  French 
opposition. 


PERIL   OF   A   WAR   WITH   FRANCE.  239 

make  this  degrading  apology  an  evidence  that  the  misunderstanding  did  not 
proceed  on  our  part  from  mere  error  and  mistake. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  the  last  note  of  the  Duke  de  Broglie  to  Mr.  Barton 
declares  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  knows  that  henceforward 
the  execution  of  the  treaty  must  depend  upon  itself.  They  thus  leave  us  to 
decide  whether  we  shall  make  the  apology  in  the  prescribed  terms,  or  abandon 
our  claim  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  treaty. 

He  would  not  allow  himself  to  express  the  feelings  which  were  excited  in 
his  mind  upon  hearing  these  letters  of  the  Duke  de  Broglie  read.  Most  sin 
cerely,  most  ardently,  did  he  hope  that  the  French  government,  when  this 
message  reached  them,  if  not  before,  might  reconsider  their  determination,  and 
that  all  our  difficulties  might  yet  pass  away.  But  their  language  is  now 
clear,  specific,  incapable  of  ambiguity  or  doubt.  It  would,  then,  become  our 
duty  calmly,  but  firmly,  to  take  such  a  stand  as  the  interests  and  the  honor 
of  the  country  may  require. 

Mr.  B.  had  already  said  much  more  than  he  intended  when  he  rose.  He 
would,  however,  make  another  remark  before  he  took  his  seat.  He  felt  a 
proper  degree  of  confidence,  he  might  add  a  great  degree  of  confidence,  in 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  He  knew  him  to  be  honest  and  firm, 
and  faithful  to  his  country;  prompt  to  resent  its  injuries  and  avenge  its 
wrongs.  He  confessed  he  had  anticipated  a  message  of  a  stronger  character. 
He  had  supposed  that  a  general  non-intercourse  with  France  would,  at  least, 
have  been  recommended.  But  the  recommendation  was  confined  to  the  mere 
refusal  to  admit  French  ships  or  French  productions  to  enter  our  ports.  It 
left  France  free  to  receive  her  supplies  of  cotton  from  the  United  States, 
without  which  the  manufacturers  of  that  country  could  not  exist.  This  was 
wise,  it  was  prudent ;  it  left  to  France  to  judge  for  herself  if  this  unnatural 
contest  must  still  continue,  whether  she  would  close  her  ports  against  our 
vessels  and  our  productions. 

In  the  spring  of  1832  (Mr.  B.  did  not  recollect  precisely  the  time)  Con 
gress  passed  an  act  to  carry  into  effect  our  part  of  the  treaty.  Under  this 
treaty,  the  wines  of  France  had  ever  since  been  admitted  into  the  United 
States  upon  the  favorable  terms  therein  stipulated.  Her  silks  were  imported 
free  of  duty,  in  contradistinction  to  those  which  came  from  beyond  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope.  She  had  for  years  been  enjoying  these  privileges.  Nothing 
milder,  then,  could  possibly  be  recommended  than  to  withdraw  these  advan 
tages  from  her,  and  to  exclude  her  vessels  and  her  productions  from  our  ports. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  that  when  he  made  the  observations  which  had  called 
forth  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Calhoun)  he  had 
believed  the  message  to  be  the  harbinger  of  peace,  and  not  of  war.  This  was 
still  his  opinion.  In  this  respect  he  differed  entirely  from  the  gentleman. 
Under  this  impression,  he  had  then  risen  merely  to  remark  that,  considering 
the  provocation  which  we  had  received,  the  tone,  the  spirit,  and  the  recom 
mendations  themselves,  of  the  message,  were  mild  and  prudent,  and  were  well 


240  LIFE   OF   JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

calculated  to  make  an  impression  upon  France,  and  to  render  her  sensible 
of  her  injustice. 

It  had  been  far  from  his  intention  to  excite  a  general  debate  on  the  French 
question,  and  he  would  not  be  drawn  into  it  now  by  the  remarks  of  the  Sen 
ator  from  South  Carolina.  He  must,  however,  be  permitted  to  say,  he  was 
sorry,  very  sorry,  that  the  gentleman  had  proclaimed  that,  if  war  should 
come,  we  are  the  authors  of  that  war,  and  it  would  be  the  fault,  not  of  the 
French,  but  of  the  American  Government.  Such  a  declaration,  proceeding 
from  such  a  source,  from  a  voice  so  powerful  and  so  potent,  would  be  heard 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  there  might  produce  a  most  injurious 
effect.  He  was  happy  to  say  that  this  sentiment  was  directly  at  war  with 
the  opinion  of  our  Committee  on  Foreign  Eelations,  who,  in  their  report  of 
the  last  session,  had  expressed  the  decided  opinion  that  the  American  Gov 
ernment,  should  it  become  necessary,  must  insist  upon  the  execution  of  the 
treaty.  It  was  at  war  with  the  unanimous  resolution  of  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives  of  the  same  session,  declaring  that  the  treaty  must  be  maintained. 
He  believed  it  was  equally  at  war  with  the  feelings  and  opinions  of  the 
American  people. 

Whilst  he  expressed  his  hope  and  his  belief  that  this  message  would  prove 
to  be  the  olive  branch  of  peace,  still  there  was  so  much  uncertainty  in  the 
event,  that  it  now  became  our  imperative  duty  to  prepare  for  the  worst.  Shall 
we  (said  Mr.  B.)  whilst  a  powerful  fleet  is  riding  along  our  southern  coast, 
in  a  menacing  attitude,  sit  here  and  withhold  from  the  President  the  means 
which  are  necessary  to  place  our  country  in  a  state  of  defence  ?  He  trusted 
this  would  never,  never  be  the  case. 

The  messages  and  documents  were  then  read,  and  referred  to  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Relations,  as  moved  by  Mr.  Clay. 

On  the  last  night  of  the  session,  which  terminated  on  the  3d- 
4th  of  March,  1835,  an  amendment  made  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  to  the  Fortification  bill,  was  before  the  Senate.  It 
proposed : 

"  That  the  sum  of  three  millions  of  dollars  be  and  the  same  is  hereby 
appropriated,  out  of  any  money  in  the  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated, 
to  be  expended,  in  whole  or  in  part,  under  the  direction  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  for  the  military  and  naval  service,  including  forti 
fications  and  ordnance  and  increase  of  the  navy :  Provided  such  expen 
ditures  shall  be  rendered  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  country,  prior  to 
the  next  meeting  of  Congress." 

The  motive  of  this  amendment  was  to  enable  the  President 
to  put  the  country  into  a  more  efficient  state  of  defence,  in  view 
of  the  danger  of  a  war  with  France.  It  was  opposed  by  Mr. 
Webster  and  Mr.  Clay  as  an  unconstitutional  mode  of  action, 


SPEECH   ON    THE   APPROPRIATION   BILL.  241 

and  also  because  the  state  of  the  French  question  did  not  require 
such  action.  Mr.  Buchanan  (on  the  3d  of  March,  1835,)  vindi 
cated  the  amendment  in  the  following  manner  : 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  he  was  astonished  at  the  remarks  which  had  been  made 
by  gentlemen  on  the  subject  of  this  appropriation.  The  most  fearful  appre 
hensions  had  been  expressed,  the  destruction  of  our  liberties  had  been  pre 
dicted,  if  we  should  grant  to  the  President  three  millions  of  dollars  to  defend 
the  country,  in  case  it  should  become  necessary  to  expend  it  for  that  purpose, 
before  the  next  meeting  of  Congress.  For  his  part,  he  could  realize  no  such 
dangers. 

Gentlemen  have  said,  and  said  truly,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  has  conferred  upon  Congress,  and  Congress  alone,  the  power  of  de 
claring  war.  When  they  go  further,  and  state  that  this  appropriation  will 
enable  the'executive  to  make  war  upon  France,  without  the  consent  of  Con 
gress,  they  are,  in  my  humble  judgment,  entirely  mistaken. 

Sir,  said  Mr.  B.,  what  is  the  true  nature,  and  what  are  the  legitimate  ob 
jects  of  this  appropriation  ?  Do  we  not  know  that,  although  the  President 
cannot  make  offensive  war  against  France,  France  may  make  war  upon  us ; 
and  that  we  may  thus  be  involved  in  hostilities  in  spite  of  ourselves,  before 
the  next  meeting  of  Congress  ?  If  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  should  deter 
mine  to  violate  the  treaty,  and  to  fix  an  enduring  stigma  upon  the  public 
faith  of  the  French  nation,  is  it  certain  that  France  may  not  proceed  a  step 
farther,  and  strike  the  first  blow?  Mr.  Livingston  himself,  in  the  corres 
pondence  which  had  been  communicated  to  us  by  the  President,  has  ex 
pressed  serious  apprehensions  that  this  may  be  the  result.  France  may  con 
sider  war,  eventually,  to  be  inevitable ;  she  may,  and  I  trust  does,  believe  that 
we  have  determined  not  to  submit  patiently  to  her  violation  of  a  solemn 
treaty  and  thus  abandon  the  just  claims  of  our  injured  citizens ;  and  taking 
advantage  of  our  unprepared  condition,  she  may  commence  hostilities  herself. 
The  first  blow  is  often  half  the  battle  between  nations  as  well  as  individuals. 
Have  we  any  security  that  such  will  not  be  her  conduct?  Have  we  any 
reason  to  believe  she  will  wait  until  we  are  ready  ?  Her  past  history  forbids 
us  to  indulge  too  securely  in  any  such  belief.  If  she  should  adopt  this  course, 
in  what  a  fearful  condition  shall  we  place  the  country,  if  we  adjourn  without 
making  this  appropriation !  The  Senate  will  observe  that  not  a  dollar  of  this 
money  can  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  unless  it  shall  become  necessary  for 
the  defence  of  the  country,  prior  to  the  next  meeting  of  Congress. 

Another  circumstance  which  renders  this  appropriation  indispensable  is, 
that  Congress  cannot  possibly  be  convened  by  the  President  much  before 
their  usual  time  of  meeting.  There  are,  I  believe,  nine  States  in  this  Union, 
who  have  not  yet  elected  their  representatives  to  the  next  Congress.  Some 
of  these  elections  will  take  place  in  April,  and  others  not  till  August,  and 
even  October.  We  have  now  arrived  almost  at  the  last  hour  of  our  political 
I.— 16 


242  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

existence ;  and  shall  we  leave  the  country  wholly  defenceless  until  the  meet 
ing  of  the  next  Congress  ?  Gentlemen  have  warned  us  of  the  fearful  respon 
sibility  which  we  should  incur  in  making  this  appropriation.  Sir,  said  Mr. 
B.,  I  warn  them  that  the  responsibility  will  be  still  more  dreadful,  should  we 
refuse  it.  In  that  event,  what  will  be  our  condition  should  we  be  attacked 
by  France  ?  Our  sea-coast,  from  Georgia  to  Maine,  will  be  exposed  to  the 
incursions  of  the  enemy ;  our  cities  may  be  plundered  and  burned ;  the  na 
tional  character  may  be  disgraced ;  and  all  this  whilst  we  have  an  overflowing 
Treasury.  When  I  view  the  consequences  which  may  possibly  flow  from  our 
refusal  to  make  this  grant,  I  repeat  that  the  responsibility  of  withholding  it 
may  become  truly  dreadful.  No  portion  of  it  shall  rest  upon  my  shoulders. 

Our  constitutional  right  to  appropriate  this  money  is  unquestionable. 
Whilst  I  express  this  opinion,  I  am  sorry  that  the  present  appropriation  is  not 
more  specific  in  its  objects.  Appropriation  bills  ought  to  be  passed  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  leave  as  little  to  executive  discretion  as  possible.  The  purposes 
for  which  the  money  is  to  be  applied  ought  to  be  clearly  and  distinctly 
stated.  If  there  were  time  to  do  it,  the  bill  might  be  improved  in  this 
respect.  But,  sir,  this  is  an  extraordinary  crisis,  and  demands  prompt  action. 
We  must  now  take  it  as  it  is,  or  not  take  it  at  all.  There  is  no  time  left  to 
make  the  changes  which  might  be  desired. 

Gentlemen  have  contended  that,  under  this  appropriation,  the  President 
would  be  authorized  to  increase  the  army,  and  appoint  as  many  new  officers 
to  command  it  as  he  thought  proper.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  He  could 
not,  under  any  just  construction  of  this  bill,  raise  a  single  new  company,  or 
appoint  a  single  officer,  not  authorized  by  existing  laws.  No  such  power  is 
conferred  upon  him  by  its  terms.  It  will  authorize  him  to  expend  three 
millions  of  the  public  money,  should  the  contingency  happen  which  it  con 
templates,  for  putting  the  vessels  of  war  now  in  ordinary  in  a  condition  for 
actual  service,  and  for  completing  those  the  building  of  which  has  already 
been  authorized  by  Congress.  The  money  may  also  be  applied  to  the  com 
pletion  and  repair  of  our  fortifications,  and  in  placing  them  in  a  state  of  se 
curity  and  defence  against  any  attack.  Should  it  become  necessary  to  call 
out  the  militia  under  existing  laws,  to  garrison  these  fortifications,  or  defend 
our  coast,  this  money  may  also  be  expended  for  that  purpose.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  language  of  the  appropriation  to  justify  the  construction  that 
the  President  might  raise  new  armies,  and  create  new  officers  to  command 
them. 

It  is  my  own  impression  that  there  will  be  no  necessity  for  expending  any 
portion  of  this  money.  If  there  should  be,  however :  and  it  is  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  provide  against  such  a  contingency;  let  the  responsibility  rest 
upon  those  who  refuse  the  appropriation.  The  country  will  be  left  defence 
less,  and  the  very  knowledge  of  this  circumstance  may  invite  an  attack. 

The  entire  Fortification  Bill  failed  to  be  passed  at  this  session, 
in  consequence  of  the  disagreement  between  the  two  houses  in 


SPEECH  ON  SURPLUS  REVENUE.          343 

regard  to  this  three  million  appropriation.  At  the  next  session, 
which  began  in  December,  1835,  Colonel  Benton  of  Missouri 
introduced  in  the  Senate  certain  resolutions  for  setting  apart  so 
much  of  the  surplus  revenue  as  might  be  necessary  for  the  de 
fence  and  permanent  security  of  the  country.  On  the  1st  and 
2d  of  February,  1836,  Mr.  Buchanan  addressed  the  Senate  on 
these  resolutions  as  follows  : 

Mr.  PpwESiDENT :  I  am  much  better  pleased  with  the  first  resolution  offered 
by  the  Senator  from  Missouri  (Mr.  Benton)  since  he  has  modified  it  upon  the 
suggestion  of  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  Grundy).  When  individuals 
have  more  money  than  they  know  how  to  expend,  they  often  squander  it 
foolishly.  The  remark  applies,  perhaps,  with  still  greater  force  to  nations. 
When  our  Treasury  is  overflowing,  Congress,  who  are  but  mere  trustees  for 
the  people,  ought  to  be  especially  on  their  guard  against  wasteful  expenditures 
of  the  public  money.  The  surplus  can  be  applied  to  some  good  and  useful 
purpose.  I  am  willing  to  grant  all  that  may  be  necessary  for  the  public 
defence  •  but  no  more.  I  am  therefore  pleased  that  the  resolution  has 
assumed  its  present  form. 

The  true  question  involved  in  this  discussion  is,  on  whom  ought  the  re 
sponsibility  to  rest  for  having  adjourned  on  the  3d  of  March  last  without  pro 
viding  for  the  defence  of  the  country.  There  can  be  no  doubt  a  fearful  responsi 
bility  rests  somewhere.  For  my  own  part,  I  should  have  been  willing  to  leave 
the  decision  of  this  question  to  our  constituents.  I  am  a  man  of  peace  ;  and 
dislike  the  crimination  and  recrimination  which  this  discussion  must  neces 
sarily  produce.  But  it  is  vain  to  regret  what  cannot  now  be  avoided.  The 
friends  of  the  administration  have  been  attacked ;  and  we  must  now  defend 
ourselves.  I  deem  it  necessary,  therefore,  to  state  the  reasons  why  I  voted, 
on  the  3d  of  March  last,  in  favor  of  the  appropriation  of  three  millions  for 
the  defence  of  the  country,  and  why  I  glory  in  that  vote. 

The  language  used  by  Senators  in  reference  to  this  appropriation  has  been 
very  strong.  It  has  been  denounced  as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution.  It 
has  been  declared  to  be  such  a  measure  as  would  not  have  received  the 
support  of  the  minority,  had  they  believed  it  could  prevail,  and  they  would 
be  held  responsible  for  it.  It  has  been  stigmatized  as  most  unusual — most 
astonishing — most  surprising.  And  finally,  to  cap  the  climax,  it  has  been 
proclaimed  that  the  passage  of  such  an  appropriation  would  be  virtually  to 
create  a  dictator,  and  to  surrender  the  power  of  the  purse  and  the  sword 
into  the  hands  of  the  President. 

I  voted  for  that  appropriation  under  the  highest  convictions  of  public  duty, 
and  I  now  intend  to  defend  my  vote  against  all  these  charges. 

In  examining  the  circumstances  which  not  only  justified  this  appropriation, 
but  rendered  it  absolutely  necessary,  I  am  forced  into  the  discussion  of  the 
French  question.  We  have  been  told,  that  if  we  should  go  to  war  with 


244  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

France,  we  are  the  authors  of  that  war.  The  Senator  from  New  Jersey  (Mr. 
Southard),  has  declared  that  it  will  be  produced  by  the  boastful  vanity  of  one 
man,  the  petulance  of  another,  and  the  fitful  violence  of  a  third.  It  would 
not  be  difficult  to  conjecture  who  are  the  individuals  to  whom  the  Senator 
alludes. 

He  has  also  informed  us,  that  in  the  event  of  such  a  war,  the  guilt  which 
must  rest  somewhere  will  be  tremendous. 

Now,  sir,  I  shall  undertake  to  prove,  that  scarcely  an  example  exists  in  his 
tory  of  a  powerful  and  independent  nation  having  suffered  such  wrongs  and  in 
dignities  as  we  have  done  from  France,  with  so  much  patience  and  forbearance. 
If  France  should  now  resort  to  arms, — if  our  defenceless  seacoast  should  be 
plundered, — if  the  blood  of  our  citizens  should  be  shed, — the  responsibility 
of  the  Senate,  to  use  the  language  of  the  gentleman,  will  be  tremendous.  I 
shall  not  follow  the  example  of  the  Senator,  and  say,  their  guilt, — because 
that  would  be  to  attribute  to  them  an  evil  intention,  which  I  believe  did  not 
exist. 

In  discussing  this  subject,  I  shall  first  present  to  the  view  of  the  Senate 
the  precise  attitude  of  the  two  nations  towards  each  other,  when  the  appro 
priation  of  three  millions  was  refused,  and  then  examine  the  reasons  which 
have  been  urged  to  justify  this  refusal.  After  having  done  so,  I  shall  exhibit 
our  relations  with  France  as  they  exist  at  the  present  moment,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  proving  that  we  ought  now  to  adopt  the  resolutions  of  the  gentleman 
from  Missouri,  and  grant  all  necessary  appropriations  for  the  defence  of  the 
country. 

In  discussing  this  subject,  it  is  not  my  intention  to  follow  the  fortification 
bill  either  into  the  chamber  of  the  committee  of  conference,  or  into  the  hall 
of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  explain  the  con 
fusion  which  then  existed,  and  which  always  must  exist  after  midnight,  on 
the  last  evening  of  the  session.  I  shall  contend  that  the  Senate  ought  to 
have  voted  the  three  millions;  that  the  fortification  bill  ought  to  have  passed 
the  Senate  with  this  amendment ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  Senate  is  respon 
sible  not  only  for  the  loss  of  this  appropriation,  but  for  that  of  the  entire  bill. 

What  then  was  the  attitude  in  which  we  stood  towards  France  at  the 
moment  when  the  Senate  rejected  this  appropriation  for  the  defence  of  the 
country  ?  What,  at  that  moment,  was  known,  or  ought^to  have  been  known, 
in  regard  to  this  question  by  every  Senator  on  this  floor? 

The  justice  of  our  claims  upon  France  are  now  admitted  by  all  mankind. 
Our  generosity  was  equal  to  their  justice.  When  she  was  crushed  in  the 
dust  by  Europe  in  arms — when  her  cities  were  garrisoned  by  a  foreign  foe — 
when  her  independence  was  trampled  under  foot,  we  refused  to  urge  our 
claims.  This  was  due  to  our  ancient  ally.  It  was  due  to  our  grateful  remem 
brance  of  the  days  of  other  years.  The  testimony  of  Lafayette  conclusively 
establishes  this  fact.  In  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  on  13th  June,  1833,  he 
declared  that  we  had  refused  to  unite  with  the  enemies  of  France  in  urging 
our  claims  in  1814  and  1815;  and  that,  if  we  had  done  so,  these  claims  would 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.  245 

then  have  been  settled.  This  circumstance  will  constitute  one  of  the  brightest 
pages  of  our  history. 

Was  the  sum  secured  to  our  injured  fellow-citizens  by  the  treaty  of  the 
4th  July,  1831,  more  than  they  had  a  right  to  demand?  Let  the  report  of 
our  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  at  the  last  session,  answer  this  question. 
They  concur  entirely  with  the  President,  in  the  statement  he  had  made  in  his 
message,  that  it  was  absolutely  certain  the  indemnity  fell  far  short  of  the 
actual  amount  of  our  just  claims,  independently  of  damages  and  interest  for 
the  detention ;  and  that  it  was  well  kno'wn  at  the  time  that  in  this  respect, 
the  settlement  involved  a  sacrifice.  But  there  is  now  no  longer  room  for  any 
conjecture  or  doubt  upon  this  subject.  The  commissioners  under  the  treaty 
have  closed  their  labors.  From  the  very  nature  of  their  constitution,  it  be 
came  the  interest  of  every  claimant  to  reduce  the  other  claims  as  much  as 
possible,  so  that  his  own  dividend  might  thus  be  increased.  After  a  laborious 
and  patient  investigation,  the  claims  which  have  been  allowed  by  the  com 
missioners  amount  to  $9,352,193.47.  Each  claimant  will  receive  but  little 
more  than  half  his  principal,  at  the  end  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  after  losing 
all  the  interest. 

Why  then  has  this  treaty  remained  without  execution  on  the  part  of 
France,  until  this  day  ?  Our  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  at  the  last 
session,  declared  their  conviction  that  the  King  of  France  "  had  invariably, 
on  all  suitable  occasions,  manifested  an  anxious  desire,  faithfully  and  honestly, 
to  fulfil  the  engagements  contracted  under  his  authority  and  in  his  name." 
They  say,  that  "  the  opposition  to  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  and  the  pay 
ment  of  our  just  claims,  does  not  proceed  from  the  king's  government,  but 
from  a  majority  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies." 

Now,  sir,  it  is  my  purpose  to  contest  this  opinion,  and  to  show,  as  I  think 
I  can  conclusively,  that  it  is  not  a  just  inference  from  the  facts. 

And  here,  to  prevent  all  possible  misconstruction,  either  on  this  side,  or  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  if  by  any  accident  my  humble  remarks  should 
ever  travel  to  such  a  distance,  permit  me  to  say  that  I  am  solely  responsible 
for  them  myself.  These  opinions  were  in  a  degree  formed  while  I  was  in  a 
foreign  land,  and  were  there  freely  expressed  upon  all  suitable  occasions.  I 
was  then  beyond  the  sphere  of  party  influence  and  felt  only  as  an  American 
citizen. 

Is  it  not  then  manifest,  to  use  the  language  of  Mr.  Livingston  in  his 
note  to  the  Count  de  Rigny  of  the  3d  August,  1834,  that  the  French  govern 
ment  have  never  appreciated  the  importance  of  the  subject  at  its  just  value  ? 
There  are  two  modes  in  which  the  king  could  have  manifested  this  anxious 
desire  faithfully  to  fulfil  the  treaty.  These  are,  by  words  and  by  actions. 
When  a  man's  words  and  his  actions  correspond,  you  have  the  highest  evi 
dence  of  his  sincerity.  Even  then  he  may  be  a  hypocrite  in  the  eyes  of  that 
Being  before  whom  the  fountains  of  human  action  are  unveiled.  But  when 
a  man's  words  and  his  actions  are  at  variance, — when  he  promises  and  does 
not  perform  or  even  attempt  to  perform, — when  "he  speaks  the  word  of 


246  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

promise  to  the  ear  and  breaks  it  to  the  hope," — the  whole  world  will  at  once 
pronounce  him  insincere.  If  this  be  true  in  the  transactions  of  common  life, 
with  how  much  more  force  does  it  apply  to  the  intercourse  between  diploma 
tists  ?  The  deceitfulness  of  diplomacy  has  become  almost  a  proverb.  In 
Europe  the  talent  of  over-reaching  gives  a  minister  the  glory  of  diplomatic 
skill.  The  French  school  has  been  distinguished  in  this  art.  To  prove  it,  I 
need  only  mention  the  name  of  Talleyrand.  The  American  school  teaches 
far  different  lessons.  On  this  our  success  has,  in  a  great  degree,  depended. 
The  skillful  diplomatists  of  Europe  are  foiled  by  the  downright  honesty  and 
directness  of  purpose  which  have  characterized  all  our  negotiations. 

Even  the  established  forms  of  diplomacy  contain  much  unmeaning  lan 
guage,  which  is  perfectly  understood  by  everybody,  and  deceives  nobody. 
If  ministers  have  avowed  their  sincerity,  and  their  ardent  desire  to  execute 
the  treaty ;  to  deny  them,  on  our  part,  would  be  insulting,  and  might  lead  to 
the  most  unpleasant  consequences.  In  forming  an  estimate  of  their  inten 
tions,  therefore,  every  wise  man  will  regard  their  actions,  rather  than  their 
words.  By  their  deeds  they  shall  be  known.  Let  us  then  test  the  French 
government  by  this  touchstone  of  truth. 

The  ratifications  of  the  treaty  of  the  4th  July,  1831,  were  exchanged  at 
Washington,  on  the  2d  February,  1832.  When  this  treaty  arrived  in  Paris, 
the  French  Chambers  were  in  session,  and  they  continued  in  session  for 
several  weeks.  They  did  not  adjourn,  until  the  19th  of  April.  No  time 
more  propitious  for  presenting  this  treaty  to  the  Chambers,  could  have  been 
selected,  than  that  very  moment.  Europe  then  was,  as  I  believe  it  still  is, 
one  vast  magazine  of  gunpowder.  It  was  generally  believed,  that  the  Polish 
revolution  was  the  spark  which  would  produce  the  explosion.  There  was 
imminent  danger  of  a  continental  war,  in  which  France,  to  preserve  her 
existence,  would  have  to  put  forth  all  her  energies.  Russia,  Prussia,  and 
Austria,  were  armed  and  ready  for  the  battle.  It  was  then  the  clear  policy 
of  France  to  be  at  a  good  understanding  with  the  United  States.  If  it  had 
been  the  ardent  desire  of  the  king's  government,  to  carry  into  effect  the 
stipulations  of  the  treaty,  they  would  have  presented  it  to  the  Chambers 
before  their  adjournment.  This  would  undoubtedly  have  been  the  course 
pursued  by  any  President  of  the  United  States,  under  similar  circumstances. 
But  the  treaty  was  not  presented.  + 

I  freely  admit,  that  this  omission,  standing  by  itself,  might  be  explained 
by  the  near  approach  of  the  adjournment,  at  the  time  the  treaty  arrived  from 
Washington.  It  is  one  important  link,  however,  in  the  chain  of  circum 
stances,  which  cannot  be  omitted. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  proceeded  immediately  to  execute 
their  part  of  the  treaty.  By  the  act  of  the  13th  July,  1832,  the  duties  on 
French  wines  were  reduced  according  to  its  terms,  to  take  effect  from  the 
day  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications.  At  the  same  session,  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  impelled  no  doubt  by  their  kindly  feelings  towards  France, 
which  had  been  roused  into  action  by  what  they  believed  to  be  a  final  and 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.  347 

equitable  settlement  of  all  our  disputes,  voluntarily  reduced  the  duty  upon 
silks  coming  from  this  side  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  five  per  cent.,  whilst 
those  beyond  were  fixed  at  ten  per  cent.  And  at  the  next  session,  on  the 
2d  of  March,  1833,  this  duty  of  five  per  cent,  was  taken  off  altogether ;  and 
ever  since,  French  silks  have  been  admitted  into  our  country  free  of  duty. 
There  is  now,  in  fact,  a  discriminating  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  in  their  favor,  over 
silks  from  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

What  has  France  gained  by  these  measures,  in  duties  on  her  wines  and  her 
silks,  which  she  would  otherwise  have  been  bound  to  pay  ?  I  have  called 
upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the 
amount.  I  now  hold  in  my  hand  a  tabular  statement,  prepared  at  my  re 
quest,  which  shows,  that  had  the  duties  remained  what  they  were  at  the 
date  of  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  these  articles,  since  that  time,  would  have 
paid  into  the  Treasury  on  the  30th  September,  1834,  the  sum  of  $3,061,525. 
Judging  from  the  large  importations  which  have  since  been  made,  I  feel  no 
hesitation  in  declaring  it  as  my  opinion  that,  at  the  present  moment,  these 
duties  would  amount  to  more  than  the  whole  indemnity  which  France  has 
engaged  to  pay  to  our  fellow-citizens.  Before  the  conclusion  of  the  ten  years 
mentioned  in  the  treaty,  she  will  have  been  freed  from  the  payment  of  duties 
to  an  amount  considerably  above  twelve  millions  of  dollars. 

By  the  same  act  of  the  13th  July,  1832,  a  board  of  commissioners  was 
established  to  receive,  examine,  and  decide  the  claims  of  our  citizens  under 
the  treaty,  who  were  to  meet  on  the  first  day  of  the  following  August. 
This  act  also  directed  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  cause  the  several 
instalments,  with  the  interest  thereon,  payable  to  the  United  States  in  virtue 
of  the  convention,  to  be  received  from  the  French  government  and  transferred 
to  the  United  States  in  such  manner  as  he  may  deem  best.  In  this  respect 
the  provisions  of  the  act  corresponded  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  which 
prescribe  that  the  money  shall  be  paid  into  the  hands  of  such  person  or  persons 
as  shall  be  authorized  to  receive  it  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

Were  the  French  government  immediately  informed  of  all  these  proceed 
ings?  Who  can  doubt  it?  Certainly  no  one  at  all  acquainted  with  the 
vigilance  and  zeal  of  their  diplomatic  agents. 

The  19th  of  November,  1832,  the  day  for  the  meeting  of  the  Chambers,  at 
length  arrived. — Every  American  was  anxious  to  know  what  the  king  would 
say  in  his  speech  concerning  the  treaty.  No  one  could  doubt  but  that  he 
would  strongly  recommend  to  the  Chambers  to  make  the  appropriation  of 
twenty-five  millions  of  francs,  the  first  instalment  of  which  would  become 
due  on  the  2d  of  February  following.  All,  however,  which  the  speech  con 
tains  in  relation  to  the  treaty  is  comprised  in  the  following  sentences :  "  I 
have  also  ordered  my  minister  to  communicate  to  you  the  treaty  concluded 
on  the  4th  July,  1831,  between  my  government  and  that  of  the  United  States 
of  America.  This  arrangement  puts  an  end  to  the  reciprocal  claims  of  the 
two  countries."  Now,  sir,  I  am  well  aware  of  the  brevity  and  non-committal 
character  of  kings'  speeches  in  Europe.  I  know  the  necessity  which  exists 


248  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

there  for  circumspection  and  caution.  But  making  every  fair  allowance  for 
these  considerations,  I  may  at  least  say,  that  the  speech  does  not  manifest  an 
anxious  desire  to  carry  the  treaty  into  effect.  What  might  the  king  have 
said ;  what  ought  he  have  said ;  what  would  he  have  said  had  he  felt  this 
anxious  desire  ?  It  might  all  have  been  embraced  in  a  single  additional  sen 
tence,  such  as  the  following :  "  The  Congress  of  the  United  States  have  already 
provided  for  the  admission  of  French  wines  into  their  ports  upon  the  terms 
of  this  treaty,  and  have  voluntarily  reduced  their  duties  upon  French  silks,  I 
must,  therefore,  request  you  to  grant  me  the  means  of  discharging  the  first 
instalment  which  will  become  due,  under  this  treaty,  on  the  2d  day  of  Feb 
ruary  next."  The  king  did  not  even  ask  the  Chambers  for  the  money  neces 
sary  to  redeem  the  faith  of  France.  In  this  respect  the  debt  due  to  the 
United  States  is  placed  in  striking  contrast  to  the  Greek  loan. — Immediately 
after  the  two  sentences  of  the  speech,  which  I  have  already  quoted,  the  king 
proceeds:  "You  will  likewise  be  called  to  examine  the  treaty  by  which 
Prince  Otho  of  Bavaria  is  called  to  the  throne  of  Greece.  I  shall  haw  to  re 
quest  from  you  the  means  of  guaranteeing ',  in  union  with  my  allies,  a  loan  which 
is  indispensable  for  the  establishment  of  the  new  State  founded  by  our  cares  and 
concurrence" 

The  establishment  of  the  new  State  founded  by  our  cares  and  concur 
rence!  Kussia,  sir,  has  made  greater  advances  by  her  skill  in  diplomacy 
than  by  her  vast  physical  power.  Unless  I  am  much  mistaken,  the  creation 
of  this  new  State,  with  Prince  Otho  as  its  king,  will  accomplish  the  very 
object  which  it  was  the  interest  and  purpose  of  France  to  defeat.  It  will,  in 
the  end,  virtually  convert  Greece  into  a  Russian  province.  I  could  say  much 
more  on  the  subject,  but  I  forbear.  My  present  purpose  is  merely  to  present 
in  a  striking  view,  the  difference  between  the  king's  language  in  relation  to 
our  treaty,  and  that  treaty  which  placed  the  son  of  the  king  of  Bavaria  on 
the  throne  of  Greece. 

Time  passed  away,  and  the  2d  February,  1833,  the  day  when  the  first 
instalment  under  the  treaty  became  due,  arrived.  It  was  to  be  paid  "  into 
the  hands  of  such  person  or  persons  as  shall  be  authorized  by  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  to  receive  it."  The  money  on  that  day  ought  to 
have  been  ready  at  Paris.  But  strange,  but  most  wonderful  as  it  may  appear, 
although  the  Chambers  had  been  in  session  from  the  19th»of  November  until 
the  2d  of  February,  the  king's  government  had  never  even  presented  the 
treaty  to  the  Chambers, — had  never  even  asked  them  for  a  grant  of  the 
money  necessary  to  fulfil  its  engagements.  Well  might  Mr.  Livingston  say, 
that  they  had  never  properly  appreciated  the  importance  of  the  subject. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  knowing  that  the  king  in  his 
speech  had  promised  to  present  the  treaty  to  the  Chambers,  and  knowing 
that  they  had  been  in  session  since  November,  might  have  taken  means  to 
demand  the  first  instalment  at  Paris  on  the  2d  day  of  February.  Strictly 
speaking,  it  was  their  duty  to  do  so,  acting  as  trustees  for  the  claimants. 
But  they  did  not  draw  a  bill  of  exchange  at  Washington  for  the  first  instal- 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH    TREATY.  349 

ment,  until  five  days  after  it  had  become  due  at  Paris.  This  bill  was  not 
presented  to  the  French  government  for  payment  until  the  23d  of  March, 
1833.  Even  at  that  day  the  French  ministry  had  not  presented  either  the 
treaty,  or  a  bill  to  carry  it  into  effect,  to  the  Chambers.  The  faith  of  France 
was  thus  violated  by  the  neglect  of  the  king's  government,  long  before  any 
bill  was  presented.  They,  and  not  the  Chambers,  are  responsible  for  this 
violation.  It  was  even  impossible  for  the  Chambers  to  prevent  it.  Had  this 
treaty  and  bill  been  laid  before  them  in  time  to  have  enabled  them  to  redeem 
the  faith  of  France,  the  loyalty  of  the 'French  character  would  never  have 
permitted  them  to  be  guilty  of  a  positive  violation  of  national  honor.  The 
faith  of  the  nation  was  forfeited  before  they  were  called  upon  to  act.  The 
responsibility  was  voluntarily  assumed  by  the  king's  ministers.  The  Cham 
bers  are  clear  of  it.  Besides,  the  ministry  were  all  powerful  with  the  Cham 
bers  during  that  session.  They  carried  everything  they  urged.  Even  the 
bill  providing  the  means  of  guaranteeing  the  Greek  loan  became  a  law.  Can 
it  then  for  a  single  moment  be  believed  that  if  a  bill  to  carry  into  effect  our 
treaty — a  treaty  securing  such  important  advantages  to  France — had  been 
presented  at  an  early  period  of  the  session,  and  had  been  pressed  by  the  min 
istry,  that  they  would  have  failed  in  the  attempt  ?  At  all  events,  it  was  their 
imperative  duty  to  pursue  this  course.  The  aspect  of  the  political  horizon  in 
Europe  was  still  lowering.  There  was  still  imminent  danger  of  a  general 
war.  France  was  still  in  a  position  to  make  her  dread  any  serious  misunder 
standing  with  the  United  States. 

After  all  this,  on  the  26th  March,  the  Duke  de  Broglie,  in  a  note  to  Mr. 
Niles,  our  charge  d'affaires  at  Paris,  stated  that  it  was  "  a  source  of  regret, 
and,  indeed,  of  astonishment,  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  did 
not  think  proper  to  have  an  understanding  with  that  of  France,  before  taking 
this  step."  What  step  ?  The  demand  of  an  honest  debt,  almost  two  months 
after  it  had  been  due,  under  a  solemn  treaty.  Indeed,  the  duke,  judging 
from  the  tone  of  his  note,  appears  almost  to  have  considered  the  demand  an 
insult.  To  make  a  positive  engagement  to  pay  a  fixed  sum  on  a  particular 
day,  and  when  that  sum  is  demanded  nearly  two  months  after,  to  express 
astonishment  to  the  creditor,  would,  in  private  life,  be  considered  trifling  and 
evasive. 

The  excuse  made  by  the  French  ministry  for  their  conduct  is  altogether 
vain.  Had  they  dreaded  the  vote  of  the  Chambers — had  they  been  afraid 
to  appear  before  them  with  their  treaty  and  their  bill,  they  would,  and 
they  ought  to  have  communicated  their  apprehensions  to  this  Government, 
and  asked  it  to  suspend  the  demand  of  the  money.  But  they  had  never 
whispered  such  a  suspicion,  after  the  exchange  of  their  ratifications  of 
the  treaty ;  and  the  first  intimation  of  it  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  was 
accompanied  by  the  astounding  fact  that  the  French  government  had  dis 
honored  our  bill.  It  is  true,  that  before  the  treaty  was  signed,  they  had 
expressed  some  apprehensions  to  Mr.  Rives  on  this  subject.  These,  it  would 
seem,  from  their  subsequent  conduct,  were  merely  diplomatic,  and  intended 


250  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

to  produce  delay;  because,  from  the  date  of  the  treaty,  on  the  4th  July,  1831, 
until  after  our  bill  of  exchange  was  dishonored  in  March,  1833,  no  intimation 
of  danger  from  that  quarter  was  ever  suggested.  These  circumstances  made 
a  great  noise  throughout  Europe,  and  soon  became  the  subject  of  general 
remark. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1833,  a  year  and  more  than  two  months  after  the 
exchange  of  the  ratifications  at  Washington,  the  treaty  and  bill  were  first 
presented  to  the  French  Chambers.  The  session  closed  on  the  25th  of  April, 
without  any  further  action  on  the  subject.  No  attempt  was  made  by  the 
ministry  to  press  it ;  and  as  the  session  would  terminate  so  soon,  perhaps  no 
attempt  ought  to  have  been  made.  But,  as  a  new  session  was  to  commence 
the  day  after  the  termination  of  the  old,  and  to  continue  two  months,  a 
favorable  opportunity  was  thus  presented  to  urge  the  passage  of  the  law  upon 
the  Chambers.  Was  this  done  ?  No,  sir.  The  ministry  still  continued  to 
pursue  the  same  course.  They  suffered  the  remainder  of  the  month  of  April 
to  pass,  the  month  of  May  to  pass,  and  not  until  the  eleventh  of  June,  only 
fifteen  days  before  the  close  of  the  session,  did  they  again  present  the  bill  to 
carry  into  effect  the  treaty.  It  was  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Mr. 
Benjamin  Delessert  was  the  chairman.  On  the  18th  of  June,  he  made  a 
report.  This  report  contains  a  severe  reprimand  of  the  French  government 
for  not  having  presented  the  bill  at  an  earlier  period  of  the  session ;  and  ex 
presses  the  hope  that  the  treaty  may  be  communicated  at  the  opening  of 
the  next  session.  If  we  are  to  judge  of  the  opinion  of  the  Chamber  from  the 
tone  and  character  of  this  report,  instead  of  being  hostile  to  the  execution  of 
the  treaty,  had  it  been  presented  to  them  in  proper  time,  they  felt  every  dis 
position  to  regard  it  in  a  favorable  light.  I  shall  read  the  whole  report — it  is 
very  short,  and  is  as  follows : 

"Gentlemen:  The  committee  charged  by  you,  to  examine  the  bill  relative 
to  the  treaty,  concluded  on  the  4th  of  July,  1831,  between  France  and  the 
United  States,  has  demanded  a  number  of  documents  and  reports,  which  must 
be  examined,  in  order  to  obtain  a  complete  knowledge  of  so  important  a 
transaction. 

"  The  committee  was  soon  convinced  that  a  conscientious  examination  of 
these  papers  would  require  much  time ;  and  that,  at  so  advanced  a  period  of 
the  session,  its  labors  would  have  no  definitive  result.  It  regrets  that,  from 
motives  which  the  government  only  can  explain,  the  bill  was  not  presented 
earlier  to  the  Chamber  for  discussion.  It  regrets  this  so  much  the  more  as  it 
is  convinced  of  the  importance  of  the  treaty,  which  essentially  interests  our 
maritime  commerce,  our  agriculture,  and  our  manufactures. 

"  Several  chambers  of  commerce,  particularly  those  of  Paris  and  Lyons, 
have  manifested  an  ardent  desire  that  the  business  should  be  speedily  termi 
nated. 

"  The  committee  would  be  satisfied  if,  after  a  deeper  study  of  the  ques 
tion,  it  could  enlighten  the  Chamber  with  regard  to  the  justice  of  the  claims 
alleged  by  each  of  the  parties  to  the  treaty,  and  which  form  the  basis  of  it; 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH    TREATY.  251 

but  as  time  does  not  allow  a  definitive  report  to  be  made  on  the  subject,  it  con 
siders  itself  as  the  organ  of  the  Chamber,  in  expressing  the  wish  that  this 
treaty  be  communicated,  at  the  opening  of  the  next  session ;  and  that  its 
result  may  be  such  as  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  friendship,  which  must 
ever  exist  between  two  nations  so  long  united  by  common  interest  and 
sympathy." 

After  a  careful  review  of  this  whole  transaction,  I  am  convinced  that  the 
government  of  France  never  would  have  pursued  such  a  course  towards  us, 
had  they  entertained  a  just  sense  of  our  power,  and  our  willingness  to  exert 
it  in  behalf  of  our  injured  fellow-citizens.  Had  Russia  or  Austria  been  her 
creditors,  instead  of  ourselves,  the  debt  would  have  been  paid  when  it  be 
came  due ;  or,  at  the  least,  the  ministers  of  the  king  would  have  exerted 
themselves,  in  a  far  different  manner,  to  obtain  the  necessary  appropriation 
from  the  Chambers.  I  am  again  constrained,  however  reluctantly,  to  adopt 
the  opinion  which  I  had  formed  at  the  moment.  Our  fierce  political  strife  in 
this  country  is  not  understood  in  Europe ;  and  least  of  all,  perhaps,  in  France. 
During  the  autumn  of  1832,  and  the  session  of  1832-3,  it  was  believed  abroad 
that  we  were  on  the  very  eve  of  a  revolution ;  that  our  glorious  Union  was 
at  the  point  of  dissolution.  I  speak,  sir,  from  actual  knowledge.  Whilst  the 
advocates  of  despotism  were  looking  forward,  with  eager  hope,  to  see  the  last 
free  republic  blotted  out  from  the  face  of  nations,  the  friends  of  freedom 
throughout  the  world  were  disheartened,  and  dreaded  the  result  of  our  exper 
iment.  The  storm  did  rage  in  this  country  with  the  utmost  violence.  It  is 
no  wonder  that  those  friends  of  liberty,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  who 
did  not  know  how  to  appreciate  the  recuperative  energies  of  a  free  and  en 
lightened  people,  governed  by  Federal  and  State  institutions  of  their  own 
choice,  should  have  been  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  Republic.  For  myself 
I  can  say  that  I  never  felt  any  serious  apprehension ;  yet  the  thrill  of  delight 
with  which  I  received  the  news  of  the  passage  of  the  famous  compromise 
law  of  March,  1833,  can  never  be  effaced  from  my  memory.  I  did  not  then 
stop  to  inquire  into  the  nature  of  its  provisions.  It  was  enough  for  me  to 
know  that  the  Republic  was  safe,  not  only  in  my  own  opinion,  but  in  the 
opinion  of  the  world. 

Suppose,  sir,  that  the  President  of  the  United  States,  under  similar  circum 
stances,  had  withheld  a  treaty  from  Congress  requiring  an  appropriation,  for 
fourteen  months  after  it  had  been  duly  ratified,  and  had  thus  forfeited  the  na 
tional  faith  to  a  foreign  government,  what  would  have  been  the  consequence  ? 
Sir,  he  ought  to  have  been,  he  would  have  been  impeached.  No  circum 
stances  could  ever  have  justified  such  conduct  in  the  eyes  of  the  American 
Congress  or  the  American  people. 

After  all  the  provocation  which  the  President  had  received,  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  his  country,  what  was  his  conduct  ?  It  might  have  been  sup 
posed  that  this  violent  man,  as  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey  (Mr.  Southard) 
has  designated  him,  would  at  once  have  recommended  decisive  measures. 
Judging  from  his  energy, — from  his  well-known  devotion  to  the  interests  of 


252  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

his  country, — and  above  all,  from  his  famous  declaration  to  ask  nothing  from 
foreign  nations  but  what  was  right,  and  to  submit  to  nothing  wrong,  I 
should  have  expected  from  him  an  indignant  message  at  the  commencement 
of  the  next  session  of  Congress.  Instead  of  that,  the  message  of  December. 
1833,  in  relation  to  French  affairs,  is  of  the  mildest  character.  It  breathes  a 
spirit  of  confident  hope  that  our  ancient  ally  would  do  us  justice  during  the 
next  session  of  the  Chambers.  His  exposition  of  the  subject  is  concluded  by 
the  following  declaration : 

"  As  this  subject  involves  important  interests,  and  has  attracted  a  consid 
erable  share  of  the  public  attention,  I  have  deemed  it  proper  to  make  this 
explicit  statement  of  its  actual  condition  ;  and  should  I  be  disappointed  in  the 
hope  now  entertained,  the  subject  will  be  again  brought  to  the  notice  of  Con 
gress  in  such  a  manner  as  the  occasion  may  require." 

And  thus  ends  the  first  act  of  this  astonishing  historical  drama.  Through 
out  the  whole  of  it,  beginning,  middle  and  end,  the  French  government,  and 
not  the  French  Chambers,  were  exclusively  to  blame. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  mission  of  Mr.  Livingston.  He  reached 
Paris  in  September,  1833.  The  Due  de  Broglie  assured  him  "  that  the  king's 
government  would  willingly  and  without  hesitation  promise  to  direct  the  de 
liberations  of  the  Chambers  to  the  projet  de  loi  relative  to  the  execution  of 
the  convention  of  July  4,  1831,  on  the  day  after  the  Chamber  is  constituted, 
and  to  employ  every  means  to  secure  the  happy  conclusion  of  an  affair,  the 
final  determination  of  which  the  United  States  cannot  desire  more  ar 
dently  than  ourselves."  After  this  assurance,  and  after  all  that  had  passed,  it 
was  confidently  expected  that  the  king  would,  in  strong  terms,  have  recom 
mended  the  adoption  of  the  appropriation  by  the  Chambers.  In  this  we  were 
again  doomed  to  disappointment.  In  his  opening  speech  he  made  no  direct 
allusion  to  the  subject.  He  simply  says,  that,  "  the  financial  laws,  and  those 
required  for  the  execution  of  treaties,  will  be  presented  to  you." 

The  bill  was  presented,  and  debated,  and  finally  rejected  by  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies  on  the  1st  day  of  April,  1834,  by  a  vote  of  176  to  16S.  It  is  not 
my  present  purpose  to  dwell  upon  the  causes  of  this  rejection.  No  doubt  the 
principal  one  was  that  the  French  ministers  were  surrounded  near  the  conclu 
sion  of  the  debate,  and  were  unable  at  the  moment  to  show  that  the  captures, 
at  St.  Sebastians  were  not  included  in  our  treaty  with  SJpain.  I  am  sorry 
they  were  not  better  prepared  upon  this  point ;  but  I  attribute  to  them  no 
blame  on  that  account. 

It  has  been  urged  over  and  over  again,  both  on  this  floor  and  elsewhere, 
that  the  rejection  of  the  treaty  was  occasioned  by  the  publication  in  this 
country  of  Mr.  Rives' s  letter  to  Mr.  Livingston  of  the  8th  of  July,  1831.  Is 
this  the  fact?  If  it  be  so  it  ought  to  be  known  to  the  world.  If  it  be  not, 
both  the  character  of  this  Government  and  of  Mr.  Rives  should  be  rescued 
from  the  imputation.  What  is  the  opinion  expressed  in  this  letter  ?  Is  it  that 
the  American  claimants  would  obtain,  under  the  treaty,  more  than  the  amount 
of  their  just  claims?  No  such  thing.  Is  it  that  they  would  obtain  the 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH    TREATY.  253 

amount  of  their  just  claims  with  interest?  Not  even  this.  The  negotiator 
merely  expresses  the  opinion  that  they  would  receive  every  cent  of  the  prin 
cipal.  He  does  not  allege  that  they  would  receive  one  cent  of  interest  for  a 
delay  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  This  opinion  is  evidently  founded 
upon  that  expressed  by  Mr.  Gallatin  in  a  despatch  dated  on  the  14th  Janu 
ary,  1822,  cited  by  Mr.  Rives,  in  which  the  former  expresses  his  belief  that 
five  millions  of  dollars  would  satisfy  all  our  just  claims.  It  ought  to  be  ob 
served  that  the  sum  stipulated  to  be  paid  by  the  treaty  is  only  25,000,000  of 
francs,  or  about  $4,700,000;  and  that  more  than  nine  years  had  elapsed  be 
tween  the  date  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  despatch  and  the  signing  of  the  treaty. 
These  facts  all  appear  on  the  face  of  the  letter,  with  the  additional  fact  that 
the  statements  of  the  claimants,  which  have  from  time  to  time  been  pre 
sented  to  Congress,  carry  the  amount  of  the  claims  much  higher.  These 
statements,  however,  Mr.  Rives  did  not  believe  were  a  safe  guide. 

This  is  the  amount  of  the  letter,  when  fairly  analyzed,  which,  it  is  alleged, 
destroyed  the  treaty  before  the  French  Chambers.  If  a  copy  of  it  had  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  every  Deputy,  it  could  not  possibly  have  produced  any 
such  effect. 

That  it  did  not  occasion  the  rejection  of  the  treaty  is  absolutely  certain.  I 
have  examined  the  whole  debate  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  any  allusion 
to  this  letter ;  but  I  have  examined  it  in  vain.  Not  the  slightest  trace  of  the 
letter  can  be  detected  in  any  of  the  numerous  speeches  delivered  on  that 
occasion.  The  topics  of  opposition  were  various,  and  several  of  them  of  a 
strange  character ;  but  the  letter  is  not  even  once  alluded  to  throughout  the 
whole  debate.  If  its  existence  were  known  at  the  time  in  the  French 
Chamber,  this  letter,  written  by  a  minister  to  his  own  government,  expressing 
a  favorable  opinion  of  the  result  of  his  own  negotiations,  was  a  document  of 
a  character  so  natural,  so  much  to  be  expected,  that  not  one  Deputy  in  oppo 
sition  to  the  treaty  believed  it  to  be  of  sufficient  importance  even  to  merit  a 
passing  notice.  Still,  I  have  often  thought  it  strange  it  had  never  been  men 
tioned  in  the  debate.  The  mystery  is  now  resolved.  The  truth  is,  this  letter, 
which  is  alleged  to  have  produced  such  fatal  effects,  was  entirely  unknown  to 
the  members  of  the  French  Chamber  when  they  rejected  the  treaty.  This 
fact  is  well  established  by  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jay,  the  chairman  of  the  com 
mittee  appointed  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  to  investigate  our  claims,  ad 
dressed  to  Mr.  Gibbes,  and  dated  at  Paris  on  the  24th  January,  1835.  I  shall 
read  it. 

(Extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jay  to  Mr.  Gibbes,  dated  24Jh  January,  1835.) 
— "  It  is  asserted  in  the  American  prints  that  the  rejection  of  the  American 
treaty  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  at  their  last  session,  was  chiefly  owing 
to  the  publication  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Rives  to  his  own  Government.  This 
is  an  error,  which  justice  to  that  distinguished  statesman,  and  a  sense  of  his 
unremitting  exertions  to  promote  the  interests  of  his  Government  while  here, 
induce  me  formally  to  contradict.  No  such  evidence  appears  in  the  debates ; 
and  in  none  of  my  conversations  with  the  members  have  I  heard  his  letter 


254  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

alleged  as  the  motive  for  disputing  the  amount  due.     I  much  question,  in 
deed,  if  any  other  Deputy  than  myself  ever  read  the  letter  alluded  to." 

We  have  now  arrived  at  that  point  of  time  when  a  majority  of  the  French 
Chambers  arrayed  themselves  against  the  treaty.  This  decision  was  made  on 
the  1st  April,  1834.  Some  apprehensions  then  prevailed  among  the  king  and 
his  ministers.  The  business  was  now  becoming  serious.  New  assurances 
had  now  become  necessary  to  prevent  the  President  from  presenting  the  whole 
transaction  to  Congress,  which  they  knew  would  still  be  in  session,  when  the 
information  of  the  rejection  would  reach  the  United  States.  In  his  annual 
message,  at  the  commencement  of  the  session,  it  will  be  recollected,  he  had 
declared  that  should  he  be  disappointed  in  the  hope  then  entertained,  he 
would  again  bring  the  subject  before  Congress,  in  such  a  manner  as  the  occa 
sion  might  require.  They  knew  that  he  was  a  man  who  performed  his  prom 
ises,  and  a  great  effort  was  to  be  made  to  induce  him  to  change  his  purpose. 

Accordingly  a  French  brig  of  war,  the  Cuirassier,  is  fitted  out  with  des 
patches  to  Mr.  Serrurier.  They  reached  him  on  the  3d  June.  On  the  4th,  he 
has  an  interview  with  Mr.  McLane,  and  makes  explanations  which  the  latter 
very  properly  requests  may  be  reduced  to  writing.  In  compliance  with  this 
request,  the  French  minister,  on  the  5th,  addresses  a  note  to  Mr.  McLane. 
After  expressing  the  regrets  of  the  French  government  at  the  rejection  of  the 
bill,  he  uses  the  following  language :  "  The  king's  government,  sir,  after  this 
rejection,  the  object  of  so  much  painful  disappointment  to  both  governments, 
has  deliberated,  and  its  unanimous  determination  has  been  to  make  an  appeal 
from  the  first  vote  of  the  present  Chamber  to  the  next  Chamber,  and  to 
appear  before  the  next  legislature  with  its  treaty  and  its  bill  in  hand. 

"  It  flatters  itself  that  the  light  already  thrown  upon  this  serious  question, 
during  these  first  debates,  and  the  expression  of  the  public  wishes  becoming 
each  day  more  clear  and  distinct,  and,  finally,  a  more  mature  examination, 
will  have,  in  the  mean  time,  modified  the  minds  of  persons,  and  that  its  own 
conviction  will  become  the  conviction  of  the  Chambers.  The  king's  govern 
ment,  sir,  will  make  every  loyal  and  constitutional  effort  to  that  effect,  and 
will  do  all  that  its  persevering  persuasion  of  the  justice  and  of  the  mutual  ad 
vantages  of  the  treaty  authorizes  you  to  expect  from  it.  Its  intention,  more 
over,  is  to  do  all  that  our  constitution  allows,  to  hasten,  as  much  as  possible, 
the  period  of  the  new  presentation  of  the  rejected  law.  ^ 

"Such,  sir,  are  the  sentiments,  such  the  intentions  of  his  majesty's  govern 
ment.  I  think  I  may  rely  that,  on  its  part,  the  Government  of  the  Republic 
will  avoid,  with  foreseeing  solicitude,  in  this  transitory  state  of  things,  all 
that  might  become  a  fresh  cause  of  irritation  between  the  two  countries, 
compromit  the  treaty,  and  raise  up  an  obstacle  perhaps  insurmountable,  to 
the  views  of  reconciliation  and  harmony  which  animate  the  king's  council." 

Now,  sir,  examine  this  letter,  even  without  any  reference  to  the  answer 
of  Mr.  McLane,  and  can  there  be  a  doubt  as  to  its  true  construction  ?  It 
was  not  merely  the  disposition,  but  "it  was  the  intention  of  the  king's  gov 
ernment  to  do  all  that  their  constitution  allows ;  to  hasten,  as  much  as  pos- 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.  355 

sible,  the  period  of  the  new  presentation  of  the  rejected  law."  The  President 
knew  that  under  the  constitution  of  France  the  king  could  at  any  time  con 
voke  the  Chambers  upon  three  weeks'  notice.  It  was  in  his  power,  therefore, 
to  present  this  law  to  the  Chambers  whenever  he  thought  proper.  The 
promise  was  to  hasten  this  presentation  as  much  as  possible.  Without  any 
thing  further  the  President  had  a  right  confidently  to  expect  that  the  Cham 
bers  would  be  convoked  in  season  to  enable  him  to  present  their  decision  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  in  his  next  annual  message.  The  assurance 
was  made  on  the  5th  June,  and  Congress.did  not  assemble  until  the  beginning 
of  December.  But  the  letter  of  Mr.  McLane,  of  the  27th  June,  removes  all 
possible  doubt  from  this  subject.  He  informs  Mr.  Serrurier  that  "  the  Presi 
dent  is  still  unable  to  understand  the  causes  which  led  to  the  result  of  the 
proceeding  in  the  Chamber,  especially  when  he  recollected  the  assurances 
which  had  so  often  been  made  by  the  king  and  his  ministers,  of  their  earnest 
desire  to  carry  the  convention  into  effect,  and  the  support  which  the  Cham 
ber  had  afforded  in  all  the  other  measures  proposed  by  the  king."  And 
again : 

"  The  assurances  which  M.  Serrurier's  letter  contains,  of  the  adherence  of 
the  king's  government  to  the  treaty,  of  its  unanimous  determination  to  appeal 
from  the  decision  of  the  present  to  the  new  Chamber,  and  its  conviction  that 
the  public  wish,  and  a  mature  examination  of  the  subject,  will  lead  to  a  favor 
able  result,  and  its  intention  to  make  every  constitutional  effort  to  that  effect, 
and  finally,  its  intention  to  do  all  that  the  constitution  allows  to  hasten  the 
presentation  of  the  new  law,  have  been  fully  considered  by  the  President. 

"  Though  fully  sensible  of  the  high  responsibility  which  he  owes  to  the 
American  people,  in  a  matter  touching  so  nearly  the  national  honor,  the 
President,  still  trusting  to  the  good  faith  and  justice  of  France,  willing  to 
manifest  a  spirit  of  forbearance  so  long  as  it  may  be  consistent  with  the  rights 
and  dignity  of  his  country,  and  truly  desiring  to  preserve  those  relations  of 
friendship,  which,  commencing  in  our  struggle  for  independence,  form  the 
true  policy  of  both  nations,  and  sincerely  respecting  the  king's  wishes,  will 
rely  upon  the  assurances  which  M.  Serrurier  has  been  instructed  to  offer, 
and  will  therefore  await  with  confidence  the  promised  appeal  to  the  new 
Chamber. 

"  The  President,  in  desiring  the  undersigned  to  request  that  his  sentiments 
on  this  subject  may  be  made  known  to  his  majesty's  government,  has  in 
structed  him  also  to  state  his  expectation  that  the  king,  seeing  the  great 
interests  now  involved  in  the  subject,  and  the  deep  solicitude  felt  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States  respecting  it,  will  enable  him,  when  presenting 
the  subject  to  Congress,  as  his  duty  will  require  him  to  do  at  the  opening  of 
their  next  session,  to  announce  at  that  time  the  result  of  that  appeal,  and  of 
his  majesty's  efforts  for  its  success." 

Had  this  letter  of  Mr.  McLane  placed  a  different  construction  upon  the 
engagement  of  the  French  government  from  that  which  Mr.  Serrurier  in 
tended  to  communicate,  it  was  his  duty  to  make  the  necessary  explanations 


256  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

without  delay.  He,  in  that  case,  would  have  done  so  instantly.  It  was  a 
subject  of  too  much  importance  to  suffer  any  misapprehension  to  exist  con 
cerning  it  for  a  single  moment. 

Notwithstanding  all  which  had  passed,  the  President,  on  the  faith  of  these 
assurances  of  the  French  government,  suffered  Congress  to  adjourn  without 
presenting  the  subject  to  their  view.  This  rash,  this  violent  man,  instigated 
by  his  own  good  feelings  towards  our  ancient  ally,  and  by  his  love  of  peace, 
determines  that  he  would  try  them  once  more,  that  he  once  more  would 
extend  the  olive  branch  before  presenting  to  Congress  and  the  nation  a  history 
of  our  wrongs.  I  confess  I  do  not  approve  of  this  policy.  I  think  the  time 
had  then  arrived  to  manifest  to  France  some  sensibility  on  our  part  on 
account  of  her  delay  in  executing  the  treaty.  I  believe  that  such  a  course 
would  have  been  dictated  by  sound  policy. 

What  were  the  consequences  of  this  new  manifestation  of  the  kindly 
feelings  of  the  President  towards  France  ?  Was  it  properly  appreciated  by 
the  French  government  ?  Was  it  received  in  the  liberal  and  friendly  spirit 
from  which  it  had  proceeded  ?  Let  the  sequel  answer  these  questions.  I 
shall  read  you  Mr.  Livingston's  opinion  on  the  subject.  In  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Forsyth,  under  date  of  the  22d  November,  1834,  he  thus  expresses  himself: 

"  I  do  not  hope  for  any  decision  on  our  affairs  before  the  middle  of  Janu 
ary.  One  motive  for  delay  is  an  expectation  that  the  message  of  the  Presi 
dent  may  arrive  before  the  discussion,  and  that  it  may  contain  something  to 
show  a  strong  national  feeling  on  the  subject.  This  is  not  mere  conjecture: 
I  know  the  fact ;  and  I  repeat  now,  from  a  full  knowledge  of  the  case,  what  I 
have  more  than  once  stated  in  my  former  despatches  as  my  firm  persuasion, 
that  the  moderate  tone  taken  by  our  Government,  when  the  rejection  was 
first  known,  was  attributed  by  some  to  indifference,  or  to  a  conviction  on  the 
part  of  the  President  that  he  would  not  be  supported  in  any  strong  measure 
by  the  people,  and  by  others  to  a  consciousness  that  the  convention  had 
given  us  more  than  we  were  entitled  to  ask." 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  show  in  what  manner  the  French  government  per- 
formed  the  engagement  which  had  been  made  by  their  representative  in 
Washington  to  hasten  the  presentation  of  the  rejected  law  as  much  as  pos 
sible. 

The  Chambers  met  on  the  31st  July,  and  the  king  m|de  them  a  speech. 
This  speech  contains  no  allusion  to  the  subject  of  the  treaty  except  the  fol 
lowing  :  "  The  laws  necessary  for  carrying  treaties  into  effect,  and  those  still 
required  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  promises  of  the  Chamber,  will  be 
presented  to  you  in  the  course  of  this  session."  The  rejected  bill  was  not 
presented.  After  a  session  of  two  weeks,  the  Chambers  were  prorogued 
on  the  16th  August  until  the  29th  December, — a  day,  almost  a  month  after 
the  next  meeting  of  Congress. 

I  admit  that  strong  reasons  existed  for  dispensing  with  that  part  of  the 
obligation  which  required  the  French  government  to  present  the  bill  at  this 
short  session.  No  good  reason  has  ever  been  alleged  to  excuse  them  for  pro- 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH    TREATY.  257 

roguing  the  Chambers  until  so  late  a  day  as  the  29th  of  December.  They 
might  have  met,  and  they  ought  to  have  met,  at  an  early  period  of  the 
autumn.  They  have  heretofore  met,  on  different  occasions,  for  the  despatch  of 
business,  in  every  month  of  the  year.  It  was  in  vain  that  Mr.  Livingston  urged 
the  necessity  of  an  earlier  meeting  on  the  Count  de  Rigny.  It  was  in  vain 
that  he  appealed  to  the  positive  engagement  of  the  French  government  made 
by  Mr.  Serrurier.  It  was  in  vain  that  he  declared  to  him,  "  that  the  Presi 
dent  could  not,  at  the  opening  of  the  next  session  of  Congress,  avoid  laying 
before  that  body  a  statement  of  the  then  .position  of  affairs  on  this  interesting 
subject,  nor,  under  any  circumstances,  permit  that  session  to  end,  as  it  must,  on 
the  third  of  March,  without  recommending  such  measures  as  he  may  deem  that 
justice  and  the  honor  of  the  country  may  require."  All  his  remonstrances 
were  disregarded.  Instead  of  hastening  the  presentation  of  the  rejected  law 
as  much  as  possible,  they  refused  to  assemble  the  Chambers  in  time  even  to 
present  the  bill  before  the  meeting  of  Congress.  Their  meeting  was  so  long 
delayed,  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  that  their  determination  should  be 
known  in  this  country  before  the  close  of  the  session,  notwithstanding  the 
President  had  agreed  not  to  present  the  subject  to  Congress  at  the  previous 
session,  under  a  firm  conviction  that  he  would  receive  this  determination  in 
time  to  lay  it  before  them  at  the  commencement  of  their  next  session.  Is 
there  a  Senator  in  this  hall,  who  can  believe  for  a  moment,  that  if  the  Presi 
dent  had  been  informed  the  rejected  bill  would  not  be  laid  before  the  Cham 
bers  until  the  29th  December,  he  would  have  refrained  from  communicating 
to  Congress,  at  their  previous  session,  the  state  of  the  controversy  between 
the  two  countries  ?  Upon  this  construction,  the  engagement  of  the  French 
government  was  mere  words,  without  the  slightest  meaning ;  and  the  national 
vessel  which  brought  it  in  such  solemn  form,  might  much  better  have 
remained  at  home. 

What  was  the  apology — what  was  the  pretext  under  which  the  king's 
government  refused  to  assemble  the  Chambers  at  an  earlier  period  ?  It  was, 
that  Mr.  Serrurier  had  made  no  engagement  to  that  effect,  and  that  the  inten 
tion  which  he  had  expressed  in  behalf  of  his  government  to  do  all  that  the 
constitution  allows,  to  hasten,  as  much  as  possible,  the  period  of  the  new 
presentation  of  the  rejected  law,  meant  no  more  than  that  this  was  their  dis 
position.  The  word  "intention"  is  thus  changed  into  "  disposition  "  by  the 
Count  de  Rigny,  and  the  whole  engagement  which  was  presented  to  the 
President  in  such  an  imposing  form,  was  thus  converted  into  a  mere  unmean 
ing  profession  of  their  desire  to  hasten  this  presentation  as  much  as  possible. 

Sir,  at  the  commencement  of  the  session  of  Congress,  it  became  the  duty 
of  the  President  to  speak,  and  what  could  any  American  expect  that  he 
would  say  ?  The  treaty  had  been  violated  in  the  first  instance,  by  the  minis 
ters  of  the  French  king,  in  neglecting  to  lay  it  before  the  Chambers  until 
after  the  first  instalment  was  due.  It  was  then  twice  submitted,  at  so  late 
a  period  of  the  session,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  Chambers  to  examine 
and  decide  the  question  before  their  adjournment.  On  the  last  of  these  occa- 
L— 17 


258  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

sions,  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  to  which  the  subject  was  referred,  had 
reported  a  severe  reprimand  against  the  government,  for  not  having  sooner 
presented  the  bill,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  it  might  be  presented  at  an 
early  period  of  the  next  session.  It  was  then  rejected  by  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies ;  and  when  the  French  government  had  solemnly  engaged  to  hasten 
the  presentation  of  the  rejected  law,  as  soon  as  their  constitution  would  per 
mit,  they  prorogue  the  Chambers  to  the  latest  period  which  custom  sanctions, 
in  the  very  face  of  the  remonstrances  of  the  minister  of  the  United  States.  I 
ask  again,  sir,  before  such  an  array  of  circumstances,  what  could  any  man, 
what  could  any  American  expect  the  President  would  say  in  his  message  ? 
The  cup  of  forbearance  had  been  drained  by  him  to  the  very  dregs.  It  was 
then  his  duty  to  speak  so  as  to  be  heard  and  to  be  regarded  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  If  the  same  spirit  which  dictated  the  message,  or  any 
thing  like  it,  had  been  manifested  by  Congress,  the  money,  in  my  opinion, 
would  ere  this  have  been  paid. 

The  question  was  then  reduced  to  a  single  point.  "We  demanded  the 
execution  of  a  solemn  treaty ;  it  had  been  refused.  France  had  promised 
again  to  bring  the  question  before  the  Chambers  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
Chambers  were  prorogued  until  the  latest  day.  The  President  had  every 
reason  to  believe  that  France  was  trifling  with  us,  and  that  the  treaty  would 
again  be  rejected.  Is  there  a  Senator,  within  the  sound  of  my  voice,  who, 
if  France  had  finally  determined  not  to  pay  the  money,  would  have  tamely 
submitted  to  this  violation  of  national  faith  ?  Not  one  ! 

The  late  war  with  Great  Britain  elevated  us  in  the  estimation  of  the  whole 
world.  In  every  portion  of  Europe,  we  have  reason  to  be  proud  that  we  are 
American  citizens.  We  have  paid  dearly  for  the  exalted  character  we  now 
enjoy  among  the  nations,  and  we  ought  to  preserve  it  and  transmit  it  unim 
paired  to  future  generations.  To  them  it  will  be  a  most  precious  inherit 
ance. 

If,  after  having  compelled  the  weaker  nations  of  the  world  to  pay  us  in 
demnities  for  captures  made  from  our  citizens,  we  should  cower  before 
the  power  of  France,  and  abandon  our  rights  against  her,  when  they  had 
been  secured  by  a  solemn  treaty,  we  should  be  regarded  as  a  mere  Hector 
among  the  nations.  The  same  course  which  you  have  pursued  towards  the 
weak,  you  must  pursue  towards  the  powerful.  If  you  do  not,  your  name 
will  become  a  by- word  and  a  proverb. 

But  under  all  the  provocations  which  the  country  had  received,  what  is  the 
character  of  that  message  ?  Let  it  be  scanned  with  eagle  eyes,  and  there  is 
nothing  in  its  language  at  which  the  most  fastidious  critic  can  take  offence. 
It  contains  an  enumeration  of  our  wrongs  in  mild  and  dignified  language,  and 
a  contingent  recommendation  of  reprisals,  in  case  the  indemnity  should  again 
be  rejected  by  the  Chambers.  But  in  this,  and  in  all  other  respects,  it  defers 
entirely  to  the  judgment  of  Congress.  Every  idea  of  an  intended  menace  is 
excluded  by  the  President's  express  declaration.  He  says:  "Such  a 
measure  ought  not  to  be  considered  by  France  as  a  menace.  Her  pride  and 


SPEECH    OX    THE  FRENCH    TREATY.  259 

power  are  too  well  known  to  expect  any  thing  from  her  fears,  and  preclude 
the  necessity  of  the  declaration,  that  nothing  partaking  of  the  character  of 
intimidation  is  intended  by  us." 

I  ask  again,  is  it  not  forbearing  in  its  language  ?  Is  there  a  single  state 
ment  in  it  not  founded  upon  truth  ?  Does  it  even  state  the  whole  truth 
against  France  ?  Are  there  not  strong  points  omitted  ?  All  these  questions 
must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative.  On  this  subject  we  have  strong  evi 
dence  from  the  Duke  de  Broglie  himself.  In  his  famous  letter  to  Mr.  Pageot 
of  June  17th,  1835, — the  arrow  of  the  Parthian  as  he  flew, — this  fact  is  ad 
mitted.  He  says : 

"  If  we  examine  in  detail  the  message  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  (I  mean  that  part  of  it  which  concerns  the  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  France,)  it  will  possibly  be  found,  that  passing  successively 
from  phrase  to  phrase,  none  will  be  met  that  cannot  bear  an  interpretation 
more  or  less  plausible,  nor  of  which,  strictly  speaking,  it  cannot  be  said  that 
it  is  a  simple  expose  of  such  a  fact,  true  in  itself,  or  the  assertion  of  such  or 
such  a  right  which  no  one  contests,  or  the  performance  of  such  or  such  an 
obligation  imposed  on  the  President  by  the  very  nature  of  his  functions. 
There  will  certainly  be  found  several  in  which  the  idea  of  impeaching  the 
good  faith  of  the  French  government,  or  of  acting  upon  it  through  menace  or 
intimidation,  is  more  or  less  disavowed." 

It  was  the  whole  message,  and  not  any  of  the  detached  parts,  at  which  the 
French  government  chose  to  take  offence. 

It  is  not  my  present  purpose  to  discuss  the  propriety  of  the  recommenda 
tion  of  reprisals,  or  whether  that  was  the  best  mode  of  redress  which  could 
have  been  suggested.  Some  decided  recommendation,  however,  was  required 
from  the  executive,  both  by  public  opinion  and  by  the  wrongs  which  we  had 
so  long  patiently  endured. 

Who  can  suppose  that  the  executive  intended  to  menace  France,  or  to  ob 
tain  from  her  fears  what  would  be  denied  by  her  sense  of  justice  ?  The 
President,  in  this  very  message,  expressly  disclaims  such  an  idea.  Her  his 
tory  places  her  far  above  any  such  imputation.  The  wonder  is,  how  she  could 
have  ever  supposed  the  President,  against  his  own  solemn  declaration,  in 
tended  to  do  her  any  such  injustice.  She  ought  to  have  considered  it  as  it 
was,  a  mere  executive  recommendation  to  Congress,  not  intended  for  her  at 
all — not  to  operate  upon  her  fears,  but  upon  their  deliberations  in  deciding 
whether  any  and  what  measures  should  be  adopted  to  secure  the  execution 
of  the  treaty.  But  on  this  subject  I  shall  say  more  hereafter. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  special  message  of  the  President  to  Congress 
of  the  26th  February  last ;  a  document  which  has  a  most  important  bearing 
on  the  appropriation  of  the  three  millions  which  was  rejected  by  the  Sen 
ate.  I  have  given  this  historical  sketch  of  our  controversy  with  France, 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  Senators  to  the  very  point  of  time,  and  to  the 
precise  condition  of  this  question,  when  the  Senate  negatived  that  appropria 
tion. 


260  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

What  had  Congress  done  in  relation  to  the  French  question  when  this 
message  was  presented  to  us?  Nothing,  sir,  nothing.  The  Senate  had 
unanimously  passed  a  resolution  on  the  15th  January,  that  it  was  inexpedient, 
at  present,  to  adopt  any  legislative  measure,  in  regard  to  the  state  of  affairs 
between  the  United  States  and  France.  This  unanimity  was  obtained  by 
two  considerations.  The  one  was,  that  the  French  Chambers  had  been  con 
vened,  though  not  for  the  purpose  of  acting  upon  our  treaty,  on  the  first,  in 
stead  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  December,  a  fact  unknown  to  the  President  at 
the  date  of  his  message.  The  other,  that  this  circumstance  afforded  a  reason 
able  ground  of  hope,  that  we  might  learn  their  final  determination  before  the 
close  of  our  session  on  the  3d  March.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the 
causes,  the  Senate  had  determined  that,  for  the  present,  nothing  should  be 
done. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  at  the  date  of  the  special  message,  on 
the  26th  February,  no  measure  whatever  had  been  adopted.  The  President 
had  just  cause  to  believe  that  the  sentiments  contained  in  his  message  to  Con 
gress,  at  the  commencement  of  their  session,  were  not  in  unison  with  the 
feelings  of  either  branch  of  the  legislature.  He  therefore  determined  to  lay 
all  the  information  in  his  possession  before  Congress,  and  leave  it  for  them 
to  decide  whether  any  or  what  measures  should  be  adopted  for  the  defence 
of  the  country.  I  shall  read  this  message.  It  is  as  follows : 

"  I  transmit  to  Congress  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  with  copies 
of  all  the  letters  received  from  Mr.  Livingston  since  the  message  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  6th  instant,  of  the  instructions  given  to  that 
minister,  and  of  all  the  late  correspondence  with  the  French  government  in 
Paris,  or  in  Washington,  except  a  note  of  Mr.  Serrurier,  which,  for  the  rea 
sons  stated  in  the  report,  is  not  now  communicated. 

"  It  will  be  seen  that  I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  instruct  Mr.  Livingston 
to  quit  France  with  his  legation,  and  return  to  the  United  States,  if  an  appro 
priation  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  convention  shall  be  refused  by  the  Cham 
bers. 

"  The  subject  being  now,  in  all  its  present  aspects,  before  Congress,  whose 
right  it  is  to  decide  what  measures  are  to  be  pursued  on  that  event,  I 
deem  it  unnecessary  to  make  further  recommendation,  being  confident  that, 
on  their  part,  every  thing  will  be  done  to  maintain  the  rjghts  and  honor  of 
the  country  which  the  occasion  requires." 

The  President  leaves  the  whole  question  to  Congress.  What  was  the  in 
formation  then  communicated  ?  That  a  very  high  state  of  excitement  existed 
against  us  in  France.  That  the  French  minister  had  been  recalled  from  this 
country ;  an  act  which  is  generally  the  immediate  precursor  of  hostilities  be 
tween  nations.  Besides,  Mr.  Livingston,  who  was  a  competent  judge  and  on 
the  spot,  with  the  best  means  of  knowledge,  informed  his  Government  that 
he  would  not  be  surprised,  should  the  law  be  rejected,  if  they  anticipated  our 
reprisals,  by  the  seizure  of  our  vessels  in  port,  or  the  attack  of  our  ships  in 
the  Mediterranean,  by  a  superior  force.  Such  were  his  apprehensions,  upon 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH    TREATY.  261 

this  subject,  that  he  felt  it  to  be  his  duty,  without  delay,  to  inform  Commodore 
Patterson  of  the  state  of  things,  so  that  he  might  be  upon  his  guard. 

Ought  these  apprehensions  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  have  been  disregarded  ? 
Let  the  history  of  that  gallant  people  answer  this  question.  How  often  has 
the  injustice  of  their  cause  been  concealed  from  their  own  view  by  the  daz 
zling  brilliancy  of  some  grand  and  striking  exploit  ?  Glory  is  their  passion, 
and  their  great  emperor,  who  knew  them  best,  often  acted  upon  this  princi 
ple.  To  anticipate  their  enemy,  and  commence  the  war  with  some  bold 
stroke,  would  be  in  perfect  accordance  with  their  character. 

Every  Senator,  when  he  voted  upon  the  appropriation,  must  have  known, 
or  at  least  might  have  known,  all  the  information  which  was  contained  in  the 
documents  accompanying  the  President's  message. 

It  has  been  objected,  that  if  the  President  desired  this  appropriation  of 
three  millions,  he  ought  to  have  recommended  it  in  his  message.  I  protest 
against  this  principle.  He  acted  wisely,  discreetly,  and  with  a  becoming  re 
spect  for  Congress,  to  leave  the  whole  question  to  their  decision.  This  was 
especially  proper,  as  we  had  not  thought  proper  to  adopt  any  measure  in  re 
lation  to  the  subject. 

Suppose  the  President  had,  in  his  special  message,  recommended  this  ap 
propriation,  what  would  have  been  said,  and  justly  said,  upon  the  subject? 
Denunciations  the  most  eloquent  would  have  resounded  against  him  through 
out  the  whole  country,  from  Georgia  to  Maine.  It  would  have  everywhere 
been  proclaimed  as  an  act  of  executive  dictation.  In  our  then  existing  rela 
tions  with  France,  it  would  have  been  said,  and  said  with  much  force,  that 
such  a  recommendation  from  the  executive  might  have  had  a  tendency  to  ex 
asperate  her  people,  and  produce  war.  Besides,  I  shall  never  consent  to  adopt 
the  principle  that  we  ought  to  take  no  measures  to  defend  the  country,  with 
out  the  recommendation  of  the  executive.  This  would  be  to  submit  to  that 
very  dictation,  against  which,  on  other  occasions,  gentlemen  themselves  have 
so  loudly  protested.  No,  sir,  I  shall  always  assert  the  perfect  right  of  Congress 
to  act  upon  such  subjects,  independently  of  any  executive  recommendation. 

This  special  message  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations, 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the  26th  February.  On  the  next  day 
they  reported  three  resolutions,  one  of  which  was,  "that  contingent  prepara 
tion  ought  to  be  made,  to  meet  any  emergency  growing  out  of  our  relations 
with  France."  The  session  was  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close.  But  a  few  days 
of  it  then  remained.  It  would  have  been  vain  to  act  upon  this  resolution.  It 
was  a  mere  abstraction.  Had  it  been  adopted,  it  could  have  produced  no 
effect ;  the  money  was  wanted  to  place  the  country  in  a  state  of  defence,  and 
not  a  mere  opinion  that  it  ought  to  be  granted.  The  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Relations,  therefore,  on  the  28th  February,  had  this  resolu 
tion  laid  upon  the  table,  and  gave  notice  that  he  would  move  an  amendment 
to  the  fortification  bill,  appropriating  three  millions  of  dollars,  one  million  to 
the  army,  and  two  millions  to  the  navy,  to  provide  for  the  contingent  defence 
of  the  country. 


262  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

It  has  been  urged,  that  because  the  President,  in  his  last  annual  message, 
has  said  that  this  contingent  appropriation  was  inserted  according  to  his 
views,  that  some  blame  attaches  to  him  from  the  mode  of  its  introduction. 
Without  pretending  to  know  the  fact,  I  will  venture  the  assertion,  that  he 
never  requested  any  member,  either  of  this  or  the  other  branch  of  the  legis 
lature,  to  make  such  a  motion.  He  had  taken  his  stand— he  had  left  the 
whole  subject  to  Congress.  From  this  he  never  departed.  If  the  chairman 
of  any  committee,  or  any  other  member  of  the  Senate  or  the  House,  called 
upon  him  to  know  his  views  upon  the  subject,  he  no  doubt  communicated 
them  freely  and  frankly.  This  is  his  nature.  Surely  no  blame  can  attach 
to  him  for  having  expressed  his  opinion  upon  this  subject  to  any  mem 
ber  who  might  ask  it.  It  has  been  the  uniform  course  pursued  on  such 
occasions. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  by  a  unanimous  vote, 
resolved  that,  in  their  opinion,  the  treaty  with  France,  of  the  4th  July,  1831, 
should  be  maintained,  and  its  execution  insisted  on.  This  was  no  party  vote. 
It  was  dictated  by  a  common  American  feeling,  which  rose  superior  to  party. 
After  this  solemn  declaration  of  the  House,  made  in  the  face  of  the  world,  how 
could  it  be  supposed  they  would  adjourn,  without  endeavoring  to  place  the 
country  in  an  attitude  of  defence  ?  What,  sir !  The  representatives  of  the 
people,  with  an  overflowing  treasury,  to  leave  the  country  naked  and  ex 
posed  to  hostile  invasion,  and  to  make  no  provision  for  our  navy,  after  having 
declared  unanimously  that  the  treaty  should  be  maintained!  Who  could 
have  supposed  it  ? 

On  the  3d  of  March,  upon  the  motion  of  the  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations  (Mr.  Cambreleng)  and  in  pursuance  of  the  notice 
which  he  had  given  on  the  28th  of  February,  this  appropriation  of  three 
millions  was  annexed  as  an  amendment  to  the  fortification  bill.  The  vote 
upon  the  question  was  109  in  the  affirmative,  and  77  in  the  negative.  This 
vote,  although  not  unanimous,  like  the  former,  was  no  party  vote.  The  bill, 
thus  amended,  was  brought  to  the  Senate.  Now,  sir,  let  me  ask,  if  this 
appropriation  had  proceeded  from  the  House  alone,  without  any  message  or 
any  suggestion  from  the  executive,  would  this  not  have  been  a  legitimate 
source  ?  Ought  such  an  appropriation  to  be  opposed  in  the  Senate,  because  it 
had  not  received  executive  sanction?  Have  the  Representatives  of  the 
people  no  right  to  originate  a  bill  for  the  defence  and  security  of  their  con 
stituents  and  their  country,  without  first  consulting  the  will  of  the  President? 
For  one,  I  shall  never  submit  to  any  such  a  slavish  principle.  It  would  make 
the  Executive  every  thing,  and  Congress  nothing. 

Had  the  indemnity  been  absolutely  rejected  by  the  Chambers,  the  two  na 
tions  would  have  been  placed  in  a  state  of  defiance  towards  each  other.  In 
such  a  condition  it  was  the  right — nay,  more,  it  was  the  imperative  duty  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  to  make  contingent  preparation  for  the  worst. 
The  urgency  of  the  case  was  still  more  striking,  because  in  ten  or  eleven  of 
the  States  Representatives  could  not  be  elected  until  months  after  the  adjourn- 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.         263 

ment,  and,  therefore,  Congress  could  not  have  been  assembled  to  meet  any 
emergency  which  might  occur. 

But,  sir,  does  it  require  a  recommendation  of  the  Executive,  or  a  vote  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  to  originate  such  an  appropriation  ?  Any  in 
dividual  Senator  or  member  of  the  House  may  do  it  with  the  strictest  pro 
priety.  Did  the  Senator  from  Delaware  (Mr.  Clayton)  ask  the  approbation 
of  the  President,  before  he  made  the  motion  at  the  last  session,  which  does 
him  so  much  honor,  to  increase  the  appropriation  for  fortifications  half  a 
million  ?  How  did  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  Massa 
chusetts  (Mr.  Webster)  to  the  fortification  bill  of  the  last  session  originate  ? 
I  presume  from  the  Committee  of  Finance,  of  which  he  was  the  chairman. 
No  doubt  he  conferred  with  the  head  of  the  proper  Executive  Department, 
according  to  the  custom  in  such  cases ;  but  still  these  appropriations  of  more 
than  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  had  their  origin  in  that  committee.  It 
was  a  proper,  a  legitimate  source.  Is  then  the  ancient  practice  to  be 
changed,  and  must  it  become  a  standing  rule  that  we  are  to  appropriate  no 
money  without  the  orders  or  the  expressed  wish  of  the  Executive  ?  I  trust  not. 

The  form  of  this  appropriation  has  been  objected  to.     I  shall  read  it. 

"  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  sum  of  three  millions  of  dollars  be, 
and  the  same  is  hereby,  appropriated  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not 
otherwise  appropriated,  to  be  expended,  in  whole  or  in  part,  under  the  direc 
tion  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  for  the  military  and  naval  service, 
including  fortifications  and  ordnance,  and  increase  of  the  navy ;  Provided, 
such  expenditures  shall  be  rendered  necessary,  for  the  defence  of  the  country, 
prior  to  the  next  meeting  of  Congress." 

It  has  been  urged  that  to  grant  money  in  such  general  terms  would  have 
been  a  violation  of  the  Constitution.  I  do  not  understand  that  the  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster),  at  the  present  session,  has  distinctly  placed 
it  upon  this  ground.  Other  Senators  have  done  so  in  the  strongest  terms. 
Is  there  any  thing  in  the  Constitution  which  touches  the  question?  It 
simply  declares  that  "  no  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  but  in 
consequence  of  appropriations  made  by  law."  Whether  these  appropriations 
shall  be  general  or  specific,  is  left  entirely,  as  it  ought  to  have  been,  to  the 
discretion  of  Congress.  I  admit  that,  ex  vi  termini,  an  appropriation  of 
money  must  have  a  reference  to  some  object.  But  whether  you  refer  to  a 
class,  or  to  an  individual,  to  the  genus  or  to  the  species,  your  appropriation  is 
equally  constitutional.  The  degree  of  specification  necessary  to  make  the  law 
valid  never  can  become  a  constitutional  question.  The  terms  of  the  instrument 
are  as  broad  and  as  general  as  the  English  language  can  make  them.  In  this 
particular,  as  in  almost  every  other,  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  have 
manifested  their  wisdom  and  their  foresight.  Cases  may  occur  and  have 
occurred  in  the  history  of  this  Government,  demanding  the  strictest  secrecy ; 
cases  in  which  to  specify,  would  be  to  defeat  the  very  object  of  the  appro 
priation.  A  remarkable  example  of  this  kind  occurs  in  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Jefferson,  to  which  I  shall  presently  advert. 


264  LIFE    OP   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

There  are  other  cases  in  which  from  the  very  nature  of  things  you  cannot 
specify  the  objects  of  an  appropriation  without  the  gift  of  prophecy.  I  take 
the  present  to  be  a  clear  case  of  this  description.  The  appropriation  was 
contingent;  it  was  to  be  for  the  defence  of  the  country.  How  then  could  it 
have  been  specific?  How  could  you  foresee  when,  or  where,  or  how  the 
attack  of  France  would  be  made  ?  Without  this  foreknowledge,  you  could 
not  designate  when,  or  where,  or  how  it  would  become  necessary  to  use  the 
money.  This  must  depend  upon  France,  not  upon  ourselves.  She  might  be 
disposed  to  confine  the  contest  merely  to  a  naval  war.  In  that  event  it 
would  become  necessary  to  apply  the  whole  sum  to  secure  us  against  naval 
attacks.  She  might  threaten  to  invade  Louisiana  or  any  other  portion  of  the 
Union.  The  money  would  then  be  required  to  call  out  the  militia,  and  to 
march  them  and  the  regular  army  to  that  point.  Every  thing  must  depend 
upon  the  movements  of  the  enemy.  It  might  become  necessary,  in  order 
most  effectually  to  resist  the  contemplated  attack,  to  construct  steam  frigates 
or  steam  batteries,  or  it  might  be  deemed  more  proper  to  increase  your  or 
dinary  navy  and  complete  and  arm  your  fortifications.  In  a  country  where 
Congress  cannot  be  always  in  session,  you  must  in  times  of  danger,  grant 
some  discretionary  powers  to  the  Executive.  This  should  always  be  avoided 
when  it  is  possible,  consistently  with  the  safety  of  the  country.  But  it  was 
wise,  it  was  prudent  in  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  in  order  to  meet  such 
cases,  to  declare  in  general  terms  that  "  no  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the 
Treasury,  but  in  consequence  of  appropriations  made  by  law."  Not  specific 
appropriations.  The  terms  are  general  and  unrestricted.  If  the  amendment 
had  appropriated  one  million  to  fortifications,  the  second  million  to  the  in 
crease  of  the  navy,  and  the  third  to  the  purchase  of  ordnance  and  arms,  it 
might  have  been  found  that  a  great  deal  too  much  had  been  appropriated  to 
one  object,  and  a  great  deal  too  little  to  another. 

As  a  matter  of  expediency,  as  a  means  of  limiting  the  discretion  of  execu 
tive  officers,  I  am  decidedly  friendly  to  specific  appropriations,  whenever  they 
can  be  made.  I  so  declared  in  the  debate  at  the  last  session.  I  then  ex 
pressed  a  wish  that  this  appropriation  had  been  more  specific;  but  upon 
reflection,  I  do  not  see  how  it  could  have  been  made  much  more  so,  unless 
we  had  possessed  the  gift  of  prophecy.  But  the  Constitution  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  question.  * ' 

After  all,  I  attached  more  value  to  specific  appropriations  before  I  had 
examined  this  subject,  than  I  do  at  the  present  moment.  Still  I  admit  their 
importance.  The  clause  which  immediately  follows  in  the  Constitution,  13 
the  true  touchstone  of  responsibility.  Although  the  appropriation  may  be 
general ;  yet  "  a  regular  statement  and  account  of  the  receipts  and  expendi 
tures  of  all  public  money  shall  be  published  from  time  to  time."  No  matter 
in  what  language  public  money  may  be  granted  to  the  Executive,  in  its 
expenditure,  he  is  but  the  mere  trustee  of  the  American  people,  and  he  must 
produce  to  them  his  vouchers  for  every  cent  entrusted  to  his  care.  This 
constitutional  provision  holds  him  to  a  strict  responsibility,  to  a  responsibility 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.  265 

much  more  severe  than  if  Congress  had  been  required  in  all  cases  to  make 
specific  appropriations. 

How  Senators  can  create  a  dictator,  and  give  him  unlimited  power  over 
the  purse  and  the  sword  out  of  such  an  appropriation,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  con 
ceive.  It  is  a  flight  of  imagination  beyond  my  reach.  What,  sir,  to  appro 
priate  three  millions  for  the  military  and  naval  defence  of  the  country  in  case 
it  should  become  necessary  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  and  at  its  next 
meeting  to  compel  the  President  to  account  for  the  whole  sum  he  may  have 
expended ;  is  this  to  create  a  dictator ?  Is  this  to  surrender  our  liberties 
into  the  hands  of  one  man  ?  And  yet  gentlemen  have  contended  for  this 
proposition. 

What  has  been  the  practice  of  the  Government  in  regard  to  this  subject  ? 
During  the  period  of  our  first  two  Presidents,  appropriations  were  made  in 
^he  most  general  terms.  No  one  then  imagined  that  this  was  a  violation  of 
the  Constitution.  When  Mr.  Jefferson  came  into  power,  this  practice  was 
changed.  In  his  message  to  Congress,  of  December  8th,  1801,  he  says  : 
"  In  our  care  too  of  the  public  contributions  entrusted  to  our  discretion,  it 
would  be  prudent  to  multiply  barriers  against  their  dissipation,  by  appropriat 
ing  specific  sums  to  every  specific  purpose  susceptible  of  definition.'1  Sus 
ceptible  of  definition.  Here  is  the  rule,  and  here  is  the  exception.  He  treats 
the  subject  not  as  a  constitutional  question,  but  as  one  of  mere  expediency. 
In  little  more  than  two  short  years  after  this  recommendation,  Mr.  Jefferson 
found  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  an  appropriation  from  Congress  in  the  most 
general  terms.  To  have  made  it  specific,  would  necessarily  have  defeated  its 
very  object.  Secrecy  was  necessary  to  success.  Accordingly  on  the  26th 
February,  1803,  Congress  made  the  most  extraordinary  appropriation  in  our 
annals.  They  granted  to  the  President  the  sum  of  two  millions  of  dollars, 
"  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  any  extraordinary  expenses  which  may  be  in 
curred  in  the  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  foreign  nations." 
Here,  sir,  was  a  grant  almost  without  any  limit.  It  was  co-extensive  with 
the  whole  world.  Every  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth  was  within  the 
sphere  of  its  operation.  The  President  might  have  used  this  money  to  sub 
sidize  foreign  nations  to  destroy  our  liberties.  That  he  was  utterly  incapable 
of  such  conduct  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  observe.  I  do  not  know  that  I 
should  have  voted  for  such  an  unlimited  grant.  Still,  however,  there  was  a 
responsibility  to  be  found  in  his  obligation  under  the  Constitution  to  account 
for  its  expenditure.  Mr.  Jefferson  never  used  any  part  of  this  appropriation. 
It  had  been  intended  for  the  purchase  of  the  sovereignty  of  New  Orleans 
and  of  other  possessions  in  that  quarter ;  but  our  treaty  with  France  of  the 
30th  April,  1803,  by  which  Louisiana  was  ceded  to  us,  rendered  it  unneces 
sary  for  him  to  draw  any  part  of  this  money  from  the  Treasury,  under  the 
act  of  Congress,  by  which  it  had  been  granted. 

Before  the  close  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  second  term,  it  was  found  that  specific 
appropriations  in  the  extent  to  which  they  had  been  carried,  had  become  in 
convenient.  Congress  often  granted  too  much  for  one  object,  and  too  little 


266  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

for  another.  This  must  necessarily  be  the  case,  because  we  cannot  say 
beforehand  precisely  how  much  shall  be  required  for  any  one  purpose.  On 
the  3d  of  March,  1809,  an  act  was  passed,  which  was  approved  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  containing  the  following  provision : 

"  Provided,  nevertheless,  That,  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  the  President 
of  the  United  States  may,  and  he  is  hereby  authorized,  on  the  application  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  proper  department,  and  not  otherwise,  to  direct,  if  in  his 
opinion  necessary  for  the  public  service,  that  a  portion  of  the  moneys  appro 
priated  for  a  particular  branch  of  expenditure  in  that  department,  be  applied 
to  another  branch  of  expenditure  in  the  same  department ;  in  which  case,  a 
special  account  of  tha  moneys  thus  transferred,  and  of  their  application,  shall 
be  laid  before  Congress  during  the  first  week  of  their  next  ensuing  session." 

Is  this  act  constitutional  ?  If  it  be  so,  there  is  an  end  of  the  question. 
Has  its  constitutionality  ever  been  doubted  ?  It  authorizes  the  President  to 
take  the  money  appropriated  by  Congress  for  one  special  object  and  apply  it 
to  another.  The  money  destined  for  any  one  purpose  by  an  appropriation 
bill,  may  be  diverted  from  that  purpose  by  the  President,  and  be  applied  to 
any  other  purpose  entirely  different,  with  no  limitation  whatever  upon  his 
discretion,  except  that  money  to  be  expended  by  one  of  the  Departments, 
either  of  War,  or  of  the  Navy,  or  of  the  Treasury,  could  not  be  transferred 
to  another  Department. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  cite  all  the  precedents  bearing  upon  this  question. 
I  shall  merely  advert  to  one  other.  On  the  10th  of  March,  1812,  Congress 
appropriated  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  "  for  the  purpose  of  fortifying  and 
defending  the  maritime  frontier  of  the  United  States."  This  was  in  anticipa 
tion  of  the  late  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  is  as  general  in  its  terms,  and 
leaves  as  much  to  executive  discretion,  as  the  proposed  appropriation  of  three 
millions. 

I  trust,  then,  that  I  have  established  the  positions  that  this  appropriation 
originated  from  a  legitimate  source — was  necessary  for  the  defence  and  honor 
of  the  country,  and  violated  no  provision  of  the  constitution.  If  so,  it  ought 
to  have  received  the  approbation  of  the  Senate. 

When  the  fortification  bill  came  back  to  the  Senate,  with  this  appropriation 
attached  to  it  by  the  House,  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster), 
instantly  moved  that  it  should  be  rejected.  I  feel  no  disposition  to  make  any 
harsh  observations  in  relation  to  that  gentleman.  I  think,  however,  that  his 
remark,  that  if  the  enemy  had  been  thundering  at  the  gates  of  the  capitol.  he 
would  have  moved  to  reject  the  appropriation,  was  a  most  unfortunate  one  for 
himself.  I  consider  it  nothing  more  than  a  bold  figure  of  speech.  I  feel  the 
most  perfect  confidence  that  the  gentleman  is  now  willing  to  vote  all  the 
money  which  may  be  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  country. 

Of  the  gentleman's  sincerity  in  opposing  this  appropriation,  I  did  not  then, 
nor  do  I  now  entertain  a  doubt.  He  was  ardent  and  impassioned  in  his 
manner,  and  was  evidently  in  a  state  of  highly  excited  feeling.  Probably 
strong  political  prejudices  may  have  influenced  his  judgment  without  his 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH    TREATY.  267 

knowledge.     He  thought  that  a  high  constitutional  question  was  involved  in 
the  amendment,  and  acted  accordingly. 

When  the  bill  returned  again  to  the  Senate,  after  we  had  rejected,  and  the 
House  had  insisted  upon  their  amendment,  the  Senator  immediately  moved 
that  we  should  adhere  to  our  rejection.  I  well  recollect,  sir,  that  you  (Mr. 
King,  of  Alabama,  was  in  the  chair),  remarked  at  the  time,  that  this  was  a 
harsh  motion,  and  should  it  prevail,  would  be  well  calculated  to  exasperate 
the  feelings  of  the  House,  and  to  defeat  the  bill.  You  then  observed  that  the 
proper  motion  would  be  to  insist  upon"  our  rejection,  and  ask  a  conference ; 
and  that  the  motion  to  adhere  ought  not  to  be  resorted  to  until  all  gentler 
measures  had  failed. 

The  Senator  now  claims  the  merit,  and  is  anxious  to  sustain  the  responsi 
bility,  of  having  moved  to  reject  this  appropriation.  He  also  asks,  in  mercy, 
that  when  the  expunging  process  shall  commence,  his  vote,  upon  this  occasion, 
may  be  spared  from  its  operation. 

For  the  sake  of  my  country,  and  in  undisguised  sincerity  of  purpose,  I 
declare,  for  the  sake  of  the  gentleman,  I  am  rejoiced  that  the  responsibility 
which  he  covets  will,  probably,  not  be  so  dreadful  as  we  had  just  reason  to 
apprehend.  Had  France  attacked  us,  or  should  she  yet  attack  us,  in  our 
present  defenceless  condition ;  should  our  cities  be  exposed  to  pillage,  or  the 
blood  of  our  citizens  be  shed,  either  upon  the  land  or  the  ocean ;  should  our 
national  character  be  dishonored,  tremendous,  indeed,  would  be  the  responsi 
bility  of  the  gentleman.  In  that  event,  he  need  not  beseech  us  to  spare  his 
vote  from  the  process  of  expunging.  You  might  as  well  attempt  to  expunge 
a  sunbeam.  That  vote  will  live  for  ever  in  the  memory  of  the  American 
people. 

It  was  the  vote  of  the  Senate  which  gave  the  mortal  blow  to  the  fortifica 
tion  bill.  Had  they  passed  this  appropriation  of  three  millions,  that  bill  would 
now  have  been  a  law.  Where  it  died,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  inquire.  It 
was  in  mortal  agony  when  the  consultation  of  six  political  doctors  was  held 
upon  it  at  midnight,  in  our  conference  chamber,  and  it  probably  breathed  its 
last,  on  its  way  from  that  chamber  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  for  want 
of  a  quorum  in  that  body. 

Its  fate,  in  one  respect,  I  hope  may  yet  be  of  service  to  the  country.  It 
ought  to  admonish  us,  if  possible,  to  do  all  our  legislative  business  before  mid 
night  on  the  last  day  of  the  session.  I  never  shall  forget  the  night  I  sat  side 
by  side,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  with  the  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts  (Mr.  Webster),  until  the  morning  had  nearly  dawned.  The  most  im 
portant  bills  were  continually  returning  from  the  Senate  with  amendments. 
It  would  have  been  in  the  power  of  any  one  member  remaining  in  the  House 
to  have  defeated  any  measure  by  merely  asking  for  a  division.  This  would 
have  shown  that  no  quorum  was  present.  The  members  who  still  remained 
were  worn  down  and  exhausted,  and  were  thus  rendered  incapable  of  attend 
ing  to  their  duties.  It  was  legislation  without  deliberation.  I  trust  that  this 
evil  may  be  now  corrected.  Should  it  not,  I  do  not  know  that,  at  the  con- 


268  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

elusion  of  a  Congress,  my  conscience  would  be  so  tender  as  to  prevent  me 
from  voting,  as  I  have  done  heretofore,  after  midnight  on  the  third  of  March. 

I  have  one  other  point  to  discuss.  I  shall  now  proceed  to  present  to  the 
Senate  the  state  of  our  relations  with  France,  at  the  present  moment,  for  the 
purpose  of  proving  that  we  ought  to  adopt  the  resolutions  of  the  Senator 
from  Missouri  (Mr.  Benton),  and  grant  all  appropriations  necessary  for  the 
defence  of  the  country.  For  this  purpose,  we  must  again  return  to  Paris. 
The  President's  annual  message  of  December,  1834,  arrived  in  that  city  on 
the  8th  of  January — a  day  propitious  in  our  annals.  The  attack  upon  the 
British  troops  on  the  night  of  the  23d  of  December  did  not  surprise  them 
more  than  this  message  did  the  French  ministers.  After  the  most  patient  en 
durance  of  wrongs  for  so  many  years,  they  seemed  to  be  astounded  that  the 
President  should  have  asserted  our  rights  in  such  a  bold  and  manly  manner. 
That  message,  sir,  will  produce  the  payment  of  the  indemnity.  What  effect 
had  it  upon  the  character  of  our  country  abroad?  Let  Mr.  Livingston 
answer  this  question.  In  writing  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  on  the  llth 
January,  1835,  he  says :  "  It  has  certainly  raised  us  in  the  estimation  of  other 
powers,  if  I  may  judge  from  the  demeanor  of  their  representatives  here;  and 
my  opinion  is,  that  as  soon  as  the  first  excitement  subsides,  it  will  operate 
favorably  on  the  councils  of  France."  There  was  not  an  American  in  Paris, 
on  that  day,  who,  upon  the  perusal  of  this  message,  did  not  feel  the  flush  of 
honest  pride  of  country  mantling  in  his  countenance. 

On  the  22d  of  November  previous,  Mr.  Livingston  was  convinced  that  the 
king  was  sincere  in  his  intention  of  urging  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  and 
then  had  no  doubt  of  the  sincerity  of  his  cabinet.  The  Chambers  assembled 
on  the  1st  of  December;  and  after  an  arduous  struggle  for  two  days  against 
the  opposition,  victory  perched  upon  the  banner  of  the  ministers.  They  were 
thus  securely  seated  in  their  places.  On  the  6th  of  December  Mr.  Living 
ston  again  writes,  that  "  The  conversations  I  have  had  with  the  king  and  all 
the  ministers  convince  me  that  now  they  are  perfectly  in  earnest,  and  united 
on  the  question  of  the  treaty,  and  that  it  will  be  urged  with  zeal  and  ability." 
In  a  few  short  days,  however,  a  change  came  over  their  spirit.  On  the  22d 
December  Mr.  Livingston  uses  the  following  language  in  writing  to  the  De 
partment  of  State  :  "  My  last  despatch  (6th  December)  was  written  immedi 
ately  after  the  vote  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  had,  ^s  it  was  thought, 
secured  a  majority  to  the  administration;  and  it  naturally  excited  hopes 
which  that  supposition  was  calculated  to  inspire.  I  soon  found,  however, 
both  from  the  tone  of  the  administration  press  and  from  the  language  of  the 
king  and  all  the  ministers  with  whom  I  conferred  on  the  subject,  that  they 
were  not  willing  to  put  their  popularity  to  the  test  on  our  question ;  it  will  not 
be  made  one  on  the  determination  of  which  the  ministers  are  willing  to  risk 
their  portfolios.  The  very  next  day,  after  the  debate,  the  ministerial  gazette 
(Des  Debats)  declared  that,  satisfied  with  the  approbation  the  Chamber  had 
given  to  their  system,  it  was  at  perfect  liberty  to  exercise  its  discretion  as  to 
particular  measures  which  do  not  form  an  essential  part  of  that  system  ;  and 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.  269 

the  communications  I  subsequently  had  with  the  king  and  the  ministers  con 
firmed  me  in  the  opinion  that  the  law  for  executing  our  convention  was  to  be 
considered  as  one  of  those  free  questions.  I  combated  this  opinion,  and 
asked  whether  the  faithful  observance  of  treaties  was  not  an  essential  part  of 
their  system ;  and,  if  so,  whether  it  did  not  come  within  their  rule." 

The  observance  of  treaties  was  not  an  essential  part  of  their  system !  Victori 
ous  and  securely  fixed,  the  ministers  would  not  risk  their  places  in  attempting  to 
obtain  from  the  Chambers  the  appropriation  required  to  carry  our  treaty  into 
execution.  It  would  not  be  made  a  cabinet  question.  It  was  evident  they 
had  determined  to  pursue  the  same  course  of  delay  and  procrastination  which 
they  had  previously  pursued.  But  the  message  arrived,  and  it  roused  them 
from  their  apathy.  All  doubts  which  had  existed  upon  the  subject  of  making 
the  payment  of  our  indemnity  a  cabinet  question  at  once  vanished.  We 
have  never  heard  of  any  such  since ;  and  it  was  not  until  some  months  after 
that  the  French  ministers  thought  of  annexing  any  condition  to  this  payment. 

On  the  13th  of  January,  Mr.  Livingston  had  a  conference  with  the  Count 
de  Rigny.  He  then  explained  to  him  the  nature  of  a  message  from  our 
President  to  Congress.  He  compared  it  to  a  family  council  under  the  French 
law,  and  showed  that  it  was  a  mere  communication  from  one  branch  of  our 
Government  to  another,  with  which  a  foreign  nation  had  no  right  to  interfere, 
and  at  which  they  ought  not  to  take  offence.  They  parted  on  friendly  terms, 
and  again  met  on  the  same  terms  in  the  evening,  at  the  Austrian  Ambassa 
dor's.  Mr.  Livingston  was,  therefore,  much  astonished  when,  about  ten 
o'clock  at  night  of  the  same  day,  he  received  a  note  from  the  count,  inform 
ing  him  that  Mr.  Serrurier,  the  French  minister  at  Washington,  had  been  re 
called,  and  that  his  passports  were  at  his  service.  This  seems  to  have  been  a 
sudden  determination  of  the  French  cabinet. 

Now,  sir,  upon  the  presumption  that  France  had  been  insulted  by  the 
message,  this  was  the  proper  mode  of  resenting  the  insult.  Promptly  to  sus 
pend  all  diplomatic  intercourse  with  the  nation  who  had  menaced  her  or 
questioned  her  honor,  was  a  mode  of  redress  worthy  of  her  high  and  chival 
rous  character.  The  next  impulse  of  wounded  pride  would  be  promptly  to 
pay  the  debt  which  she  owed,  and  release  herself  from  every  pecuniary 
obligation  to  the  nation  which  had  done  her  this  wrong.  These  were  the  first 
determinations  of  the  king's  ministers. 

France  has  since  been  placed  before  the  world,  by  her  rulers,  in  the  most 
false  position  ever  occupied  by  a  brave  and  gallant  nation.  She  believes  her 
self  to  be  insulted,  and  what  is  the  consequence  ?  She  refuses  to  pay  a  debt 
now  admitted  to  be  just  by  all  the  branches  of  her  government.  Her 
wounded  feelings  are  estimated  by  dollars  and  cents,  and  she  withholds 
twenty-five  millions  of  francs,  due  to  a  foreign  nation,  to  soothe  her  injured 
pride.  How  are  the  mighty  fallen!  Truly  it  may  be  said,  the  days  of 
chivalry  are  gone.  Have  the  pride  and  the  genius  of  Napoleon  left  no  traces 
of  themselves  under  the  constitutional  monarchy  ?  In  private  life,  if  you  are 
insulted  by  an  individual  to  whom  you  are  indebted,  what  is  the  first  impulse 


270  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

of  a  man  of  honor  ?  To  owe  no  pecuniary  obligation  to  the  man  who  has 
wounded  your  feelings — to  pay  him  the  debt  instantly,  and  to  demand  repara 
tion  for  the  insult,  or  at  the  least,  to  hold  no  friendly  communication  with 
him  afterwards. 

This  course  the  king's  ministers  had,  at  first,  determined  to  pursue.  The 
reason  why  they  abandoned  it,  I  shall  endeavor  to  explain  hereafter. 

Mr.  Livingston,  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Forsyth  of  the  14th  January,  1835, 
says :  "  The  law,  it  is  said,  will  be  presented  to-day,  and  I  have  very  little 
doubt  that  it  will  pass.  The  ministerial  phalanx,  reinforced  by  those  of  the 
opposition  (and  they  are  not  a  few),  who  will  not  take  the  responsibility  of 
involving  the  country  in  the  difficulties  which  they  now  see  must  ensue,  will 
be  sufficient  to  carry  the  vote." 

Did  Mr.  Livingston  intend  to  say  France  would  be  terrified  into  this 
measure?  By  no  means.  But,  in  the  intercourse  between  independent 
States,  there  is  a  point  at  which  diplomacy  must  end,  and  when  a  nation  must 
either  abandon  her  rights,  or  determine  to  assert  them  by  the  sword,  or  by 
such  strong  and  decided  measures  as  may  eventually  lead  to  hostilities.  When 
this  point  is  reached,  it  becomes  a  serious  and  alarming  crisis  for  those  to 
whom,  on  earth,  the  destiny  of  nations  is  entrusted.  When  the  one  alterna 
tive  is  war,  either  immediate  or  prospective,  with  all  the  miseries  which  follow 
in  its  train,  and  the  other  the  payment  of  a  just  debt  to  an  ancient  ally  and 
firm  friend,  who  could  doubt  what  must  be  the  decision?  Such  was  the  posi 
tion  in  which  France  stood  toward  the  United  States.  Not  only  justice,  but 
policy  required  the  payment  of  the  debt.  In  the  event  of  war,  or,  of  a  non- 
intercourse  between  the  two  nations,  her  wine-growers,  her  producers  and 
manufacturers  of  silk,  and  all  her  other  manufacturing  interests,  especially 
those  of  her  southern  provinces,  would  be  vitally  injured.  The  payment  of 
five  millions  of  dollars  would  be  but  a  drop  in  the  ocean,  compared  with  the 
extent  of  their  sufferings.  In  France,  they  then  believed  that  the  time  for 
diplomacy — the  time  for  procrastination  had  ended.  The  President's  message 
had  opened  their  eyes  to  the  importance  of  the  subject.  It  was  under  this 
impression  that  Mr.  Livingston  predicted  that  the  bill  would  pass  the  Cham 
bers.  That  it  would  have  done  so  without  any  condition,  had  Congress 
responded  to  the  President's  message,  I  do  not  say,  by  authorizing  reprisals, 
but  by  manifesting  a  decided  resolution  to  insist  upon  tr^p  execution  of  the 
treaty,  will,  I  think,  appear  abundantly  evident  hereafter. 

The  French  ministry  having  manifested  their  sensibility  to  the  supposed 
insult,  by  recalling  Mr.  Serrurier,  proceeded  immediately  to  present  the  bill 
for  the  execution  of  the  treaty  to  the  Chambers.  In  presenting  it  on  the 
15th  January,  Mr.  Humann,  the  minister  of  finance,  addressed  the  Chamber. 
His  speech  contains  the  views  then  entertained  by  the  French  cabinet.  I 
shall  read  an  extract  from  it.  He  says : 

"  General  Jackson  has  been  in  error  respecting  the  extent  of  the  faculties 
conferred  upon  us,  by  the  constitution  of  the  State ;  but  if  he  has  been  mis 
taken  as  to  the  laws  of  our  country,  we  will  not  fall  into  the  same  error  with 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH    TREATY.  271 

regard  to  the  institutions  of  the  United  States.  Now,  the  spirit  and  letter 
of  those  institutions  authorize  us  to  regard  the  document  above  named  [the 
message],  as  the  expression  of  an  opinion  merely  personal,  so  long  as  that 
opinion  has  not  received  the  sanction  of  the  other  two  branches  of  the  Amer 
ican  Government.  The  message  is  a  Government  act,  which  is  still  incom 
plete,  and  should  not  lead  to  any  of  these  determinations,  which  France  is  in 
the  habit  of  taking  in  reply  to  a  threat  or  insult." 

The  French  ministry,  at  that  time,  considered  the  President's  message, 
merely  his  personal  act,  until  it  should  receive  the  sanction  of  Congress. 
They,  then,  had  not  dreamt  of  requiring  an  explanation  of  it,  as  the  only 
condition  on  which  they  would  pay  the  money.  This  was  an  after  thought. 
The  bill  presented  by  Mr.  Humann  merely  prescribed  that  the  payment 
should  not  be  made,  "  until  it  shall  have  been  ascertained  that  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  has  done  nothing  to  injure  the  interests  of  France." 
This  bill  was  immediately  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  Mr.  Dumon  was 
the  chairman.  On  the  28th  of  March,  he  reported  it  to  the  Chamber,  with 
,a  provision,  that  the  money  should  not  be  paid,  if  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  shall  have  done  anything  "  contrary  to  the  dignities  and  the 
interests  of  France."  Still  we  hear  nothing  of  an  explanation  of  the  message 
being  made  a  condition  of  the  payment  of  the  money.  The  clauses  in  the 
bill  to  which  I  have  adverted  were  evidently  inserted  to  meet  the  contingency 
of  reprisals  having  been  sanctioned  by  Congress. 

The  debate  upon  the  bill  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  commenced  on  the 
9th  of  April  and  terminated  on  the  18th.  On  that  day  General  Yalaze  pro 
posed  his  amendment  declaring  that  "  the  payments  in  execution  of  the  pres 
ent  law  cannot  be  made  until  the  French  government  shall  have  received 
satisfactory  explanations  with  regard  to  the  message  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  dated  the  2d  December,  1834." 

The  Duke  de  Broglie,  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  accepted  this  amend 
ment.  I  shall  read  his  remarks  on  this  occasion.  He  says :  "  The  intention 
of  the  government  has  always  been  conformable  with  the  desire  expressed  by 
the  author  of  the  amendment  which  is  now  before  the  Chambers  (great  agita 
tion),  the  government  has  always  meant  that  diplomatic  relations  should  not 
be  renewed  with  the  Government  of  the  United  States  until  it  had  received 
satisfactory  explanations.  The  government,  therefore,  does  not  repulse  the 
amendment  itself."  After  this,  on  the  same  day,  the  bill  passed  the  Chamber 
by  a  vote  of  289  to  137. 

Well  might  the  Chamber  be  agitated  at  such  an  annunciation  from  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs.  Why  this  sudden  change  in  the  policy  of  the 
French  government  ?  The  answer  is  plain.  Congress  had  adjourned  on  the 
4th  of  March,  without  manifesting  by  their  actions  any  disposition  to  make 
the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty  a  serious  question.  Whilst  our  Treasury  was 
overflowing,  they  had  refused  to  make  any  provision  for  the  defence  of  the 
country.  They  had  left  the  whole  coast  of  the  United  States  from  Maine  to 
Georgia  in  a  defenceless  condition.  The  effect  upon  the  French  Chamber 


272  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

and  the  French  people  was  such  as  might  have  been  anticipated.  To  prove 
this,  I  shall  read  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Bignon,  one  of 
the  Deputies,  on  the  10th  April.  I  select  this  from  many  others,  because  it 
contains  nothing  which  can  be  offensive  to  any  Senator.  It  will  be  recol 
lected  that  Mr.  Bignon  is  the  gentleman  who  had  been  more  instrumental  in 
defeating  the  bill  at  the  previous  session  than  any  other  member. 

u  President  Jackson's  message  has  astonished  them  (the  Americans)  as 
well  as  us ;  they  have  seen  themselves  thrown  by  it  into  a  very  hazardous 
situation.  What  have  they  done?  They  are  too  circumspect  and  clear 
headed  to  express,  by  an  official  determination,  their  disapproval  of  an  act 
which,  in  reality,  has  not  received  their  assent.  Some  of  them,  for  instance 
Mr.  Adams,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  may  indeed,  from  a  politic  pa 
triotism,  have  even  eulogized  the  President's  energy,  and  obtained  from  the 
Chamber  the  expression  that  the  treaty  of  1831  must  be  complied  with;  but 
at  a  preceding  sitting  the  same  member  took  pains  to  declare  that  he  was 
not  the  defender  of  a  system  of  war;  he  proclaimed  aloud  that  the  resolution 
adopted  by  the  Senate  was  an  expedient  suggested  by  prudence,  and  he 
thought  the  House  of  Representatives  should  pursue  the  same  course.  Gen 
tlemen,  the  American  legislature  had  to  resort  to  expedients  to  get  out  of  the 
embarrassing  dilemma  in  which  the  President's  message  had  placed  them ; 
and  they  acted  wisely." 

From  the  conduct  of  Congress,  the  French  Chambers  were  under  the  im 
pression  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  not  adopt  any  energetic 
measures  to  compel  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty.  They  had  no  idea  that  the 
nation  would  sustain  the  President  in  his  efforts.  They  had  reason  to  believe 
that  he  was  almost  left  alone.  They  appear  ever  since  to  have  acted  under  this 
delusion.  According  to  the  impression  of  Mr.  Bignon,  the  nation  was  astounded 
at  President  Jackson's  message.  This  is  the  true  reason  why  the  ministry  ac 
cepted  the  amendment  requiring  President  Jackson  to  make  an  explanation. 

The  best  mode  of  obtaining  justice  from  the  powerful  as  well  as  from  the 
weak — the  best  mode  of  elevating  this  nation  to  the  lofty  position  she  is 
destined  to  occupy  among  the  nations  of  the  earth — the  best  mode  of  prevent 
ing  war  and  preserving  peace,  is  to  stand  up  firmly  for  our  rights.  The 
assertion  of  these  rights,  not  by  threats,  but  boldly,  manfully,  and  frankly,  is 
the  surest  method  of  obtaining  justice  and  respect  from  other  nations. 

At  so  early  a  day  as  the  29th  of  January,  Mr.  Livingston  had  addressed  a 
note  to  the  Duke  de  Broglie,  distinctly  disavowing  any  intention  on  the  part 
of  the  President,  by  his  message,  to  intimidate  France,  or  to  charge  the  French 
government  with  bad  faith.  On  the  25th  of  April,  in  another  letter  to  the 
duke,  he  communicated  to  him  the  President's  official  approbation  of  his 
former  note.  In  this  last  letter,  he  reiterates  his  explanations,  and  assures 
the  duke  that,  whilst  the  President  intended  to  use  no  menace,  nor  to  charge 
any  breach  of  faith  against  the  king's  government,  he  never  could  and  never 
would  make  any  explanation  of  his  message  on  the  demand  of  a  foreign  gov 
ernment.  This  letter  would,  of  itself,  be  sufficient  to  give  its  author  a  high 


SPEECH  ON  THE    FRENCH  TREATY.  273 

rank  not  only  among  the  diplomatists,  but  the  statesmen  of  his  country. 
The  sentiments  it  contains  were  unanimously  approved  by  the  American 
people.  Although  it  was  received  by  the  duke  before  the  bill  had  been  acted 
upon  by  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  it  produced  no  effect  upon  the  French  minis 
try.  The  bill  was  finally  passed  and  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  king  in  a 
form  requiring  the  President  to  explain  his  message  before  the  money  could 
be  paid. 

This  state  of  fact  distinctly  raises  the  important  question,  whether  a  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  can  be  questioned  by  a  foreign  government  for 
anything  contained  in  a  message  to  Congress.  The  principle  that  he  cannot, 
has  already  been  firmly  established  by  the  practice  of  our  Government.  Even 
in  our  intercourse  with  France,  in  former  times,  the  question  has  been  set 
tled.  This  principle  results  from  the  very  nature  of  our  institutions.  It  must 
ever  be  maintained  inviolate.  Reverse  it,  and  you  destroy  the  independent 
existence  of  this  Republic,  so  far  as  its  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  is 
concerned. 

The  Constitution  requires  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  "shall, 
from  time  to  time,  give  to  the  Congress  information  of  the  state  of  the  Union, 
and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  neces 
sary  and  expedient."  This  information  is  intended  not  only  for  the  use  of 
Congress,  but  of  the  people.  They  are  the  source  of  all  power,  and  from 
their  impulse  all  legitimate  legislation  must  proceed.  Both  Congress  and  the 
people  must  be  informed  of  the  state  of  our  foreign  relations  by  the  executive. 
If  the  President  cannot  speak  freely  to  them  upon  this  subject;  if  he  cannot 
give  them  all  the  information  which  may  be  necessary  to  enable  them  to  act, 
except  under  the  penalty  of  offending  a  foreign  government,  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  to  this  extent,  becomes  a  dead  letter.  The  mainten 
ance  of  this  principle  is  an  indispensable  condition  of  our  existence,  under  the 
present  form  of  Government. 

If  we  are  engaged  in  any  controversy  with  a  foreign  nation,  it  is  not  only 
the  right,  but  it  is  the  imperative  .duty,  of  the  President  to  communicate  the 
facts  to  Congress,  however  much  they  may  operate  against  that  nation.  Can 
we  then,  for  a  single  moment,  permit  a  foreign  government  to  demand  an 
apology  from  the  President  for  performing  one  of  his  highest  duties  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  ? 

Let  us  put  an  extreme  case.  Suppose  the  President,  after  giving  a  his 
tory  of  our  wrongs  to  Congress,  recommends  not  merely  a  resort  to  reprisals, 
but  to  war,  against  another  nation.  Shall  this  nation,  which  has  inflicted 
upon  us  injury,  be  permitted  to  change  her  position,  to  cancel  all  our  claims 
for  justice,  and  to  insist  that  we  have  become  the  aggressors,  because  a  resort 
to  arms  has  been  recommended  ?  I  feel  the  most  perfect  confidence  that  not 
a  single  Senator  will  ever  consent  to  yield  this  position  to  France  or  to  any 
other  nation.  I  need  not  labor  this  question.  The  subject  has  been  placed 
in  the  clearest  and  strongest  light  by  Mr.  Livingston,  in  his  letter  to  the  Duke 
de  Broglie  of  the  25th  of  April. 

L— 18 


274  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

If  any  possible  exemption  to  the  rule  could  be  tolerated,  surely  this  would 
not  present  the  case.  The  Duke  de  Broglie  himself,  in  his  letter  to  Mr. 
Pageot,  is  constrained  to  admit  that  there  is  not  a  single  offensive  sentence 
respecting  France  in  the  message ;  but  yet  he  complains  of  the  general  effect 
of  the  whole. 

With  a  full  knowledge,  then,  that  the  President  could  not,  would  not, 
dare  not  explain  his  message,  on  the  demand  of  any  foreign  government,  the 
Duke  de  Broglie  addresses  his  famous  letter  to  the  charge  d'affaires  at 
Washington.  It  bears  date  at  Paris  on  the  17th  June,  1835.  Before  I  pro 
ceed  to  make  any  remarks  upon  this  letter,  I  wish  to  bring  its  character 
distinctly  into  view  of  the  Senate.  It  commences  by  declaring,  in  opposition 
to  the  principle  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  cannot  be  called  upon 
by  a  foreign  government  to  make  explanations  of  a  message  to  Congress,  that, 
u  by  virtue  of  a  clause  inserted  in  the  article  first,  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
the  French  government  must  defer  making  the  payments  agreed  upon, 
until  that  of  the  United  States  shall  have  explained  the  true  meaning  and  real 
purport  of  divers  passages  inserted  by  the  President  of  the  Union  in  his  message 
at  the  opening  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  and  at  which  all  France,  at  the 
first  aspect,  was  justly  offended." 

It  proceeds  still  further,  and  announces  that,  "  the  government,  having 
discovered  nothing  in  that  clause  at  variance  with  its  own  sentiments,  or  the 
course  it  had  intended  to  pursue,  the  project  of  law  thus  amended  on  the  18th 
April,  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  was  carried  on  the  27th,  to  the  Chamber 
of  Peers." 

The  duke,  after  having  thus  distinctly  stated  that  an  explanation  of  the 
message  was  required  as  a  condition  of  the  payment  of  the  money,  and  after 
presenting  a  historical  sketch  of  the  controversy,  then  controverts,  at  consid 
erable  length,  the  position  which  had  been  maintained  by  Mr.  Livingston,  that 
the  President  could  not  be  questioned  by  a  foreign  government  for  anything 
contained  in  a  message  to  Congress.  He  afterwards  asserts,  in  the  broadest 
terms,  that  the  explanations  which  had  been  voluntarily  made  by  Mr.  Living 
ston,  and  sanctioned  by  the  President,  were  not  sufficient. 

In  suggesting  what  would  satisfy  France,  he  says,  "  we  do  not  here  con 
tend  about  this  or  that  phrase,  this  or  that  allegation,  this  or  that  expression ; 
we  contend  about  the  intention  itself,  which  has  dictated  that  part  of  the 
message."  And  again,  speaking  of  Mr.  Livingston's  letters  of  the  29th  Jan 
uary  and  25th  April,  he  adds : 

"  You  will  easily  conceive,  sir,  and  the  Cabinet  of  Washington  will,  AVC 
think,  understand  it  also,  that  such  phrases  incidentally  inserted  in  documents, 
the  purport  and  tenor  of  which  are  purely  polemical,  surrounded,  in  some 
measure,  by  details  of  a  controversy,  which  is  besides  not  always  free  from 
bitterness,  cannot  dispel  sufficiently  the  impression  produced  by  the  perusal  of 
the  message, t nor  strike  the  mind  as  would  the  same  idea  expressed  in  terms 
single,  positive,  direct,  and  unaccompanied  by  any  recrimination  concerning  facts 
or  incidents  no  longer  of  any  importance.  Such  is  the  motive  which,  among 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.  275 

many  others,  hr.s  placed  the  French  government  in  the  impossibility  of  ac 
ceding  to  the  wish  expressed  by  Mr.  Livingston,  towards  the  conclusion  of  his 
note  of  the  29th  of  April,  by  declaring  (to  the  Chamber  of  Peers  probably) 
that  previous  explanations  given  by  the  minister  of  the  United  States,  and 
subsequently  approved  by  the  President,  had  satisfied  it." 

After  having  thus  announced  the  kind  of  explanation  which  would  be 
expected,  he  states,  that  the  French  government  "  in  pausing  then  for  the 
present,  and  waiting  for  the  fulfilment  of  those  engagements  to  be  claimed, 
(the  engagements  of  the  treaty)  and  expecting  those  to  be  claimed  in  terms 
consistent  with  the  regard  due  to  it,  it  is  not  afraid  of  being  accused,  nor 
France,  which  it  represents,  of  being  accused  of  appreciating  national  honor 
by  any  number  of  millions,  which  it  could  withhold  as  a  compensation 
for  any  injury  offered  to  it."  The  letter  concludes  by  authorizing  Mr. 
Pageot  to  read  it  to  Mr.  Forsyth,  and  if  he  be  desirous,  to  let  him  take  a  copy 
of  it. 

It  is  impossible  to  peruse  this  letter,  able  and  ingenious  as  it  is,  without  at 
once  perceiving  that  it  asks  what  the  President  can  never  grant,  without  vio 
lating  the  principle  that  France  has  no  right  to  demand  an  explanation  of  his 
message. 

On  the  llth  of  September,  Mr.  Pageot,  the  French  charge  d'affaires,  called 
at  the  Department  of  State  and  read  this  despatch  to  Mr.  Forsyth.  The 
latter  did  not  think  proper  to  ask  a  copy  of  it;  and  for  this  he  has  been 
loudly  condemned.  In  my  judgment,  his  conduct  was  perfectly  correct. 

No  objection  can  be  made  to  this  indirect  mode  of  communication  with  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  adopted  by  the  duke.  It  is  sanctioned  by 
diplomatic  usage.  The  rules,  however,  which  govern  it,  are  clearly  deducible 
from  its  very  nature.  It  is  a  mere  diplomatic  feeler  thrown  out  to  ascertain 
the  views  of  another  government.  The  duke  himself  justly  observes  that  its 
object  is  "  to  avoid  the  irritation  which  might  involuntarily  rise  from  an  ex 
change  of  contradictory  notes  in  a  direct  controversy." 

Had  Mr.  Forsyth  asked  and  received  a  copy  of  this  despatch,  he  must  have 
given  it  an  answer.  Respect  for  the  source  from  which  it  proceeded  would 
have  demanded  this  at  his  hands.  If  this  answer  could  have  been  nothing 
but  a  direct  refusal  to  comply  with  the  suggestions  of  the  French  govern 
ment,  then  he  was  correct  in  not  requesting  leave  to  take  a  copy  of  it.  Why 
was  this  the  case  ?  Because  it  would  have  added  to  the  difficulties  of  the 
question,  already  sufficiently  numerous,  and  would  have  involved  him  in  a 
direct  controversy,  which  it  is  the  very  object  of  this  mode  of  communica 
tion  to  prevent.  This  is  the  reason  why  it  was  left  by  the  despatch  itself, 
within  his  own  option  whether  to  request  a  copy  or  not ;  and  his  refusal  to 
make  this  request  ought  to  have  given  no  offence  to  the  French  government 

£Tow,  sir,  what  answer  could  he  have  given  to  this  communication,  but  a 
direct  refusal  ?  Had  not  the  duke  been  fully  apprised  before  he  wrote  this 
despatch,  that  it  could  receive  no  other  answer  ?  It  required  explanations  as 
a  condition  of  the  payment  of  the  money,  which  he  had  been  informed  the 


276  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

President  could  never  make.  On  this  ground,  then,  and  for  the  very  purpose 
of  avoiding  controversy,  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Forsyth  is  correct. 

But  there  is  another  reason  to  justify  his  conduct,  which,  I  think,  must 
carry  conviction  to  every  mind.  The  President  proposed,  in  his  annual  mes 
sage,  voluntarily  to  declare,  that  he  had  never  intended  to  menace  France,  or 
to  impeach  the  faith  of  the  French  government.  This  he  has  since  done  in 
the  strongest  terms.  As  offence  was  taken  by  the  French  government  at  the 
language  of  a  former  message,  it  was  believed  that  such  a  declaration  in  a 
subsequent  message  would  be,  as  it  ought  to  be,  entirely  satisfactory  to 
France.  Had  Mr.  Forsyth  taken  a  copy  of  this  despatch,  and  placed  it 
among  the  archives  of  the  Government,  how  could  the  President  have  made, 
consistently  with  his  principles,  the  disclaimer  which  he  has  done  ?  A  de 
mand  for  an  explanation  would  thus  have  been  interposed  by  a  foreign  gov 
ernment,  which  would  have  compelled  him  to  remain  silent.  The  refusal  of 
Mr.  Forsyth  to  ask  a  copy  of  the  despatch,  left  the  controversy  in  its  old 
condition ;  and,  so  far  as  our  government  was  concerned,  left  this  letter  from 
the  Duke  de  Broglie  to  Mr.  Pageot  as  if  it  never  had  been  written.  The 
President,  therefore,  remained  at  perfect  liberty  to  say  what  he  thought 
proper  in  his  message. 

If  this  letter  had  proposed  any  reasonable  terms  of  reconciling  our  difficul 
ties  with  France — if  it  had  laid  any  foundation  on  which  a  rational  hope 
might  have  rested  that  it  would  become  the  means  of  producing  a  result  so 
desirable,  it  would  have  been  the  duty  of  Mr.  Forsyth  to  request  a  copy. 
Upon  much  reflection,  however,  I  must  declare  that  I  cannot  imagine  what 
good  could  have  resulted  from  it  in  any  contingency ;  and  it  might  have  done 
much  evil.  Had  it  prevented  the  President  from  speaking  as  he  has  done  in 
his  last  message,  concerning  France,  it  might  have  involved  the  country  in 
a  much  more  serious  misunderstanding  with  that  power  than  existed  at  the 
present  moment. 

I  should  be  glad  to  say  no  more  of  this  despatch,  if  I  could  do  so  consis 
tently  with  a  sense  of  duty.  Mr.  Pageot  did  not  rest  satisfied  with  Mr.  For- 
syth's  omission  to  request  a  copy  of  it,  as  he  ought  to  have  done.  He 
deemed  it  proper  to  attempt  to  force  that  upon  him  which  the  despatch  itself 
had  left  entirely  to  his  own  discretion.  Accordingly,  on  the  1st  of  December 
last,  he  enclosed  him  a  copy.  On  the  third,  Mr.  Forsyth  ^returned  it  with  a 
polite  refusal.  On  the  fifth,  Mr.  Pageot  again  addressed  Mr.  Forsyth,  and 
avowed  that  his  intention  in  communicating  the  document,  "was  to  make 
known  the  real  disposition  of  my  government  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  through  him  to  Congress  and  the  American  people"  Thus  it  is 
manifest  that  his  purpose  was  to  make  the  President  the  instrument  by  which 
he  might  appeal  to  the  American  people  against  the  American  Government. 
After  he  had  failed  in  this  effort,  what  is  his  next  resort?  He  publishes  this 
despatch  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  through  the  medium  of  our  pub 
lic  journals.  I  now  hold  in  my  hand  the  number  of  the  Courier  des  Etats 
Unis  of  the  20th  of  January,  a  journal  published  in  New  York,  which  con- 


SPEECH    ON    THE    FRENCH   TREATY.  277 

tains  the  original  despatch  in  the  French  language.  In  a  subsequent  number 
of  the  same  journal,  of  the  24th  January,  there  is  an  editorial  article  on  the 
subject  of  the  President's  special  message  to  Congress,  and  of  this  despatch, 
of  a  part  of  which  I  shall  give  my  own  translation.  It  is  as  follows : 

"Our  last  number  contained  the  despatch  of  M.  the  Duke  de  Broglie  to  the 
charge  d'affaires  of  France  at  Washington,  concerning  which  the  Senate  had 
demanded  such  explanations  as  were  in  the  power  of  the  executive.  On  the 
same  day,  the  late  message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  which  had 
been  expected  with  so  much  impatience  "and  anxiety,  arrived  at  New  York. 
To  this  document  are  annexed  many  letters  of  the  Duke  de  Broglie,  of  Mr. 
Forsyth,  and  of  Mr.  Pageot,  which  will  be  read  with  great  interest.  We  give 
a  simple  analysis  of  the  least  important,  and  an  exact  copy  of  those  which  have 
been  written  originally  in  French" 

"  The  public  attention  was  first  occupied  with  the  letter  of  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  which  was  known  here  some  hours  before  the  message  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States;  and  if  some  journals  of  the  Government 
have  found  this  publication  unseasonable,  made  by  the  legation  of  France  ac 
cording  to  the  orders  which  it  had  received,  nobody,  at  least,  has  been  able  to 
deny  the  talent,  the  moderation,  and  the  force  of  reasoning  which  have  pre 
sided  at  its  preparation." 

By  whom  was  the  legation  of  France  ordered  to  publish  this  despatch  ? 
Who  alone  had  the  power  of  issuing  such  an  order  ?  The  French  govern 
ment.  Against  this  positive  language,  I  can  still  scarcely  believe  that  the 
Duke  de  Broglie  has  given  an  order  so  highly  reprehensible. 

The  publication  of  this  despatch  was  an  outrage  upon  all  diplomatic  usage. 
It  ought  to  have  been  intended  as  the  harbinger  of  peace,  and  not  of  renewed 
controversy.  From  its  very  nature  it  was  secret  and  confidential.  If  not  re 
ceived,  it  ought  to  have  been  as  if  it  never  had  existed.  Upon  any  other 
principle,  it  would  aggravate  the  controversy  which  such  communications  are 
always  intended  to  prevent.  It  has  now  been  diverted  from  its  natural 
purpose  by  the  French  legation,  and  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an  appeal 
by  France  to  the  American  people  against  their  own  Government.  It  has 
thus  greatly  increased  the  difficulties  between  the  two  countries.  It  has  pro 
claimed  to  the  world  that  France  requires  from  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  an  apology  of  his  message  as  an  indispensable  condition  of  the  execu 
tion  of  our  treaty.  It  has,  therefore,  rendered  it  much  more  difficult  for  her 
to  retract. 

The  true  meaning  of  this  despatch  is  now  rendered  manifest  to  the  most 
sceptical.  The  Duke  de  Broglie,  in  his  interview  with  Mr.  Barton,  on  the  12th 
October  last,  has  placed  his  own  construction  upon  it.  The  apology  which  he 
then  required  from  the  President  contains  his  own  commentary  upon  this 
despatch.  I  need  not  read  the  history  of  that  interview  to  the  Senate,  to 
prove  that  I  am  correct  in  this  assertion.  It  must  be  fresh  in  the  recollection 
of  every  Senator. 

Considered  as  an  appeal  to  the  American  people  against  their  own  Gov- 


278  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN". 

ernment,  the  publication  of  this  despatch  deserves  still  more  serious  consider 
ation.  Foreign  influence,  in  all  ages,  has  been  the  bane  of  republics.  It  has 
destroyed  nearly  all  of  them  which  have  ever  existed.  We  ought  to  resist 
its  approaches  on  every  occasion.  In  the  very  infancy  of  our  existence  as  a 
nation,  a  similar  attempt  was  made  by  France.  It  was  then  repulsed  as  be 
came  a  nation  of  freemen.  The  present  attempt  will  have  the  same  effect  on 
the  American  people.  It  will  render  them  still  more  firm  and  still  more 
united  in  the  cause  of  their  country. 

Of  Mr.  Barton's  recall,  I  need  say  but  little.  It  was  the  direct  consequence 
of  the  refusal  of  France  to  execute  the  treaty,  without  an  apology  from  the 
President  of  his  message. 

Diplomatic  relations  between  the  two  countries  had  been  first  interrupted 
by  France.  On  this  subject,  hear  what  the  Count  de  Rigny  said  in  his  expose 
read  to  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  on  the  27th  April  last,  on  presenting  the  bill 
for  the  execution  of  our  treaty.  I  give  my  own  translation : 

"  You  know  the  measure  which  the  government  of  the  king  adopted  at 
the  very  instant  when  the  message,  presented  by  the  President  of  the  Union, 
at  the  opening  of  the  last  Congress,  arrived  in  Europe.  You  know  that 
since  that  time,  a  similar  measure  had  been  adopted  by  President  Jackson 
himself.  The  two  ministers,  accredited  near  the  two  governments,  are  re 
ciprocally  recalled;  the  effect  of  this  double  recall  is  at  this  moment,  if  not  to 
interrupt,  in  all  respects,  the  diplomatic  communications  between  the  two 
States,  at  least  to  interrupt  them  in  what  regards  the  treaty  of  the  4th  July. 
If  these  relations  ought  to  be  renewed,  and  we  doubt  not  that  they  ought,  it 
is  not  for  us  hereafter  to  take  the  initiative." 

On  the  5th  of  June,  the  President  had  officially  sanctioned  the  explana 
tions  which  had  been  made  to  the  French  government  by  Mr.  Livingston,  in 
his  letter  of  the  25th  of  April,  as  he  had  previously  sanctioned  those  which 
had  been  made  by  the  same  gentleman,  in  his  note  of  the  29th  of  January. 
These  were  considered  by  the  President,  amply  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
susceptible  feelings  of  France.  In  order  to  give  them  full  time  to  produce 
their  effect,  and  to  afford  the  French  ministry  an  ample  opportunity  for  re 
flection,  he  delayed  sending  any  orders  to  demand  the  money  secured  by  the 
treaty  until  the  middle  of  December.  On  the  14th  of  that  month,  Mr. 
Barton  was  instructed  to  call  upon  the  Duke  de  Broglie^and  request  to  be 
informed  what  were  the  intentions  of  the  French  government,  in  relation  to 
the  payment  of  the  money  secured  by  the  treaty.  He  expected  these  in 
structions  on  the  20th  of  October.  The  special  message  has  communicated  to 
us  the  result.  "We  will  pay  the  money,"  says  the  Duke  de  Broglie,  "  when 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  ready  on  its  part,  to  declare  to  us,  by 
addressing  its  claim  to  us  officially  in  writing,  that  it  regrets  the  misunderstand 
ing  which  has  arisen  between  the  two  countries  /  that  this  misunderstanding  is 
founded  on  a  mistake  ;  that  it  never  entered  into  its  intention  to  call  in  question 
the  good  faith  of  ths  French  government,  nor  to  take  a  menacing  attitude  to 
wards  France;"  and  he  adds,  "if  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does 


SPEECH  ON  THE  FRENCH  TREATY.  279 

not  give  this  assurance,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  think  that  this  misunderstanding 
is  not  the  result  of  an  error. ,'' 

Is  there  any  American  so  utterly  lost  to  those  generous  feelings  which  love 
of  country  should  inspire,  as  to  purchase  five  millions  with  the  loss  of  national 
honor  ?  Who,  for  these  or  any  number  of  millions,  would  see  the  venerable 
man,  now  at  the  head  of  our  Government,  bowing  at  the  footstool  of  the 
throne  of  Louis  Philippe,  and  like  a  child,  prepared  to  say  its  lesson,  repeat- 
ing  this  degrading  apology  ?  First,  perish  the  five  millions, — perish  a  thou  - 
sand  times  the  amount.  The  man  whose  bosom  has  been  so  often  bared  in 
the  defence  of  his  country  w»ill  never  submit  to  such  degrading  terms.  His 
motto  has  always  been,  death  before  dishonor. 

Why,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  have  I  expressed  a  hope,  a  belief,  that  this 
unfortunate  controversy  will  be  amicably  terminated  when  the  two  nations 
are  now  directly  at  issue  ?  I  will  tell  you  why.  This  has  been  called  a  mere 
question  of  etiquette ;  and  such  it  is,  so  far  as  France  is  concerned.  She  has 
already  received  every  explanation  which  the  most  jealous  susceptibility 
ought  to  demand.  These  have  been  voluntarily  tendered  to  her. 

Since  the  date  of  the  Duke  de  Broglie's  letter  to  Mr.  Pageot  of  the  17th 
June,  we  have  received  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  his  general 
message  at  the  commencement  of  the  session,  and  his  special  message  on 
French  affairs.  Both  these  documents  disclaim,  in  the  strongest  terms,  any 
intention  to  menace  France,  or  to  impute  bad  faith  to  the  French  government 
by  the  message  of  December,  1834.  Viewing  the  subject  in  this  light;  con 
sidering  that  at  the  interview  with  Mr.  Barton,  the  duke  could  not  have  antici 
pated  what  would  be  the  tone  of  these  documents,  I  now  entertain  a  strong 
hope  that  the  French  government  have  already  reconsidered  their  determina 
tion.  If  a  mediation  has  been  proposed  and  accepted,  I  cannot  entertain  a 
doubt  as  to  what  will  be  the  opinion  of  the  mediator.  He  ought  to  say  to 
France,  you  have  already  received  all  the  explanations,  and  these  have  been 
voluntarily  accorded,  which  the  United  States  can  make  without  national 
degradation.  With  these  you  ought  to  be  satisfied.  With  you,  it  is  a  mere 
question  of  etiquette.  All  the  disclaimers  which  you  ought  to  desire  have 
already  been  made  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The  only  ques 
tion  with  you  now  is  not  one  of  substance,  but  merely  whether  these  explana 
tions  are  in  proper  form.  But  in  regard  to  the  United  States,  the  question  is 
far  different.  What  is  with  you  mere  etiquette,  is  a  question  of  life  and  death 
to  them.  Let  the  President  of  the  United  States  make  the  apology  which 
you  have  dictated, — let  him  once  admit  the  right  of  a  foreign  government  to 
question  his  messages  to  Congress,  and  to  demand  explanations  of  any  lan 
guage  at  which  they  may  choose  to  take  offence,  and  their  independent  exis 
tence  as  a  Government,  to  that  extent,  is  virtually  destroyed. 

We  must  remember  that  France  may  yield  with  honor ;  we  never  can, 
without  disgrace.  Will  she  yield  ?  That  is  the  question.  I  confess  I  should 
have  entertained  a  stronger  belief  that  she  would,  had  she  not  published  the 
duke's  letter  to  Mr.  Pageot  as  an  appeal  to  the  American  people.  She  must 


280  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

still  believe  that  the  people  of  this  country  are  divided  in  opinion  in  regard  to 
the  firm  maintenance  of  their  rights.  In  this  she  will  find  herself  entirely 
mistaken.  But  should  Congress,  at  the  present  session,  refuse  to  sustain  the 
President  by  adopting  measures  of  defence  ;  should  the  precedent  of  the  last 
session  be  followed  for  the  present  year,  then  I  shall  entertain  the  most 
gloomy  forebodings.  The  Father  of  his  country  has  informed  us  that  the  best 
mode  of  preserving  peace  is  to  be  prepared  for  war.  I  firmly  believe,  there 
fore,  that  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Senate  in  favor  of  the  resolutions  now  be 
fore  them,  to  follow  to  Europe  the  acceptance  of  the  mediation,  would,  almost 
to  a  certainty,  render  it  successful.  It  would  be  an  act  of  the  soundest  policy 
as  well  as  of  the  highest  patriotism.  It  would  prove,  not  that  we  intend  to 
menace  France,  because  such  an  attempt  would  be  ridiculous ;  but  that  the 
American  people  are  unanimous  in  the  assertion  of  their  rights,  and  have 
resolved  to  prepare  for  the  worst.  A  French  fleet  is  now  hovering  upon  our 
coasts ;  and  shall  we  sit  still,  with  an  overflowing  Treasury,  and  leave  our 
country  defenceless  ?  This  will  never  be  said  with  truth  of  the  American 
Congress. 

If  war  should  come,  which  God  forbid, — if  France  should  still  persist  in 
her  effort  to  degrade  the  American  people  in  the  person  of  their  Chief  Mag 
istrate, — we  may  appeal  to  Heaven  for  the  justice  of  our  cause,  and  look 
forward  with  confidence  to  victory  from  that  Being  in  whose  hands  is  the 
destiny  of  nations. 

Previous  to  the  delivery  of  this  speech,  the  President  had,  on 
the  15th  of  January,  recommended  to  Congress  a  partial  non- 
intercourse  with  France.  But  in  a  short  time  the  government 
of  Great  Britain  made  an  offer  of  mediation,  which  was  ac 
cepted,  and  the  whole  difficulty  with  France  was  amicably 
adjusted. 


CHAPTEE    XII. 

1835—1837- 

REMOVAL   OP   EXECUTIVE   OFFICERS — BENTON'S    "  EXPUNGING  " 
RESOLUTION. 

A  MOKG-  the  exciting  topics  of  this  period,  there  was  no 
-£^-  ground  on  which  the  Whigs  attacked  the  administration 
of  General  Jackson  with  greater  severity  than  that  which  re 
lated  to  his  removal  of  executive  officers.  In  the  remarkable 
protest,  which  he  sent  to  the  Senate  in  1834,  against  the  censure 
which  that  body  had  passed  upon  his  executive  acts,  and  espe 
cially  his  removal  of  one  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  who  would 
not,  and  the  appointment  of  another  who  would,  remove  the 
public  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  he  had 
claimed  a  general  executive  power  of  supervision  and  control 
over  all  executive  officers.  He  had  made  many  other  removals 
from  office,  which  were  complained  of  as  dictated  by  purely 
political  motives ;  and  in  the  session  of  1834-5,  a  bill  was  in 
troduced  into  the  Senate,  one  of  the  objects  of  which  was  to 
require  the  President,  when  making  a  nomination  to  fill  a  va 
cancy  occasioned  by  the  removal  of  any  officer,  to  state  the  fact 
of  such  removal,  and  to  render  reasons  for  it.  On  this  bill, 
Mr.  Buchanan,  on  the  17th  of  February,  1835,  made  the  follow 
ing  speech,  which  is  of  value  now,  because  it  relates  to  a  topic 
that  has  not  yet  ceased  to  be  a  matter  of  controversy : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  It  is  with  extreme  diffidence  and  reluctance  that  I  rise  to 
address  you  on  the  present  occasion.  It  was  my  intention  to  suffer  this  bill 
to  pass,  contenting  myself  with  a  simple  vote  in  the  negative.  This  course  I 
should  have  pursued,  had  the  constitutional  question  been  fully  discussed  by 
any  gentleman  on  our  side  of  the  Senate.  As  this  has  not  been  done.  I  feel 
it  to  be  a  duty  which  I  owe  to  those  who  sent  me  here,  as  well  as  to  myself, 
to  express  my  opinion  on  the  subject,  and  the  reasons  on  which  that  opinion 
is  founded. 


282  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

The  present  bill  presents  a  most  important  question  concerning  our  funda 
mental  institutions.  It  attacks  a  construction  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  which  has  been  considered  settled  for  almost  half  a  century. 
Has  the  President,  under  the  Constitution,  the  power  of  removing  executive 
officers  ?  If  any  question  can  ever  be  put  at  rest  in  this  country,  this,  em 
phatically,  ought  to  be  considered  that  one.  It  was  solemnly  settled  in  1789 
by  the  first  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Of  whom  was  that  Congress 
composed  ?  Of  the  men  who  had  sustained  the  toils  and  dangers  of  the 
revolutionary  war — of  the  men  who  sat  in  the  convention  which  framed  the 
Constitution,  and  who  passed  from  that  convention  into  the  first  Congress. 
These  men,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our  Republic  broad  and  deep,  most 
solemnly  and  deliberately  decided,  that  to  the  President,  and  to  him  alone, 
belonged  the  power  of  removal.  This  was  not  at  a  moment  when  the 
country  was  convulsed  by  party  spirit.  Very  far  from  it.  The  Fathers  of 
the  Republic  were  then  occupied  in  putting  the  Government  in  motion,  and 
in  establishing  such  principles  as  might  preserve  the  liberties  and  promote  the 
best  interests  of  the  American  people  for  ages.  In  what  condition  are  we, 
at  the  present  moment,  to  rejudge  the  judgment  of  those  men  and  reverse 
their  solemn  decision  ?  Is  not  party  spirit  raging  throughout  the  land  ?  Are 
there  not  high  party  feelings  in  this  body?  Are  we  in  a  condition  calmly 
and  deliberately,  without  prejudice  and  without  passion,  to  review  and  to 
condemn  their  judgment? 

Why,  sir,  even  if  there  were  no  authority  in  the  Constitution  for  the 
power  of  removal,  the  decision  of  this  body,  at  this  time,  would  have  but 
little  influence  among  the  people.  They  would  compare  the  calmness — the 
self-possession — the  freedom  from  political  excitement  of  the  sages  who 
established  the  precedent,  with  the  party  violence  and  the  high  political 
feeling  of  the  Senate  at  the  present  day;  and  the  weight  of  authority  would 
be  all  against  us. 

The  debate  in  the  first  Congress  was  very  long  and  very  able.  Every 
argument  which  patriotism  and  ingenuity  could  suggest  was  exhausted.  The 
question  was  at  length  decided  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  22d 
June,  1789.  On  the  yeas  and  nays,  thirty  voted  in  affirmance  of  the  Presi 
dent's  power  of  removal,  and  eighteen  against  it ; — a  large  majority,  consider 
ing  the  comparatively  small  number  of  which  the  House  was  then  composed. 

The  question  arose  on  the  bill  to  establish  the  Department  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  It  contained  a  clause  declaring  the  Secretary  of  State  "  to  be  re 
movable  from  office  by  the  President  of  the  United  States."  From  this 
clause  it  might  have  been  inferred  that  the  power  of  removal  was  intended 
to  be  conferred  upon  the  President  by  Congress,  and  not  acknowledged  to 
exist  in  him  under  the  Constitution.  To  remove  every  difficulty, — to  place 
doubt  at  defiance  in  all  future  time,  the  words  "  to  be  removable  from  office 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States  "  were  stricken  from  the  bill,  and  this 
right  was  expressly  acknowledged  to  exist  independently  of  all  legislation. 
By  the  second  section  of  the  bill,  which  became  a  law  on  the  27th  July,  1789, 


REMOVAL  OF  EXECUTIVE  OFFICERS.  283 

it  is  declared  that  "the  Chief  Clerk  in  the  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs," 
whenever  the  principal  officer  shall  be  removed  from  office  by  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  or  in  any  other  case  of  vacancy,  shall,  during  such  vacancy, 
have  the  charge  and  .custody  of  all  records,  books,  and  papers,  appertaining 
to  the  said  Department."  Here  then  is  a  clear,  strong,  distinct  recognition 
by  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  President's  power  of  removal,  not 
by  virtue  of  law,  but  under  the  Constitution.  This  phraseology  was  carefully 
adopted  for  the  purpose  of  putting  this  very  question  at  rest  forever,  so  far 
as  Congress  could  effect  this  purpose. 

The  bill,  having  passed  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  sent  to  the 
Senate  for  their  concurrence.  The  power  of  removal  was  there  solemnly 
considered.  This  was  the  very  body  which,  according  to  the  doctrine  of 
gentlemen,  has  a  right  to  control  this  power ;  and  yet  they  affirmed  the  prin 
ciple  that  it  was  vested  in  the  President,  and  in  him  alone.  It  is  true  that 
the  question  was  determined  by  the  casting  vote  of  Mr.  Adams, — then  the 
Vice-President :  but  the  act  was  approved  by  General  Washington,  and  the 
power  has  ever  since  been  exercised  without  dispute  by  him  and  his  succes 
sors  in  office,  until  after  the  election  of  the  present  President.  Washington, 
the  elder  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  and  the  younger  Adams  re 
moved  whom  they  pleased  from  office ;  but  after  the  accession  of  Jackson, 
the  existence  of  this  power  is  denied.  We  are  now  required  to  believe  that 
all  which  former  Presidents  have  done  was  wrong ; — that  the  first  Congress 
were  entirely  mistaken  in  their  construction  of  the  Constitution : — and  that 
the  President  does  not  possess  the  power  of  removal  except  with  the  con 
currence  of  the  Senate. 

If  ever  a  question  has  occurred  in  the  history  of  any  country  which  ought 
to  be  considered  settled,  this  is  that  one.  A  solemn  decision  at  first,  adopted 
in  practice  afterwards  by  all  branches  of  the  Government,  for  five  and  forty 
years,  makes  the  precedent  one  of  almost  irresistible  force. 

What  then  have  we  a  right  to  expect  on  our  side  of  the  House  from  the 
opposition  ?  Not  merely  that  they  shall  prove  it  to  be  a  doubtful  question, 
but  they  shall  present  a  case  so  clear  as  to  render  it  manifest  that  all  which 
has  been  done  has  been  without  authority,  and  all  the  removals  which  have 
ever  been  made,  have  been  in  violation  of  the  Constitution.  The  burden 
rests  entirely  upon  the  gentlemen,  and  a  ponderous  load  they  have  to  sustain. 

But,  sir,  if  the  question  were  entirely  new,  if  it  never  had  been  decided 
either  by  precedent  or  by  practice,  I  think  it  may  be  made  abundantly  clear, 
that  the  strength  of  the  argument  is  greatly  on  the  side  of  those  who  main 
tain  the  power. 

What  is  the  nature  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States?  The 
powers  which  it  devolves  upon  the  Government,  are  divided  into  three 
distinct  classes,  the  Legislative,  the  Executive,  and  the  Judicial.  To  preserve 
the  liberties  of  any  country,  it  is  necessary  that  these  three  branches  of  the 
government  should  be  kept  distinct  and  separate  as  far  as  possible.  When 
they  are  all  united  in  the  same  person — this  is  the  very  definition  of 


284  LIFE  OP  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

despotism.  As  you  approximate  to  this  state  of  things,  in  the  same  propor 
tion  you  advance  towards  arbitrary  power.  These  are  axioms  which  cannot 
— which  will  not  be  denied. 

Doubtless  for  wise  purposes,  the  framers  of  our  Constitution  have  in  a  very 
few  excepted  cases,  blended  these  powers  together.  The  executive,  by  his 
veto,  has  a  control  over  our  legislation.  The  Senate,  although  a  branch  of 
the  legislature,  exercises  judicial  power  in  cases  of  impeachment.  The  Presi 
dent  nominates,  "  and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate," 
appoints  all  officers,  except  those  of  an  inferior  nature,  the  appointment  of 
which  may  be  vested  by  Congress  "  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  courts  of 
law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments." 

Now,  sir,  my  position  is,  that  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
in  a  special  case,  has  conferred  upon  the  Senate,  which  is  essentially  a  branch 
of  the  legislature,  a  participation  in  executive  power,  you  cannot  by  con 
struction  extend  this  power  beyond  the  plain  terms  of  the  grant.  It  is  an 
exception  from  the  general  rule  pervading  the  whole  instrument.  Appoint 
ment  to  office  is  in  the  strictest  sense  an  executive  power.  But  it  is  expressly 
declared  that  the  assent  of  the  Senate  shall  be  necessary  to  the  exercise  of 
this  power  on  the  part  of  the  President.  The  grant  to  the  Senate  is  special. 
In  this  particular  case,  it  is  an  abstraction  from  the  general  executive  powers 
granted  under  the  Constitution  to  the  Preaident.  According  to  the  maxim 
of  the  common  law,  expressio  unius  est  exclusio  alterius — it  follows  conclu 
sively  that  what  has  not  been  given  is  withheld,  and  remains  in  that  branch 
of  the  Government  which  is  the  appropriate  depository  of  executive  power. 
The  exception  proves  the  rule.  And  the  grant  of  executive  power  to  the 
Senate  is  confined  to  appointments  to  office,  and  to  them  alone.  This  neces 
sarily  excludes  other  executive  powers.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  contended 
with  any  force,  as  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster)  has  con 
tended,  that  because  the  consent  of  the  Senate  is  made  necessary  by  the 
Constitution  to  appointments  of  officers, — that,  therefore,  by  implication,  it  is 
necessary  for  their  removal.  Besides,  these  two  things  are  very  distinct  in 
their  nature,  as  I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  demonstrate. 

But  to  proceed  with  the  argument.  I  shall  contend  that  the  sole  power  of 
removing  executive  officers  is  vested  in  the  President  by  the  Constitution. 
First,  from  a  correct  construction  of  the  instrument  itself;  and  second,  even 
if  that  were  doubtful,  from  the  great  danger  resulting  to  the  public  interest 
from  any  other  construction. 

The  Constitution  declares  in  express  language  that  "  the  executive  power 
shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the  United  States."  Under  these  general 
terms,  I  shall,  once  for  all,  disclaim  the  idea  of  attempting  to  derive  any  por 
tion  of  the  power  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  from  any  other  fountain  than  the 
Constitution  itself.  I  therefore  entirely  repel  the  imputation,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  which  would  invest  him  with  executive  powers  derived  from  the 
prerogatives  of  the  kings  or  emperors  of  the  old  world.  Such  arguments  are 
entirely  out  of  the  question. 


f 

REMOVAL    OF    EXECUTIVE   OFFICER^  I  %$& 

The  Constitution  also  declares  that  "  he  shall  take  care  that^j$|gJ]JJQ1Bi  J* 
faithfully  executed."  These  two  clauses  of  the  Constitution  confer  the  exe 
cutive  power  on  the  President,  and  define  his  duties.  Is,  then,  the  removal 
from  office  an  executive  power  ?  If  it  be  so,  there  is  an  end  of  the  question ; 
because  the  Constitution  nowhere  declares  that  the  Senate,  or  any  other 
human  tribunal,  shall  participate  in  the  exercise  of  this  power.  It  will  not 
be  contended  but  that  the  power  of  removal  exists,  and  must  exist,  some 
where.  Where  else  can  it  exist  but  in.  the  executive,  on  whom  the  Constitu 
tion  imposes  the  obligation  of  taking  care  that  the  laws  shall  be  faithfully 
executed  ?  It  will  not  be  pretended  that  the  power  of  removal  is  either  of  a 
legislative  or  judicial  character.  From  its  very  nature,  it  belongs  to  the  exe 
cutive.  In  case  he  discovers  that  an  officer  is  violating  his  trust — that  instead 
of  executing  the  laws,  his  conduct  is  in  direct  opposition  to  their  requisition, 
is  it  not,  strictly  speaking,  an  executive  power  to  arrest  him  in  his  career,  by 
removing  him  from  office  ?  How  could  the  President  execute  the  trust  con 
fided  to  him,  if  he  were  destitute  of  this  authority  ?  If  he  possessed  it  not, 
he  would  be  compelled  to  witness  the  executive  officers  violating  the  laws  of 
Congress  without  the  power  of  preventing  it, 

On  this  subject,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  advance  anything  new.  It  was 
exhausted  by  Mr.  Madison,  in  the  debate  of  1789,  in  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  I  am  confident  the  Senate  will  indulge  me  whilst  I  read  two  extracts 
from  his  speeches  on  that  occasion,  delivered  on  the  16th  and  17th  June, 
1789.  The  first  was  delivered  on  the  16th  June,  1789,  and  is  as  follows : 

"  By  a  strict  examination  of  the  Constitution,  on  what  appears  to  be  its 
true  principles,  and  considering  the  great  departments  of  the  Government  in 
the  relation  they  have  to  each  other,  I  have  my  doubts  whether  we  are  not 
absolutely  tied  down  to  the  construction  declared  in  the  bill.  In  the  first 
section  of  the  first  article,  it  is  said  that  all  legislative  powers  herein  granted 
shall  be  vested  in  a  Congress  of  the  United  States.  In  the  second  article,  it 
is  affirmed  that  the  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  In  the  third  article,  it  is  declared  that  the  judicial 
power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested  in  one  Supreme  Court;  and  in 
such  inferior  courts  as  Congress  may,  from  time  to  time,  ordain  and  establish. 

"  I  suppose  it  will  be  readily  admitted,  that  so  far  as  the  Constitution  has 
separated  the  powers  of  these  great  departments,  it  would  be  improper  to 
combine  them  together ;  and  so  far  as  it  has  left  any  particular  department  in 
the  entire  possession  of  the  powers  incident  to  that  department,  I  conceive 
we  ought  not  to  qualify  them  further  than  they  are  qualified  by  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  legislative  powers  are  vested  in  Congress,  and  are  to  be  exercised 
by  them  uncontrolled  by  any  other  department,  except  the  Constitution  has 
qualified  it  otherwise.  The  Constitution  has  qualified  the  legislative  power, 
by  authorizing  the  President  to  object  to  any  act  it  may  pass,  requiring,  in 
this  case,  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  to  concur  in  making  a  law ;  but  still  the 
absolute  legislative  power  is  vested  in  the  Congress  with  this  qualification 
alone. 


286  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

"  The  Constitution  affirms,  that  the  executive  power  shall  be  vested  in  the 
President.  Are  there  exceptions  to  this  proposition  ?  Yes,  there  are.  The 
Constitution  says,  that  in  appointing  to  office,  the  Senate  shall  be  associated 
with  the  President,  unless  in  case  of  inferior  officers,  when  the  law  shall 
otherwise  direct.  Have  we  a  right  to  extend  this  exception  ?  I  believe  not. 
If  the  Constitution  had  invested  all  executive  power  in  the  President,  I 
venture  to  assert  that  the  Legislature  has  no  right  to  diminish  or  modify  his 
executive  authority." 

Again : 

"  The  doctrine,  however,  which  seems  to  stand  most  in  opposition  to  the 
principles  I  contend  for,  is,  that  the  power  to  annul  an  appointment  is,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  incidental  to  the  power  which  makes  the  appointment.  I 
agree  that  if  nothing  more  was  said  in  the  Constitution  than  that  the  Presi 
dent,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  should  appoint  to 
office,  there  would  r^e  great  force  in  saying  that  the  power  of  removal  resulted 
by  a  natural  implication  from  the  power  of  appointing.  But  there  is  another 
part  of  the  Constitution,  no  less  explicit  than  the  one  on  which  the  gentle 
man's  doctrine  is  founded ;  it  is  that  part  which  declares  that  the  executive 
power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  The  association  of  the  Senate  with  the  President  in  exercising  that  par 
ticular  function,  is  an  exception  to  this  general  rule,  and  exceptions  to  gen 
eral  rules,  I  conceive,  are  ever  to  be  taken  strictly.  But  there  is  another  part 
of  the  Constitution  which  inclines,  in  my  judgment,  to  favor  the  construction 
I  put  upon  it;  the  President  is  required  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faith 
fully  executed.  If  the  duty  to  see  the  laws  faithfully  executed  be  required  at 
the  hands  of  the  Executive  Magistrate,  it  would  seem  that  it  was  generallj 
intended  he  should  have  that  species  of  power  which  is  necessary  to  accom 
plish  that  end.  Now,  if  the  officer,  when  once  appointed,  is  not  to  depend 
upon  the  President  for  his  official  existence,  but  upon  a  distinct  body,  (for 
where  there  are  two  negatives  required,  either  can  prevent  the  removal,)  I 
confess  I  do  not  see  how  the  President  can  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faith 
fully  executed.  It  is  true,  by  a  circuitous  operation,  he  may  obtain  an  im 
peachment,  and  even  without  this  it  is  possible  he  may  obtain  the  con 
currence  of  the  Senate  for  the  purpose  of  displacing  an  officer;  but  would 
this  give  that  species  of  control  to  the  Executive  Magistrate  which  seems  to 
be  required  by  the  Constitution  ?  I  own,  if  my  opinion  was  not  contrary  to 
that  entertained  by  what  I  suppose  to  be  the  minority  on  this  question,  I 
should  be  doubtful  of  being  mistaken,  when  I  discovered  how  inconsistent 
that  construction  would  make  the  Constitution  with  itself.  I  can  hardly 
bring  myself  to  imagine  the  wisdom  of  the  convention  who  framed  the  Con 
stitution  contemplated  such  incongruity." 

But,  sir,  if  doubts  could  arise  on  the  language  of  the  Constitution  itself, 
then  it  would  become  proper,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  true  mean 
ing  of  the  instrument,  to  resort  to  arguments  ab  inconvenienti.  The  framers 
of  the  Constitution  never  intended  it  to  mean  what  would  defeat  the  very 


REMOVAL    OF    EXECUTIVE    OFFICERS.  287 

purposes  which  it  was  intended  to  accomplish.  I  think  I  can  prove  that  to 
deprive  the  President  of  the  power  of  removal  would  be  fatal  to  the  best  in 
terests  of  the  country. 

And  first,  the  Senate  cannot  always  be  in  session.  I  thank  Heaven  for 
that.  We  must  separate  and  attend  to  our  ordinary  business.  It  is  necessary 
for  a  healthy  political  constitution  that  we  should  breathe  the  fresh  and  pure 
air  of  the  country.  The  political  excitement  would  rise  too  high  if  it  were 
not  cooled  off  in  this  manner.  The  American  people  never  will  consent,  and 
never  ought  to  consent,  that  our  sessions  shall  become  perpetual.  The  framers 
of  the  Constitution  never  intended  that  this  should  be  the  case.  But  once 
establish  the  principle  that  the  Senate  must  consent  to  removals,  as  well  as  to 
appointments,  and  this  consequence  is  inevitable. 

A  foreign  minister  in  a  remote  part  of  the  world  is  pursuing  a  course, 
dangerous  to  the  best  interests,  and  ruinous  to  the  character  of  the  country. 
He  is  disgracing  us  abroad,  and  endangering  the  public  peace.  He  has  been 
intrusted  with  an  important  negotiation,  and  is  betraying  his  trust.  He  has 
become  corrupt,  or  is  entirely  incompetent.  This  information  arrives  at 
Washington,  three  or  four  days  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress  on  the  3d 
of  March.  What  is  to  be  done?  Is  the  President  to  be  entirely  powerless 
until  the  succeeding  December,  when  the  Senate  may  meet  again?  Shall  he 
be  obliged  to  wait  until  the  mischief  is  entirely  consummated — until  the 
country  is  ruined — before  he  can  recall  the  corrupt  or  wicked  minister  ?  Or 
will  any  gentleman  contend  that  upon  every  occasion,  when  a  removal  from 
office  becomes  necessary,  he  shall  call  the  Senators  from  their  homes  through 
out  this  widely  extended  republic  ?  And  yet,  this  is  the  inevitable  conse 
quence  of  the  position  contended  for  by  gentlemen.  Could  the  framers  of 
the  Constitution  ever  have  intended  such  an  absurdity  ?  This  argument  was 
also  adverted  to  by  Mr.  Madison. 

But  again,  there  are  great  numbers  of  disbursing  officers  scattered  over 
the  Union.  Information  is  received  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  that  one 
of  them  in  Arkansas  or  at  the  Rocky  Mountains,  has  been  guilty  of  pecula 
tion,  and  is  wasting  the  public  money.  Must  the  President  fold  his  arms,  and 
suffer  him  to  proceed  in  his  fraudulent  course,  until  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Senate  ?  The  truth  is,  that  the  President  cannot  execute  the  laws  of  the 
Union,  without  this  power  of  removal. 

But  cases  still  stronger  may  be  presented.  The  heads  of  departments  are 
the  confidential  advisers  of  the  President.  It  is  chiefly  through  their  agency 
that  he  must  conduct  the  great  operations  of  Government.  Without  a  direct 
control  over  them,  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  take  care  that  the  laws 
shall  be  faithfully  executed.  Suppose  that  one  of  them,  during  the  recess  of 
the  Senate,  violates  his  instructions,  refuses  to  hold  any  intercourse  with  the 
President,  and  pursues  a  career  which  he  believes  to  be  in  opposition  to  the 
Constitution,  the  laws  and  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  Shall  the  ex 
ecutive  arm  be  paralyzed ;  and  in  such  a  case,  must  he  patiently  submit  to  all 
these  evils  until  the  Senate  can  be  convened  ?  In  time  of  war,  the  country 


288  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN, 

might  be  ruined  by  a  corrupt  Secretary  of  War,  before  the  Senate  could  be 
assembled. 

It  is  not  my  intention,  on  this  occasion,  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  re 
moval  of  the  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  I  merely  wish 
to  present  it  as  a  forcible  illustration  of  my  argument.  Suppose  the  late 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  determined  to  remove  the  deposits,  and  the 
President  had  believed  this  measure  would  be  as  ruinous  to  the  country  as 
the  friends  of  the  bank  apprehended.  If  the  Secretary,  notwithstanding  the 
remonstrances  of  the  President,  had  proceeded  to  issue  the  order  for  their  re 
moval,  what  should  we  have  heard  from  those  who  were  the  loudest  in  their 
denunciations  against  the  Executive,  if  he  had  said,  my  arms  are  tied,  I  have 
no  power  to  arrest  the  act — the  deposits  must  be  removed,  because  I  cannot 
remove  my  Secretary  ?  Here  the  evil  would  have  been  done  before  the 
Senate  could  possibly  have  been  assembled.  I  am  indebted  to  the  speech  of  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun),  at  the  last  session,  for  this  illus 
tration.  The  truth  is,  view  the  subject  in  any  light  you  may,  the  power  of 
removal  is  in  its  nature  inseparable  from  the  executive  power. 

I  have  been  presenting  the  inconveniences  which  would  arise,  during  the 
recess  of  the  Senate,  from  the  want  of  this  power  in  the  executive.  But 
suppose  the  Senate  to  be  always  in  session,  would  this  remove  every  diffi 
culty  ?  By  no  means.  Confer  upon  the  Senate  the  power  of  rejecting  re 
movals,  and  you  make  the  executive,  in  the  language  of  the  debate  of  1789, 
a  double-headed  monster.  That  power  on  whom  is  devolved  the  execution 
of  your  laws,  must  be  able  to  remove  a  corrupt  or  an  incompetent  agent  from 
office,  or  he  cannot  perform  his  duties.  The  Senate  may,  without  inconvenience, 
and  with  very  great  advantage  to  the  country,  participate  in  appointments ; 
but  when  the  man  is  once  in  office,  the  President  must  necessarily  possess  the 
power  of  turning  him  out  in  case  he  does  not  perform  his  duties.  This 
power  ought  not  to  depend  upon  the  will  of  the  Senate ;  for  that  body  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  execution  of  the  laws. 

If  the  power  contended  for  were  vested  in  the  Senate,  what  would  be  the 
consequences?  Still  more  dangerous,  if  possible,  than  any  which  I  have  yet 
depicted.  The  cases  in  which  removals  are  necessary,  must  rapidly  increase 
with  the  number  of  our  officers  and  our  rapidly  extending  population.  If  the 
President  must  assign  reasons  to  the  Senate  for  his  removals,  according  to  the 
provisions  of  this  bill,  or  if  the  Senate  must  participate  in  these  removals,  as 
well  as  in  appointments,  it  necessarily  follows,  that  these  reasons  must  be  in 
vestigated.  Witnesses  must  be  examined  to  ascertain  the  truth  or  falsehood 
of  the  charges  made  against  the  officer  sought  to  be  removed.  The  case  must 
be  tried  judicially.  Time  must  be  consumed  to  the  prejudice  of  our  other 
duties.  The  legislative  functions  of  the  Senate  must  thus  become  impaired, 
and  feelings  excited  between  co-ordinate  branches  of  the  Government  calcu 
lated  to  produce  a  most  injurious  effect  upon  the  country.  In  this  state  of 
things,  the  case  might  readily  occur  which  was  anticipated  by  Mr.  Madison  in 
1789.  A  majority  of  the  Senate  might  even  keep  one  of  the  heads  of 


REMOVAL    OF   EXECUTIVE   OFFICERS.  289 

department  in  office  against  the  will  of  the  President.  Whether  they  would 
have  done  so  or  not  last  winter,  in  the  case  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
I  shall  not  pretend  to  determine. 

If  this  power  were  conferred  upon  the  Senate,  it  would  interfere  with  our 
judicial  functions  to  a  dangerous  and  alarming  extent.  The  removal  of  a  high 
officer  of  the  Government  is  recommended  by  the  President  to  the  Senate, 
because  of  official  misconduct.  The  charges  are  tried  before  the  Senate. 
From  the  very  nature  of  the  question  it.must  become  in  fact  a  judicial  investi 
gation.  The  Senate  determine  either  that  he  shall  remain  in  his  office  or  that 
he  shall  be  removed.  In  either  case,  the  House  of  Representatives,  possessing 
the  sole  power  of  impeachment  under  the  Constitution,  determine  to  exercise 
it  against  this  officer.  But  the  Senate  have,  by  their  previous  proceedings, 
utterly  disqualified  themselves  from  giving  to  the  accused  an  impartial  trial. 
They  have  already  decided  upon  his  guilt  or  his  innocence.  Instead  of  pro 
ceeding  to  the  trial,  unbiased  by  favor  or  by  prejudice,  their  minds  are  in 
flamed,  their  judgments  are  biased,  and  they  come  to  the  investigation  with 
the  feelings  of  partisans,  rather  than  those  of  judges.  The  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  would  have  a  just  right  to  complain  loudly  against  the  exercise  of 
this  power  by  the  Senate.  We  should  thus  disqualify  ourselves  from  judging 
impartially  in  cases  between  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  the  high 
officers  of  the  Government. 

I  think  I  have  successfully  established  the  position  that  no  two  things  can 
in  their  nature  be  more  distinct  than  the  power  of  appointment  and  that  of 
removal.  If  this  be  the  case,  then  what  becomes  of  the  argument  of  the 
gentleman  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster)  ?  It  rested  entirely  upon  the 
principle,  that  these  two  powers  were  so  identical  in  their  nature,  that  be 
cause  the  Senate,  under  the  Constitution,  have  the  express  power  of  advising 
and  consenting  to  appointments,  that,  therefore,  by  implication,  they  must 
possess  the  power  of  advising  and  consenting  to  removals.  The  inference  is 
without  foundation. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  more  we  discuss  this  question,  we  shall  have  the 
greater  reason  to  admire  the  wisdom  of  the  Constitution,  and  of  those  en 
lightened  and  patriotic  men  who  placed  that  construction  upon  it  in  the 
beginning,  which  I  shall  venture  to  predict  never  will  be  disturbed  by  the 
American  people.  The  Senate,  from  the  nature  of  the  body,  are  fully  compe 
tent  to  assist  the  President  in  appointments.  It  would  change  their  character 
altogether,  and  paralyze  the  executive  arm  of  the  Government,  if  they  were 
to  usurp  the  power  of  interfering  in  removals  from  office.  Let  the  Constitu 
tion  and  the  construction  of  it  by  its  founders,  in  this  particular,  be  perpetual ! 
It  has  been  objected  that  the  President,  by  this  construction,  is  too  far  re 
moved  from  responsibility  in  the  exercise  of  this  power.  But  he  is  responsible 
to  the  American  people,  whose  servant  he  is,  in  this  as  in  all  other  cases. 
Unless  you  palsy  the  executive  arm,  and  render  it  powerless  to  do  good,  lest 
it  may  do  evil,  you  cannot  support  the  doctrine  which  has  been  urged.  You 
must  vest  some  discretion ;  you  must  repose  some  confidence  in  the  executive, 

I— 19 


290  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

or  the  wheels  of  Government  must  stand  still.  Should  he  abuse  his  power, 
he  is  liable  to  the  censure  of  public  opinion  ;  and,  in  flagrant  cases,  he  may  be 
impeached. 

It  was  contended  in  the  first  Congress,  and  the  same  argument  has  been 
urged  upon  the  present  occasion,  that  the  power  of  removal  was  not  recog 
nized  by  the  Constitution  —that  it  was  a  case  omitted,  and  that,  therefore,  by 
implication,  it  belongs  to  Congress.  This  argument  was  fully  met  and  suc 
cessfully  refuted  in  1789.  If  this  principle  were  established,  the  executive 
power  would  have  no  necessary  control  over  executive  officers.  Con 
gress  might  confer  the  power  of  removal  upon  the  Senate  alone,  or  upon  the 
House  of  Representatives  alone,  or  upon  both  conjointly,  without  any  parti 
cipation  of  the  President.  This  Government — the  admiration  of  the  world, 
would  present  the  solecism  of  an  executive  without  any  control  over  execu 
tive  agents,  except  what  might  be  granted  to  him  by  the  legislature.  We 
are  not  placed  in  this  unfortunate  predicament.  The  President,  under  the 
Constitution,  has  the  power  of  removal.  It  is  a  constitutional  power,  not 
to  be  controlled  by  the  legislature.  It  is  a  power  equally  sovereign  in  its 
nature  with  that  of  legislation  itself.  He  is  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the 
Government,  and  has  the  same  right  to  exercise  his  discretion  in  removals 
from  office,  that  Congress  possess  in  regard  to  the  enactment  of  laws. 

This  brings  me  to  consider  the  constitutionality  of  the  third  section  of  the 
bill  now  depending  before  us.  It  provides  "  that  in  all  nominations  made  by 
the  President  to  the  Senate,  to  fill  vacancies  occasioned  by  removal  from 
office,  the  fact  of  the  removal  shall  be  stated  to  the  Senate  at  the  time  that 
the  nomination  is  made,  with  a  statement  of  the  reasons  for  such  removal." 

Whence  do  we  derive  our  authority  to  demand  his  reasons  ?  If  the  Con 
stitution  has  conferred  upon  him  the  power  of  removal,  as  I  think  I  have 
clearly  shown,  is  it  not  absolute  in  its  nature  and  entirely  free  from  the  con 
trol  of  Congress  ?  Is  he  not  as  independent  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  as 
Congress  in  the  exercise  of  any  power  conferred  upon  them  by  the  Constitu 
tion  ?  Would  he  not  have  the  same  authority  to  demand  from  us  our  reasons 
for  rejecting  a  nomination,  as  we  possess  to  call  upon  him  for  his  reasons  for 
making  a  removal  ?  Might  he  not  say,  I  am  answerable  to  the  American 
people,  and  to  them  alone,  for  the  exercise  of  this  power,  in  the  same  manner 
that  the  Senate  is  for  the  exercise  of  any  power  conferred  upon  them  by  the 
Constitution  ? 

With  all  the  deference  which  I  feel  for  the  opinions  of  the  Senator  from 
Tennessee  (Mr.  White),  I  think  lie  has  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  third 
section  of  this  bill  is  constitutional,  by  blending  things  together  which  are  in 
their  nature  entirely  distinct.  He  asks,  is  it  not  in  the  power  of  Congress  to 
create  the  office,  to  define  its  duties,  and  to  change  and  vary  these  duties  at 
pleasure  ?  Granted.  May  they  not,  if  they  believe  the  office  unnecessary, 
repeal  the  law,  and  must  not  the  officer  fall  with  it?  Granted.  These  are 
legislative  powers,  clearly  conferred  upon  Congress  by  the  Constitution.  It 
is  then  asked,  may  Congress  not  prescribe  it  as  the  duty  of  these  officers  to 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION  291 

give  reasons  for  their  conduct  ?  Certainly  they  may.  And  why  ?  Because 
they  are  the  creatures  of  Congress — they  are  called  into  existence  by  Con 
gress — and  they  will  cease  to  exist  at  the  pleasure  of  Congress.  Is  this  the 
condition  of  the  executive,  who  is  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  Government, 
and  who  is  answerable  for  his  conduct,  not  to  Congress,  but  to  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States.  What  right  have  we  to  demand  reasons  from  the 
servant  of  another  as  to  how  he  performs  his  duties  ?  To  his  own  master, 
which,  in  this  particular,  is  the  American  people,  and  to  them  alone,  he  is 
responsible.  If  Congress  can  command  him  to  give  reasons  to  the  Senate  for 
his  removals,  the  Senate  may  judge  of  the  validity  of  these  reasons,  and  con 
demn  them  if  they  think  proper.  The  executive  of  the  country  is  thus 
rendered  subordinate  to  the  Senate ; — a  position  in  which  the  Constitution  of 
the  country  never  intended  to  place  him.  In  my  opinion,  this  bill  as  strongly 
negatives  the  constitutional  power  of  the  President  to  remove  from  office, 
without  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate,  as  if  it  were  so  declared  in  express 
language.  For  this  reason  I  shall  vote  against  it. 


In  the  next  session,  which  commenced  in  December,  1836, 
Mr.  Buchanan  delivered  a  speech  which  may  perhaps  be  re 
garded  as  the  ablest  of  his  efforts  in  the  Senate.  It  related  to 
a  topic  that  had  long  been  attended  with  intense  political 
excitement.  President  Jackson's  removal  of  the  public 
deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  furnished  to 
the  Whig  opponents  of  his  administration  a  means  of  attack, 
of  which  they  were  not  slow  to  avail  themselves.  The  power 
ful  opposition,  which  at  the  time  of  that  occurrence  controlled 
the  proceedings  of  the  Senate,  was  led  by  Mr.  Clay,  who  was 
the  defeated  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presidency  at  the  election 
of  1832.  Swaying  his  party  in  the  Senate  with  an  imperious 
will,  and  enforcing  his  determinations  by  a  fascinating  elo 
quence,  Mr.  Clay,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1834,  carried  a  reso 
lution,  which  was  inscribed  on  the  journal  of  the  Senate  in  the 
following  words :  "  That  the  President,  in  the  late  executive 
proceedings,  in  relation  to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon 
himself  authority  and  power  not  conferred  by  the  Constitution 
and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both."  On  the  3d  of  March, 
1835,  a  resolution  introduced  by  Col.  Benton,  of  Missouri,  or 
dering  Mr.  Clay's  resolution  to  be  "expunged"  from  the  jour 
nal,  came  up  for  consideration.  The  word  "expunged"  was 
stricken  out  by  a  vote  in  which  the  mover  and  other  friends  of 
the  administration  concurred,  so  that  some  other  less  objection- 


292  LIFE   OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

able  phrase  might  be  substituted.  But  as  soon  as  this  word 
was  stricken  out,  Mr.  Webster  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on 
the  table,  giving  notice  that  he  would  not  withdraw  his  motion 
"  for  friend  or  foe."  The  motion  was  not  debatable,  and  as  the 
Whigs  still  had  a  majority,  it  was  carried  by  a  party  vote.  The 
Democratic  Senators  then  determined  that  the  word  "  ex 
punged  "  should  never  be  again  surrendered.  At  the  next 
session  they  had  a  majority ;  and  Col.  Benton's  resolution  then 
came  up,  in  a  form  wiiich  directed  that  Mr.  Clay's  resolution 
of  1834  be  expunged  from  the  journal  of  the  Senate,  by  draw 
ing  black  lines  around  it,  and  writing  across  its  face  the  words, 
"  Expunged  by  order  of  the  Senate,  this  -  -  day  of  - 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1837."  It  was  upon  this  proposal,  in 
reply  to  an  impassioned  speech  by  Mr.  Clay,  that  Mr.  Buchanan, 
on  the  16th  of  January,  1837,  addressed  the  Senate. 

There  is  one  praise  to  be  accorded  to  this  speech,  which,  con 
sidering  the  party  character  of  the  struggle,  is  not  a  small  one. 
Mr.  Buchanan  separated  what  was  personal  and  partisan  in  this 
controversy  from  the  serious  questions  involved ;  and  covering 
the  whole  field  of  argument  upon  the  really  important  topics 
in  a  temperate  and  courteous  but  firm  discussion,  he  placed  his 
side  of  the  debate  upon  its  true  merits.  He  began  by  contend 
ing  that  the  censure,  which  the  Senate  had  in  1834  passed  upon 
the  President,  was  unjust,  because  he  had  violated  no  law  in 
ordering  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  remove  the  public 
deposits  from  the  Bank.  He  then  argued  that  the  Senate  had 
committed  an  infraction  of  the  Constitution,  by  recording  upon 
its  journal  an  accusation  that  the  President  had  been  guilty  of 
an  offence  for  which  he  might  be  impeached,  and  for  which  it 
would  be  the  duty  of  the  Senate  to  try  him  6n  articles  of  im 
peachment,  if  the  House  of  Representatives  should  ever  pro 
ceed  against  him  in  that  manner.  In  thus  prejudging  the  case, 
by  a  resolution  of  mere  naked  censure,  adopted  in  its  legislative 
capacity,  the  Senate  had  rendered  itself  incompetent  to  perform 
its  high  judicial  function.  He  concluded  his  argument  by  a 
very  ingenious  and  elaborate  criticism  of  the  word  "  expunge," 
arguing  that  there  was  a  real  and  solid  distinction  between  a 
physical  obliteration  of  a  record,  making  it  impossible  there 
after  to  be  read,  and  such  an  annulment  of  its  legal  existence 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  393 

as  was  now  proposed,  and  which,  by  leaving  it  in  a  condition 
to  be  read,  would  nevertheless  deprive  it  of  all  force.  It  must 
be  confessed  that  this  was  a  very  finely  drawn  distinction  ;  but 
it  was  supported  by  no  inconsiderable  acuteness  and  force,  and 
with  great  fairness  of  reasoning.  Col.  Benton's  resolution  was 
adopted  by  a  party  vote,  and  was  immediately  carried  out.* 

The  following  is  a  full  report  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  speech  in 
support  of  the  Expunging  Resolution : 

MR.  PRESIDENT  : — After  the  able  and  eloquent  display  of  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky,  (Mr.  Clay)  who  has  just  resumed  his  seat,  after  having  so  long  en 
chained  the  attention  of  his  audience,  it  might  be  the  dictate  of  prudence  for 
me  to  remain  silent.  But  I  feel  too  deeply  my  responsibility  as  an  American 
Senator,  not  to  make  the  attempt  to  place  before  the  Senate  and  the  country 
the  reasons  which,  in  my  opinion,  will  justify  the  vote  which  I  intend  to  give 
this  day. 

A  more  grave  and  solemn  question  has  rarely,  if  ever,  been  submitted  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  than  the  one  now  under  discussion.  This 
Senate  is  now  called  upon  to  review  its  own  decision,  to  rejudge  its  own  jus 
tice,  and  to  annihilate  its  own  sentence,  pronounced  against  the  co-ordi 
nate  executive  branch  of  this  Government.  On  the  28th  of  March,  1834, 
the  American  Senate,  in  the  face  of  the  American  people,  in  the  face  of  the 
whole  world,  by  a  solemn  resolution,  pronounced  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  be  a  violator  of  the  Constitution  of  his  country — of  that  Constitu 
tion  which  he  had  solemnly  sworn  "  to  preserve,  protect,  and  defend." 
Whether  we  consider  the  exalted  character  of  the  tribunal  which  pronounced 
this  condemnation,  or  the  illustrious  object  against  which  it  was  directed,  we 
ought  to  feel  deeply  impressed  with  the  high  and  lasting  importance  of  the 
present  proceeding.  It  is  in  fact,  if  not  in  form,  the  trial  of  the  Senate,  for 
having  unjustly  and  unconstitutionally  tried  and  condemned  the  President; 
and  their  accusers  are  the  American  people.  In  this  cause  I  am  one  of  the 
judges.  In  some  respects,  it  is  a  painful  position  for  me  to  occupy.  It  is 
vain,  however,  to  express  unavailing  regrets.  I  must,  and  shall,  firmly  and 
sternly,  do  my  duty ;  although  in  the  performance  of  it  I  may  wound  the 

*  The  writer  has  had  occasion  to  treat  of  this  occurrence  more  at  length  in  his  Life  of 
Mr.  Webster.  He  has  there  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  the  friends  of  the  President,  when 
they  obtained  a  majority  in  the  Senate,  had  contented  themselves  with  adopting  a  resolution 
exonerating  him  from  the  censure  passed  in  1834,  no  one  could  have  complained.  Probably 
they  would  have  done  so,  if  the  circumstances  attending  the  adoption  of  Mr.  Clay's  resolution 
had  not  provoked  them  to  devise  what  they  regarded  as  an  imposing  form  of  stigmatizing 
that  act.  All  that  is  of  any  consequence  now,  in  relation  to  this  proceeding,  turns  upon  the 
contradiction  between  the  constitutional  requirement  to  "keep"  a  legislative  journal,  and  a 
subsequent  obliteration  or  cancellation  of  any  part  of  it,  by  any  means  whatever.  On  this 
subject,  see  the  protest  read  in  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Webster,  in  his  Life,  by  the  present  writer, 
vol.  I,  p.  545,  et  seq. 


294  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

feelings  of  gentlemen  whom  I  respect  and  esteem.  I  shall  proceed  no 
farther  than  the  occasion  demands,  and  will,  therefore,  justify. 

Who  was  the  President  of  the  United  States,  against  whom  this  sentence 
has  been  pronounced  ?  Andrew  Jackson — a  name  which  every  American 
mother,  after  the  party  strife  which  agitates  us  for  the  present  moment  shall 
have  passed  away,  will,  during  all  the  generations  which  this  Republic  is  des 
tined  to  endure,  teach  her  infant  to  lisp  with  that  of  the  venerated  name  of 
Washington.  The  one  was  the  founder,  the  other  the  preserver,  of  the  liber 
ties  of  his  country. 

If  President  Jackson  has  been  guilty  of  violating  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  let  impartial  justice  take  its  course.  I  admit  that  it  is  no  jus 
tification  for  such  a  crime,  that  his  long  life  has  been  more  distinguished  by 
acts  of  disinterested  patriotism  than  that  of  any  American  citizen  now  living. 
It  is  no  justification  that  the  honesty  of  his  heart  and  the  purity  of  his  in 
tentions  have  become  proverbial,  even  amongst  his  political  enemies.  It  is 
no  justification  that  in  the  hour  of  danger,  and  in  the  day  of  battle,  he  has 
been  his  country's  shield.  If  he  has  been  guilty,  let  his  name  be  "  damned  to 
everlasting  fame,"  with  those  of  Caesar  and  of  Napoleon. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  pure  and  immaculate  from  the  charge,  let  us  be 
swift  to  do  him  justice,  and  to  blot  out  the  foul  stigma  which  the  Senate  has 
placed  upon  his  character.  If  we  arc  not,  he  may  go  down  to  the  grave  in 
doubt  as  to  what  may  be  the  final  judgment  of  his  country.  In  any  event, 
he  must  soon  retire  to  the  shades  of  private  life.  Shall  we,  then,  suffer  his 
official  term  to  expire,  without  first  doing  him  justice  ?  It  may  be  said  of  me, 
as  it  has  already  been  said  of  other  Senators,  that  I  am  one  of  the  gross 
adulators  of  the  President.  But,  sir,  I  have  never  said  thus  much  of  him 
whilst  he  was  in  the  meridian  of  his  power.  Now  that  his  political  sun  is 
nearly  set,  I  feel  myself  at  liberty  to  pour  forth  my  grateful  feelings,  as  an 
American  citizen,  to  a  man  who  has  done  so  much  for  his  country.  I  have 
never,  for  myself,  cither  directly  or  indirectly,  solicited  office  at  his  hands; 
and  my  character  must  greatly  change,  if  I  should  ever  do  so  from  any  of  his 
successors.  If  I  should  bestow  upon  him  the  meed  of  my  poor  praise,  it 
springs  from  an  impulse  far  different  from  that  which  has  been  attributed  to 
the  majority  on  this  floor.  I  speak  as  an  independent  freeman  and  American 
Senator;  and  I  feel  proud  now  to  have  the  opportunity* of  raising  my  voice 
in  his  defence. 

On  the  28th  day  of  March,  1834,  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  resolved, 
"  that  the  President,  in  the  late  executive  proceedings,  in  relation  to  the  pub 
lic  revenue,  has  assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power  not  conferred  by 
the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both." 

In  discussing  this  subject,  I  shall  undertake  to  prove,  first,  that  this  resolu 
tion  is  unjust ;  secondly,  that  it  is  unconstitutional ;  and  in  the  last  place,  that 
it  ought  to  be  expunged  from  our  journals,  in  the  manner  proposed  by  the 
Senator  from  Missouri  (Mr.  Benton). 

First,  then,  it  is  unjust.     On  this  branch  of  the  subject  I  had  intended  to 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  395 

confine  myself  to  a  bare  expression  of  my  own  decided  opinion.  This  point 
has  been  so  often  and  so  ably  discussed,  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  cast 
any  new  light  upon  it.  But  as  it  is  my  intention  to  follow  the  footsteps  of 
the  Senator  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Clay)  wherever  they  may  lead,  I  must  again 
tread  the  ground  which  has  been  so  often  trodden.  As  the  Senator,  how 
ever,  has  confined  himself  to  a  mere  passing  reference  to  the  topics  which  this 
head  presents,  1  shall,  in  this  particular,  follow  his  example. 

Although  the  resolution  condemning  the  President  is  vague  and  general  in 
its  terms,  yet  we  all  know  that  it  was  founded  upon  his  removal  of  the  pub 
lic  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  The  Senator  from  Ken 
tucky  has  contended  that  this  act  was  a  violation  of  law.  And  why  ?  Be 
cause,  says  he,  it  is  well  known  that  the  public  money  was  secure  in  that  in 
stitution  ;  and  by  its  charter  the  public  deposits  could  not  be  removed  from 
it,  unless  under  a  just  apprehension  that  they  were  in  danger.  Now,  sir,  I 
admit  that  if  the  President  had  no  right  to  remove  these  deposits,  except  for 
the  sole  reason  that  their  safety  was  in  danger,  the  Senator  has  established 
his  position.  But  what  is  the  fact  ?  Was  the  Government  thus  restricted  by 
the  terms  of  the  bank  charter?  I  answer,  no.  Such  a  limitation  is  nowhere 
to  be  found  in  it.  Let  me  read  the  sixteenth  section,  which  is  the  only  one 
relating  to  the  subject.  It  enacts,  "  that  the  deposits  of  the  money  of  the 
United  States,  in  places  in  which  the  said  bank  and  branches  thereof  may  be 
established,  shall  be  made  in  said  bank  or  branches  thereof,  unless  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  shall  at  any  other  time  otherwise  order  and  direct]  in 
which  case  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  immediately  lay  before  Con 
gress,  if  in  session,  and,  if  not,  immediately  after  the  commencement  of  the 
next  session,  the  reasons  of  such  order  or  direction." 

Is  not  the  authority  thus  conferred  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as 
broad  and  as  ample  as  the  English  language  will  admit  ?  Where  is  the  limi 
tation,  where  the  restriction  ?  One  might  have  supposed  from  the  argu 
ment  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  that  the  charter  restricted  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  from  removing  the  deposits,  unless  he  believed  them  to  be 
insecure  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States;  but  the  language  of  the  law  itself 
completely  refutes  his  argument.  They  were  to  remain  in  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  "  unless  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  shall  at  any  time  other 
wise  order  and  direct." 

The  sole  limitation  upon  the  discretion  of  that  officer  was  his  immediate 
and  direct  responsibility  to  Congress.  To  us  he  was  bound  to  render  his 
reasons  for  removing  the  deposits.  We,  and  we  alone,  are  constituted  the 
judges  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  these  reasons. 

It  would  be  an  easy  task  to  prove  that  the  authors  of  the  bank  charter 
acted  wisely  in  not  limiting  the  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
over  the  deposits  to  the  single  case  of  their  apprehended  insecurity.  We 
may  imagine  many  other  reasons  which  would  have  rendered  their  removal 
both  wise  and  expedient.  But  I  forbear  ;  especially  as  the  case  now  before 
the  Senate  presents  as  striking  an  illustration  of  this  proposition  as  I  could 


296  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

possibly  imagine.  Upon  what  principle,  then,  do  I  justify  the  removal  of  the 
deposits  ? 

The  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  determined  to  apply  for  a  recharter  at 
the  session  of  Congress  immediately  preceding  the  last  Presidential  election. 
Preparatory  to  this  application,  and  whilst  it  was  pending,  in  the  short  space 
of  sixteen  months,  it  had  increased  its  loans  more  than  twenty-eight  million 
dollars.  They  rose  from  forty-two  millions  to  seventy  millions  between  the 
last  of  December,  1830,  and  the  first  of  May,  1832.  Whilst  this  boasted 
regulator  of  the  currency  was  thus  expanding  its  discounts,  all  the  local 
banks  followed  the  example.  The  impulse  of  self-interest  urged  them  to 
pursue  this  course.  A  delusive  prosperity  was  thus  spread  over  the  land. 
Money  everywhere  became  plenty.  The  bank  was  regarded  as  the  beneficent 
parent,  who  was  pouring  her  money  out  into  the  laps  of  her  children.  She 
thought  herself  wise  and  provident  in  thus  rendering  herself  popular.  The  re- 
charter  passed  both  Houses  of  Congress  by  triumphant  majorities.  But  then 
came  "  the  frost,  the  killing  frost."  It  was  not  so  easy  to  propitiate  "  the  Old 
Roman."  Although  he  well  knew  the  power  and  influence  which  the  bank 
could  exert  against  him  at  the  then  approaching  Presidential  election,  he  cast 
such  considerations  to  the  winds.  He  vetoed  the  bill,  and  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  placed  himself  for  trial  upon  this  question  before  the  American  people. 

From  that  moment  the  faith  of  many  of  his  former  friends  began  to  grow 
cold.  The  bank  openly  took  the  field  against  his  re-election.  It  expended 
large  sums  in  subsidizing  editors,  and  in  circulating  pamphlets,  and  papers, 
and  speeches,  throughout  the  Union,  calculated  to  inflame  the  public  mind 
against  the  President.  I  merely  glance  at  these  things. 

Let  us  pause  for  a  single  moment  to  consider  the  consequences  of  such 
conduct.  What  right  had  the  bank,  as  a  corporation,  to  enter  the  arena  of 
politics  for  the  purpose  of  defending  itself,  and  attacking  the  President? 
Whilst  I  freely  admit  that  each  individual  stockholder  possessed  the  same 
rights,  in  this  respect,  as  every  other  American  citizen,  I  pray  you  to  consider 
what  a  dangerous  precedent  the  bank  has  thus  established.  Our  banks  now 
number  nearly  a  thousand,  and  our  other  chartered  institutions  are  almost  in 
numerable.  If  all  these  corporations  are  to  be  justified  in  using  their  corpor 
ate  funds  for  the  purpose  of  influencing  elections ;  of  elevating  their  political 
friends,  and  crushing  their  political  foes,  our  condition  is  truly  deplorable. 
We  shall  thus  introduce  into  the  State  a  new,  a  dangerous,  and  an  alarming 
power,  the  effects  of  which  no  man  can  anticipate.  Watchful  jealousy  is  the 
price  which  a  free  people  must  ever  pay  for  their  liberties;  and  this  jealousy 
should  be  Argus-eyed  in  watching  the  political  movements  of  corporations. 

After  the  bank  had  been  defeated  in  the  Presidential  election,  it  adopted  a 
new  course  of  policy.  What  it  had  been  unable  to  accomplish  by  making 
money  plenty,  it  determined  it  would  wrest  from  the  sufferings  of  the  people 
by  making  money  scarce.  Pressure  and  panic  then  became  its  weapons;  and 
with  these  it  was  determined,  if  possible,  to  extort  a  recharter  from  the 
American  people.  It  commenced  this  warfare  upon  the  interests  of  the 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  397 

country  about  the  first  of  August,  1833.  In  two  short  months  it  decreased  its 
loans  more  than  four  millions  of  dollars,  whilst  the  deposits  of  the  Government 
with  it  had  increased,  during  the  same  period,  two  millions  and  a  quarter.  I 
speak  in  round  numbers.  It  was  then  in  the  act  of  reducing  its  discounts  at 
the  rate  of  two  millions  of  dollars  per  month. 

The  State  banks  had  expanded  their  loans  with  the  former  expansion  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  It  now  became  necessary  to  contract  them. 
The  severest  pressure  began  to  be  felt-  everywhere.  Had  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  been  permitted  a  short  time  longer  to  proceed  in  this  course, 
fortified  as  it  was  with  the  millions  of  the  Government  which  it  held  on 
deposit,  a  scene  of  almost  universal  bankruptcy  and  insolvency  must  have 
been  presented  in  our  commercial  cities.  It  thus  became  absolutely  necessary 
for  the  President  either  to  deprive  the  bank  of  the  public  deposits,  as  the  only 
means  of  protecting  the  State  banks,  and  through  them  the  people,  from  these 
impending  evils,  or  calmly  to  look  on  and  see  it  spreading  ruin  throughout 
the  land.  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  adopt  this  policy  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  a  universal  derangement  of  the  currency,  a  general  sacrifice  of 
property,  and,  as  an  inevitable  consequence,  the  recharter  of  this  institution. 

By  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  he  struck  a  blow  against  the  bank  from 
which  it  has  never  since  recovered.  This  was  the  club  of  Hercules  with 
which  he  slew  the  hydra.  This  was  the  master-stroke  by  which  he  prostrated 
what  a  large  majority  of  the  American  people  believe  to  have  been  a  corrupt 
and  a  corrupting  institution.  For  this  he  is  not  only  justified,  but  deserves 
the  eternal  gratitude  of  his  country.  For  this  the  Senate  have  condemned 
him;  but  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  hailed  him  as  a  deliverer. 

It  has  been  said  by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  that  the  President,  by 
removing  the  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  united  in  his  own 
hands  the  power  of  the  purse  of  the  nation  with  that  of  the  sword.  I  think 
it  is  not  difficult  to  answer  this  argument.  What  was  to  become -of  the 
public  money,  in  case  it  had  been  removed  from  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  under  its  charter,  for  the  cause  which  the  Senator  himself  deems  justi 
fiable  ?  Why,  sir,  it  would  then  have  been  immediately  remitted  to  the 
guardianship  of  those  laws  under  which  it  had  been  protected  before  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  was  called  into  existence.  Such  was  the  present 
case.  In  regard  to  this  point,  no  matter  whether  the  cause  of  removal  were 
sufficient  or  not,  the  moment  the  deposits  were  actually  removed  they  became 
subject  to  the  pre-existing  laws,  and  not  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  President. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  has  contended  that  the  President  violated  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  by  dismissing  Mr.  Duane  from  office  because  he 
would  not  remove  the  deposits,  and  by  appointing  Mr.  Taney  to  accomplish 
this  purpose.  I  shall  not  discuss  at  any  length  the  power  of  removal.  It  is 
now  too  late  in  the  day  to  question  it.  That  the  executive  possesses  this 
power  was  decided  by  the  first  Congress.  It  has  often  since  been  discussed 
and  decided  in  the  same  manner,  and  it  has  been  exercised  by  every  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  The  President  is  bound  by  the  Constitution  to 


298  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

"  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed."  If  he  cannot  remove  his 
executive  officers,  it  is  impossible  that  he  can  perform  this  duty.  Every 
inferior  officer  might  set  up  for  himself;  might  violate  the  laws  of  the 
country,  and  put  him  at  defiance,  whilst  he  would  remain  perfectly  powerless. 
He  could  not  arrest  their  career.  A  foreign  minister  might  be  betraying  and 
disgracing  the  nation  abroad,  without  any  power  to  recall  him  until  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Senate.  This  construction  of  the  Constitution  involves  so 
many  dangers  and  so  many  absurdities,  that  it  could  not  be  maintained  for  a 
moment,  even  if  there  had  not  been  a  constant  practice  against  it  of  almost 
half  a  century. 

But  it  is  contended  by  the  Senator  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  a 
sort  of  independent  power  in  the  State,  and  is  released  from  the  control  of 
the  executive.  And  why  ?  Simply  because  he  is  directed  by  law  to  make 
his  annual  report  to  Congress  and  not  to  the  President.  If  this  position  be 
correct,  then  it  necessarily  follows  that  the  executive  is  released  from  the 
obligation  of  taking  care  that  the  numerous  and  important  acts  of  Congress 
regulating  the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  country  shall  be  faithfully  executed.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  thus  made  independent  of  his  control.  What 
would  be  the  position  of  this  officer  under  such  a  construction  of  the  Consti 
tution  and  laws,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  decide.  And  this  wonderful 
transformation  of  his  character  has  arisen  from  the  mere  circumstance  that 
Congress  have  by  law  directed  him  to  make  an  annual  report  to  them !  No, 
sir ;  the  executive  is  responsible  to  Congress  for  the  faithful  execution  of  all 
the  laws  ;  and  if  the  present  or  any  other  President  should  prove  faithless  to 
his  high  trust,  the  present  Senate,  notwithstanding  all  which  has  been  said, 
would  be  as  ready  as  their  predecessors  to  inflict  condign  punishment  upon 
him,  in  the  mode  pointed  out  by  the  Constitution. 

I  have  now  arrived  at  the  great  question  of  the  constitutional  power  of 
the  Senate  to  adopt  the  resolution  of  March,  1834.  It  is  my  firm  conviction 
that  the  Senate  possesses  no  such  power ;  and  it  is  now  my  purpose  to  estab 
lish  this  position.  The  decision  on  this  point  must  depend  upon  a  true  answer 
to  the  question  :  Does  this  resolution  contain  any  impeachable  charge  against 
the  President  ?  If  it  does,  I  trust  I  shall  demonstrate  that  the  Senate  violated 
its  constitutional  duty  in  proceeding  to  condemn  him  in  this  manner.  I  shall 
again  read  the  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  President,  in  the  late  executive  proceedings  in  rela 
tion  to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power 
not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both." 

This  language  is  brief  and  comprehensive.  It  comes  at  once  to  the  point. 
It  bears  a  striking  impress  of  the  character  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky. 
Does  it  charge  an  impeachable  offence  against  the  President  ? 

The  fourth  section  of  the  second  article  of  the  Constitution  declares  that  the 
"President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
removed  from  office  on  impeachment  for,  and  conviction  of}  treason,  bribery, 
or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors." 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    EESOLUTION.  299 

It  has  been  contended  that  this  condemnatory  resolution  contains  no  im- 
peachable  offence,  because  it  charges  no  criminal  intention  against  the  Presi 
dent;  and  I  admit  that  it  does  not  attribute  to  him  any  corrupt  motive  in 
express  words.  Is  this  sufficient  to  convince  the  judgment  of  any  impartial 
man  that  none  was  intended?  Let  us,  for  a  few  moments,  examine  this 
proposition.  If  it  be  well  founded,  the  Senate  may  for  ever  hereafter  usurp  the 
power  of  trying,  condemning,  and  destroying  any  officer  of  the  Government, 
without  affording  him  the  slightest  opportunity  of  being  heard  in  his  defence. 
They  may  abuse  their  power,  and  prostrate  any  object  of  their  vengeance.  It 
seems  we  have  now  made  the  discovery,  that  the  Senate  are  authorized  to 
exert  this  tremendous  power — that  they  may  thus  assume  to  themselves  the 
office  both  of  accuser  and  of  judge,  provided  the  indictment  contains  no 
express  allegation  of  a  criminal  intention.  The  President,  or  any  officer 
of  the  Government,  may  be  denounced  by  the  Senate  as  a  violator  of  the 
Constitution  of  his  country, — as  derelict  in  the  performance  of  his  public 
duties,  provided  there  is  no  express  imputation  of  an  improper  motive.  The 
characters  of  men  whose  reputation  is  dearer  to  them  than  their  lives  may 
thus  be  destroyed.  They  may  be  held  up  to  public  execration  by  the  omis 
sion  of  a  few  formal  words.  The  condemnation  of  the  Senate  carries  with  it 
such  a  moral  power,  that  perhaps  there  is  no  man  in  the  United  States,  ex 
cept  ANDREW  JACKSON,  who  could  have  resisted  its  force.  No,  sir ;  such  an 
argument  can  never  command  conviction.  That  which  we  have  no  power 
to  do  directly,  we  can  never  accomplish  by  indirect  means.  "We  cannot  by 
resolution  convict  a  man  of  an  impeachable  offence,  merely  because  we  may 
omit  the  formal  words  of  an  impeachment.  We  must  regard  the  substance 
of  things,  and  not  the  mere  form. 

But  again.  Although  a  criminal  intention  be  not  charged,  in  so  many 
words,  by  this  resolution,  yet  its  language,  even  without  the  attendant  cir 
cumstances,  clearly  conveys  this  meaning.  The  President  is  charged  with 
having  "assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power  not  conferred  by  the 
Constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both."  "  Assumed  upon  him 
self."  What  is  the  plain  palpable  meaning  of  this  phrase  connected  with 
what  precedes  and  follows  ?  Is  it  not  "  to  arrogate,"  "  to  claim  or  seize  un 
justly."  These  are  two  of  the  first  meanings  of  the  word  assume,  according 
to  the  lexicographers.  To  assume  upon  one's  self  is  a  mode  of  expression  which 
is  rarely  taken  in  a  good  sense.  As  it  is  used  here,  I  ask  if  any  man  of  plain 
common  understanding,  after  reading  this  resolution,  would  ever  arrive  at  the 
conclusion  that  any  Senator  voted  for  it  under  the  impression  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  innocent  of  any  improper  intention,  and  that  he  violated  the  Consti 
tution  from  mere  mistake  and  from  pure  motives  ?  The  common  sense  of  man 
kind  revolts  at  the  idea.  How  can  it  be  contended,  for  a  single  moment,  that 
you  can  denounce  the  President  as  a  man  who  had  "assumed  upon  himself" 
the  power  of  violating  the  laws  and  the  Constitution  of  his  country,  and  in 
the  same  breath  declare  that  you  had  not  the  least  intention  to  criminate  him, 
and  that  your  language  was  altogether  inoffensive.  The  two  propositions  are 
manifestly  inconsistent. 


300  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

But  I  go  one  step  further.  If  we  were  sitting  as  a  court  of  impeachment, 
and  the  bare  proposition  were  established  to  our  satisfaction  that  the  Presi 
dent  had,  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  withdrawn  the  public 
revenue  of  the  country  from  the  depository  to  whose  charge  Congress  had 
committed  it,  and  assumed  the  control  over  it  himself,  we  would  be  bound  to 
convict  him  of  a  high  official  misdemeanor.  Under  such  circumstances,  we 
should  be  bound  to  infer  a  criminal  intention  from  this  illegal  and  unconstitu 
tional  act.  Criminal  justice  could  never  be  administered, — society  could  not 
exist,  if  the  tribunals  of  the  country  should  not  attribute  evil  motives  to  illegal 
and  unconstitutional  conduct.  Omniscience  alone  can  examine  the  heart. 
When  poor  frail  man  is  placed  in  the  judgment-seat,  he  must  infer  the  inten 
tions  of  the  accused  from  his  actions.  That  "  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits  " 
is  an  axiom  which  we  have  derived  from  the  fountain  of  all  truth.  Does  a 
poor,  naked,  hungry  wretch,  at  this  inclement  season  of  the  year,  take  from 
my  pocket  a  single  dollar ;  the  law  infers  a  criminal  intent,  and  he  must  be 
convicted  and  punished  as  a  thief,  though  he  may  have  been  actuated  by  no 
other  motive  than  that  of  saving  his  wife  and  his  children  from  starvation. 
And  shall  a  different  rule  be  applied  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  ? 
Shall  it  be  said  of  a  man  elevated  to  the  highest  station  on  earth,  for  his 
wisdom,  his  integrity,  and  his  virtues,  with  all  his  constitutional  advisers 
around  him,  when  he  violates  the  Constitution  of  his  country  and  usurps  the 
control  over  its  entire  revenue,  that  he  may  successfully  defend  himself  by 
declaring  he  had  done  this  deed  without  any  criminal  intention  ?  No,  sir ; 
in  such  a  case,  above  all  others,  the  criminal  intention  must  be  inferred  from 
the  unconstitutional  exercise  of  high  and  dangerous  powers.  The  safety  of 
the  Republic  demands  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  never 
shield  himself  behind  such  flimsy  pretexts.  This  resolution,  therefore,  al 
though  it  may  not  have  assumed  the  form  of  an  article  of  impeachment, 
possesses  all  the  substance. 

It  was  my  fate  some  years  ago  to  have  assisted  as  a  manager,  in  behalf 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  the  trial  of  an  impeachment  before  this 
body.  It  then  became  my  duty  to  examine  all  the  precedents  in  such  cases 
which  had  occurred  under  our  Government,  since  the  adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  On  that  occasion,  I  found  one  which  has  a  strong  bearing  upon 
this  question.  I  refer  to  the  case  of  Judge  Pickering.  He  was  tried  and 
condemned  by  the  Senate  upon  all  the  four  articles  exhibited  against  him ; 
although  the  first  three  contained  no  other  charge  than  that  of  making  deci 
sions  contrary  to  law,  in  a  cause  involving  a  mere  question  of  property,  and 
then  refusing  to  grant  the  party  injured  an  appeal  from  his  decision,  to  which 
he  was  entitled.  From  the  clear  violation  of  law  in  this  case,  the  Senate 
must  have  inferred  an  impure  and  improper  motive. 

If  any  thing  further  were  wanting  to  prove  that  the  resolution  of  the 
Senate  contained  a  criminal  and  impeachable  charge  against  the  President,  it 
might  be  demonstrated  from  all  the  circumstances  attending  the  transaction. 
Whilst  this  resolution  was  in  progress  through  the  Senate,  the  Bank  of  the 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  3Q1 

United  States  was  employed  in  producing  panic  and  pressure  throughout  the 
land.  Much  actual  suffering  was  experienced  by  the  people ;  and  where  that 
did  not  exist,  they  dreaded  unknown  and  awful  calamities.  Confidence  be 
tween  man  and  man  was  at  an  end.  There  was  a  fearful  pause  in  the  busi 
ness  of  the  country.  We  were  then  engaged  in  the  most  violent  party 
conflict  recorded  in  our  annals.  To  use  the  language  of  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky,  we  were  in  the  midst  of  a  revolution.  On  the  one  side  it  was 
contended  that  the  power  over  the  purse  of  the  nation  had  been  usurped  by 
the  President ;  that  in  his  own  person  he  had  united  this  power  with  that  of 
the  sword,  and  that  the  liberties  of  the  people  were  gone,  unless  he  could  be 
arrested  in  his  mad  career.  On  the  other  hand,  the  friends  of  the  President 
maintained  that  the  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  was  an  act  of  stern  justice  to  the  people;  that  it  was  strictly  legal  and 
constitutional ;  that  he  was  impelled  to  it  by  the  highest  and  purest  principles 
of  patriotism ;  and  that  it  was  the  only  means  of  prostrating  an  institution 
which  threatened  the  destruction  of  our  dearest  rights  and  liberties.  During 
this  terrific  conflict  public  indignation  was  aroused  to  such  a  degree,  that  the 
President  received  a  great  number  of  anonymous  letters,  threatening  him 
with  assassination  unless  he  should  restore  the  deposits. 

It  was  during  the  pendency  of  this  conflict  throughout  the  country,  that 
the  Senator  from  Kentucky  thought  proper,  on  the  26th  December,  1833,  to 
present  his  condemnatory  resolution  to  the  Senate.  And  here,  sir,  permit 
me  to  say  that  I  do  not  believe  there  was  any  corrupt  connection  between 
any  Senator  upon  this  floor  and  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  But  it  was 
at  this  inauspicious  moment  that  the  resolution  was  introduced.  How  was  it 
supported  by  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  ?  He  told  us  that  a  revolution  had 
already  commenced.  He  told  us  that  by  the  3d  of  March.  1837,  if  the  pro 
gress  of  innovation  should  continue,  there  would  be  scarcely  a  vestige  remain 
ing  of  the  Government  and  policy  as  they  had  existed  prior  to  the  3d  March, 
1829.  That  in  a  term  of  years  a  little  more  than  that  which  was  required  to 
establish  our  liberties,  the  Government  would  be  transformed  into  an  elective 
monarchy — the  worst  of  all  forms  of  government.  He  compared  the  meas 
ure  adopted  by  General  Jackson  with  the  conduct  of  the  usurping  Caesar,  who, 
after  he  had  overrun  Italy  in  sixty  days,  and  conquered  the  liberties  of  his 
native  country,  terrified  the  Tribune  Metellus,  who  guarded  the  treasury  of 
the  Roman  people,  and  seized  it  by  open  force.  He  declared  that  the  Presi 
dent  had  proclaimed  an  open,  palpable,  and  daring  usurpation.  He  concluded 
by  asserting  that  the  premonitory  symptoms  of  despotism  were  upon  us ;  and 
if  Congress  did  not  apply  an  instantaneous  and  effective  remedy,  the  fatal 
collapse  would  soon  come  on,  and  we  should  die — ignobly  die  I  base,  mean, 
and  abject  slaves,  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  mankind,  unpitied,  unwept,  and 
unmourned.  What  a  spectacle  was  then  presented  in  this  Chamber !  We 
are  told,  in  the  reports  of  the  day,  that,  when  he  took  his  seat,  there  was  re 
peated  and  loud  applause  in  the  galleries.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 
the  introductory  speech  of  the  Senator.  In  my  opinion,  it  was  one  of  the 


302  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

ablest  and  most  eloquent  of  all  his  able  and  eloquent  speeches.  He  was  then 
riding  upon  the  whirlwind  and  directing  the  storm.  At  the  time  I  read  it, 
for  I  was  not  then  in  the  Senate,  it  reminded  me  of  the  able,  the  vindictive, 
and  the  eloquent  appeal  of  Mr.  Burke  before  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the  im 
peachment  of  Warren  Hastings,  in  which  he  denounced  that  governor-gen 
eral  as  the  ravager  and  oppressor  of  India,  and  the  scourge  of  the  millions 
who  had  been  placed  under  his  authority. 

And  yet,  we  are  now  told  that  this  resolution  did  not  intend  to  impute 
any  criminal  motive  to  the  President.  That  he  was  a  good  old  man,  though 
not  a  good  constitutional  lawyer :  and  that  he  knew  better  how  to  wield  the 
sword  than  to  construe  the  Constitution. 

[Mr.  Clay  here  rose  to  explain.  He  said,  "  I  never  have  said  and  never 
will  say,  that  personally  I  acquitted  the  President  of  any  improper  intention. 
I  lament  that  I  cannot  say  it.  But  what  I  did  say,  was  that  the  act  of  the 
Senate  of  1834  is  free  from  the  imputation  of  any  criminal  motives.] 

Sir,  said  Mr.  B.,  this  avowal  is  in  character  with  the  frank  and  manly 
nature  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky.  It  is  no  more  than  what  I  expected 
from  him.  The  imputation  of  any  improper  motive  to  the  President  has  been 
again  and  again  disclaimed  by  other  Senators  upon  this  floor.  The  Senator 
from  Kentucky  has  now  boldly  come  out  in  his  true  colors,  and  avows  the 
principles  which  he  held  at  the  time.  He  acknowledges  that  he  did  not  acquit 
the  President  from  improper  intentions,  when  charging  him  with  a  violation 
of  the  Constitution  of  his  country. 

This  trial  of  the  President  before  the  Senate,  continued  for  three  months. 
During  this  whole  period,  instead  of  the  evidence  which  a  judicial  tribunal 
ought  to  receive,  exciting  memorials,  signed  by  vast  numbers  of  the  people, 
and  well  calculated  to  inflame  the  passions  of  his  judges,  were  daily  pouring 
in  upon  the  Senate.  He  was  denounced  upon  this  floor  by  every  odious 
epithet  which  belongs  to  tyrants.  Finally,  the  obnoxious  resolution  was 
adopted  by  the  vote  of  the  Senate,  on  the  28th  day  of  March,  1834.  After 
the  exposition  which  I  have  made,  can  any  impartial  mind  doubt  but  that 
this  resolution  intended  to  charge  against  the  President  a  wilful  and  daring 
violation  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws?  I  think  not. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  has  argued,  with  his  usual  power,  that  the 
functions  of  the  Senate,  acting  in  a  legislative  capacity,  are  nofrto  be  restricted, 
because  it  is  possible  that  the  same  question,  in  another  form,  may  come 
before  us  judicially.  I  concur  in  the  truth  and  justice  of  this  position.  We 
must  perform  our  legislative  duties ;  and  if,  in  the  investigation  of  facts,  hav 
ing  legislation  distinctly  in  view,  we  should  incidentally  be  led  to  the  investi 
gation  of  criminal  charges,  it  is  a  necessity  imposed  upon  us  by  our  condition, 
from  which  we  cannot  escape.  It  results  from  the  varying  nature  of  our  duties, 
and  not  from  our  own  will.  I  admit  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  mark  the 
precise  line  which  separates  our  legislative  from  our  judicial  functions.  I  shall 
not  attempt  it.  In  many  cases,  from  necessity,  they  are  in  some  degree 
intermingled.  The  present  resolution,  however,  stands  far  in  advance  of  this 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  303 

line.  It  is  placed  in  bold  relief,  and  is  clear  of  all  such  difficulties.  It  is  a 
mere  naked  resolution  of  censure.  It  refers  solely  to  the  past  conduct  of 
the  President,  and  condemns  it  in  the  strongest  terms,  without  even  pro 
posing  any  act  of  legislation  by  which  the  evil  may  be  remedied  hereafter. 
It  was  judgment  upon  the  past  alone ;  not  prevention  for  the  future.  Nay, 
more :  the  resolution  is  so  vague  and  general  in  its  terms  that  it  is  impossible 
to  ascertain  from  its  face  the  cause  of  the  President's  condemnation.  The 
Senate  have  resolved  that  the  executive  "  has  assumed  upon  himself  authority 
and  power  not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of 
both."  What  is  the  specification  under  this  charge?  Why,  that  he  has  acted 
thus,  "  in  the  late  executive  proceedings  in  relation  to  the  public  revenue  ?  " 
What  executive  proceedings  ?  The  resolution  leaves  us  entirely  in  the  dark 
upon  this  subject.  How  could  any  legislation  spring  from  such  a  resolution  ? 
It  is  impossible.  None  such  was  ever  attempted. 

If  the  resolution  had  preserved  its  original  phraseology — if  it  had  con 
demned  the  President  for  dismissing  one  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  because 
he  would  not  remove  the  deposits,  and  for  appointing  his  successor  to  effect 
this  purpose,  the  Senator  might  then  have  contended  that  the  evil  was 
distinctly  pointed  out ;  and,  although  no  legislation  was  proposed,  the  rem 
edy  might  be  applied  hereafter.  But  he  has  deprived  himself  even  of  this 
feeble  argument.  He  has  left  us  upon  an  ocean  of  uncertainty,  without 
chart  or  compass.  "  The  late  executive  proceedings  in  relation  to  the  reve 
nue,"  is  a  phrase  of  the  most  general  and  indefinite  character.  Every  Senator 
who  voted  in  favor  of  this  resolution  may  have  acted  upon  different  princi 
ples.  To  procure  its  passage,  nothing  more  was  necessary  than  that  a  majority 
should  unite  in  the  conclusion  that  the  President  had  violated  the  Constitu 
tion  and  the  laws  in  some  one  or  other  of  his  numerous  acts  in  relation  to 
the  public  revenue.  The  views  of  Senators  constituting  the  majority  may 
have  varied  from  each  other  to  any  conceivable  extent;  and  yet  they  may 
have  united  in  the  final  vote.  That  this  was  the  fact  to  a  considerable  ex 
tent,  I  have  always  understood.  It  is  utterly  impossible,  either  that  such  a 
proceeding  could  ever  have  been  intended  to  become  the  basis  of  legislation, 
or  that  legislative  action  could  have  ever  sprung  from  such  a  source. 

I  flatter  myself,  then,  I  have  succeeded  in  proving  that  this  resolution 
charged  the  President  with  a  high  official  misdemeanor,  wholly  disconnected 
from  legislation,  which,  if  true,  ought  to  have  subjected  him  to  impeachment. 

This  brings  me  directly  to  the  question,  had  the  Senate  any  power,  under 
the  Constitution,  to  adopt  such  a  resolution  ?  In  other  words,  can  the  Senate 
condemn  a  public  officer  by  a  simple  resolution,  for  an  offence  which  would 
subject  him  to  an  impeachment  ?  To  state  the  proposition,  is  to  answer  this 
question  in  the  negative.  Dreadful  would  be  the  consequences  if  we  posssss 
and  should  exercise  such  a  power. 

This  body  is  invested  with  high  and  responsible  powers  of  a  legislative,  an 
executive,  and  a  judicial  character.  No  person  can  enter  it  until  he  has  at 
tained  a  mature  age.  Our  term  of  service  is  longer  than  that  of  any  other 


304  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

elective  functionary.  If  Senators  will  have  it  so,  it  is  the  most  aristocratic 
branch  of  our  Government.  For  what  purpose  did  the  framers  of  the  Con 
stitution  confer  upon  it  these  varied  and  important  powers,  and  this  long 
tenure  of  office  ?  The  answer  is  plain.  It  was  placed  in  this  secure  and 
elevated  position  that  it  might  be  above  the  storms  of  faction  which  so  often 
inflame  the  passions  of  men.  It  never  was  intended  to  be  an  arena  for  polit 
ical  gladiators.  Until  the  second  session  of  the  third  Congress,  the  Senate 
always  sat  with  closed  doors,  except  in  the  single  instance  when  the  eligibility 
of  Mr.  Gallatin  to  a  seat  in  the  body  was  the  subject  of  discussion.  Of  this 
particular  practice,  however,  I  cannot  approve.  I  merely  state  it,  to  show 
the  intention  of  those  who  formed  the  Constitution.  I  was  informed  by  one 
of  the  most  eminent  statesmen  and  Senators  which  this  country  has  ever 
produced,  now  no  more  (the  late  Mr.  King),  that  for  some  years  after  the 
Federal  Government  commenced  its  operation,  the  debates  of  the  Senate 
resembled  conversations  rather  than  speeches,  and  that  it  originated  but  few 
legislative  measures.  Senators  were  then  critics  rather  than  authors  in  legis 
lation.  Whether  its  gain  in  eloquence,  since  it  has  become  a  popular  assem 
bly,  and  since  the  sound  of  thundering  applause  has  been  heard  in  our  galleries 
at  the  denunciation  of  the  President,  has  been  an  equivalent  for  its  loss  in 
true  dignity,  may  well  be  doubted.  To  give  this  body  its  just  influence  with 
the  people,  it  ought  to  preserve  itself  as  free  as  possible  from  angry  political 
discussions.  In  the  performance  of  our  executive  duties,  in  the  ratification 
of  treaties,  and  in  the  confirmation  of  nominations,  the  Constitution  has  con 
nected  us  with  the  executive.  The  efficient  and  successful  administration  of 
the  Government  therefore  requires  that  we  should  move  on  together  in  as 
much  harmony  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  independent  exercise  of  our 
respective  functions. 

But  above  all,  we  should  be  the  most  cautious  in  guarding  our  judicial 
character  from  suspicion.  We  constitute  the  high  court  of  impeachment  of 
this  nation,  before  which  every  officer  of  the  Government  may  be  arraigned. 
To  this  tribunal  is  committed  the  character,  of  men  whose  character  is  far 
dearer  to  them  than  their  lives.  We  should  be  the  rock  standing  in  the 
midst  of  the  ocean,  for  the  purpose  of  affording  a  shelter  to  the  faithful  officer 
from  unjust  persecution,  against  which  the  billows  might  dash  themselves  in 
vain.  Whilst  we  are  a  terror  to  evil  doers,  we  should  be  a  praise  to  those 
who  do  well.  We  should  never  voluntarily  perform  any  act  which  might 
prejudice  our  judgment,  or  render  us  suspected  as  a  judicial  tribunal.  More 
especially,  when  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  arraigned  at  the  bar  of 
public  opinion  for  offences  which  might  subject  him  to  an  impeachment,  we 
should  remain  not  only  chaste  but  unsuspected.  Better,  infinitely  better, 
would  it  be  for  us  not  to  manifest  our  feeling,  even  in  a  case  in  which  we 
were  morally  certain  the  House  of  Representatives  would  not  prefer  before 
us  articles  of  impeachment,  than  to  reach  the  object  of  our  disapprobation  by 
a  usurpation  of  their  rights.  It  is  true  that  when  the  Senate  passed  the  reso 
lution  condemning  the  President,  a  majority  in  the  House  were  of  a  different 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  305 

opinion.  But  the  next  elections  might  have  changed  that  majority  into  a 
minority.  The  House  might  then  have  voted  articles  of  impeachment  against 
the  President.  Under  such  circumstances,  I  pray  you  to  consider  in  what  a 
condition  the  Senate  would  have  been  placed.  They  had  already  prejudged 
the  case.  They  had  already  convicted  the  President,  and  denounced  him 
to  the  world  as  a  violator  of  the  Constitution.  In  criminal  prosecutions,  even 
against  the  greatest  malefactor,  if  a  juror  has  prejudged  the  cause,  he  cannot 
enter  the  jury  box.  The  Senate  had  rendered  itself  wholly  incompetent  in 
this  case  to  perform  its  highest  judicial  functions.  The  trial  of  the  President, 
had  articles  of  impeachment  been  preferred  against  him.  would  have  been 
but  a  solemn  mockery  of  justice. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  carefully  provided  against  such 
an  enormous  evil,  by  declaring  that  "  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  have 
the  sole  power  of  impeachment,"  and  "  the  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power 
to  try  all  impeachments."  Until  the  accused  is  brought  before  us  by  the 
House,  it  is  a  manifest  violation  of  our  solemn  duty  to  condemn  him  by  a 
resolution. 

If  a  court  of  criminal  jurisdiction,  without  any  indictment  having  been 
found  by  a  grand  jury,  without  having  given  the  defendant  notice  to  appear, 
without  having  afforded  him  an  opportunity  of  cross-examining  the  witnesses 
against  him,  and  making  his  defence,  should  resolve  that  he  was  guilty  of  a 
high  crime,  and  place  this  conviction  upon  their  records,  all  mankind  would 
exclaim  against  the  injustice  and  tin  constitutionality  of  the  act.  Wherein 
consists  the  difference  between  this  case  and  the  condemnation  of  the  Presi 
dent  ?  In  nothing,  except  that  such  a  conviction  by  the  Senate,  on  account 
of  its  exalted  character,  would  fall  with  tenfold  force  upon  its  object.  I  have 
often  been  astonished,  notwithstanding  the  extended  and  well  deserved  popu 
larity  of  General  Jackson,  that  the  moral  influence  of  this  condemnation  by 
the  Senate  had  not  crushed  him.  With  what  tremendous  effect  might  this 
assumed  power  of  the  Senate  be  used  to  blast  the  reputation  of  any  man 
who  might  fall  under  its  displeasure  !  The  precedent  is  extremely  dangerous  ; 
and  the  American  people  have  wisely  determined  to  blot  it  out  forever. 

It  is  painful  to  reflect  what  might  have  been  the  condition  of  the  country, 
if  at  the  inauspicious  moment  of  the  passage  of  the  resolution  against  the 
President,  its  interests  and  its  honor  had  rendered  it  necessary  to  engage  in  a 
foreign  war.  The  fearful  consequences  of  such  a  condition,  at  such  a  moment, 
must  strike  every  mind.  Would  the  Senate  then  have  confided  to  the  Presi 
dent  the  necessary  power  to  defend  the  country  ?  Where  could  the  sinews 
of  war  have  been  found  ?  In  what  condition  was  this  body,  at  that  moment, 
to  act  upon  an  important  treaty  negotiated  by  the  President,  or  upon  any 
of  his  nominations  ?  But  I  forbear  to  enlarge  upon  this  topic. 

I  have  now  arrived  at  the  last  point  in  this  discussion.     Do  the  Senate 

possess  the  power,  under  the  Constitution,  of  expunging  the  resolution  of 

March,  1834,  from  their  journals,  in  the  manner  proposed  by  the  Senator  from 

Missouri  ?  (Mr.  Benton.)     I  cheerfully  admit  we  must  show  that  this  is  not 

L— 20 


306  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAX. 

contrary  to  the  Constitution ;  for  we  can  never  redress  one  violation  of  that 
instrument  by  committing  another.  Before  I  proceed  to  this  branch  of  the 
subject,  I  shall  put  myself  right,  by  a  brief  historical  reminiscence.  I  entered 
the  Senate  in  December.  1834,  fresh  from  the  ranks  of  the  people,  without 
the  slightest  feeling  of  hostility  against  any  Senator  on  this  floor.  I  then 
thought  that  the  resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Missouri  was  too  severe  in 
proposing  to  expunge.  Although  I  was  anxious  to  record,  in  strong  terms, 
my  entire  disapprobation  of  the  resolution  of  March,  1834,  yet  I  was  willing 
to  accomplish  this  object  without  doing  more  violence  to  the  feelings  of  my 
associates  on  this  floor,  than  was  absolutely  necessary  to  justify  the  President. 
Actuated  by  these  friendly  motives,  I  exerted  all  my  little  influence  with  the 
Senator  from  Missouri,  to  induce  him  to  abandon  the  word  expunge,  and  sub 
stitute  some  others  in  its  place.  I  knew  that  this  word  was  exceedingly  ob 
noxious  to  the  Senators  who  had  voted  for  the  former  resolution.  Other 
friends  of  his  also  exerted  their  influence ;  and  at  length  his  kindly  feelings 
prevailed,  and  he  consented  to  abandon  that  word,  although  it  was  peculiarly 
dear  to  him.  I  speak  from  my  own  knowledge.  "  All  which  I  saw  and  part 
of  which  I  was." 

The  resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Missouri  came  before  the  Senate  on  the 
3d  of  March,  1835.  Under  it  the  resolution  of  March,  1834,  was  "  ordered 
to  be  expunged  from  the  journal,"  for  reasons  appearing  on  its  face,  which  I 
need  not  enumerate.  The  Senator  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  White)  moved  to 
amend  the  resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Missouri,  by  striking  out  the  order 
to  expunge,  with  the  reasons  for  it,  and  inserting  in  their  stead  the  words, 
"rescinded,  reversed,  repealed,  and  declared  to  be  null  and  void."  Some 
difference  of  opinion  then  arose  among  the  friends  of  the  Administration  as  to 
the  words  which  should  be  substituted  in  place  of  the  order  to  expunge.  For 
the  purpose  of  leaving  this  question  perfectly  open,  you,  sir,  (Mr.  King,  of 
Alabama,  was  in  the  chair,)  then  moved  to  amend  the  original  motion  of  Mr. 
Benton,  by  striking  out  the  words,  "  ordered  to  be  expunged  from  the  journal 
of  the  Senate."  This  motion  prevailed,  on  the  ayes  and  noes,  by  a  vote  of 
39  to  7 ;  and  amongst  the  ayes,  the  name  of  the  Senator  from  Missouri  is 
recorded.  The  resolution  was  thus  left  a  blank,  in  its  most  essential  features, 
ready  to  be  filled  up  as  the  Senate  might  direct.  The  era  of  good  feeling,  in 
regard  to  this  subject  had  commenced.  It  was  nipped  in  the  bud,  however, 
by  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster).  Whilst  the  resolution 
was  still  in  blank,  he  rose  in  his  place,  and  proclaimed  the  triumph  of  the 
Constitution,  by  the  vote  to  strike  out  the  word  expunge,  and  then  moved  to 
lay  the  resolution  on  the  table,  declaring  that  he  would  neither  withdraw  his 
motion  for  friend  nor  foe.  This  motion  precluded  all  amendment  and  all  de 
bate.  It  prevailed  by  a  party  vote;  and  thus  we  were  left  with  our  resolu 
tion  a  blank.  Such  was  the  manner  in  which  the  Senators  in  opposition  re 
ceived  our  advances  of  courtesy  and  kindness,  in  the  moment  of  their  strength 
and  our  weakness.  Had  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  suffered  us  to  pro 
ceed  but  for  five  minutes,  we  should  have  filled  up  the  blank  in  the  resolution. 


THE    ''EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  307 

It  would  then  have  assumed  a  distinct  form,  and  they  would  never  after 
wards  have  heard  of  the  word  expunge.  We  should  have  been  content  with 
the  words  "  rescinded,  reversed,  repealed,  and  declared  to  be  null  and  void." 
But  the  conduct  of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  on  that  occasion,  and  that 
of  the  party  with  which  he  acted,  roused  the  indignation  of  every  friend  of 
the  Administration  on  this  floor.  We  then  determined  that  the  word  expunge 
should  never  again  be  surrendered. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  has  introduced  a  precedent  from  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  purpose  of 
proving  that  we  have  no  right  to  adopt  this  resolution.  To  this  I  can  have 
no  possible  objection.  But  I  can  tell  the  Senator,  if  I  were  convinced  that  I 
had  voted  wrong,  when  comparatively  a  boy,  more  than  twenty  years  ago, 
the  fear  of  being  termed  inconsistent  would  not  now  deter  me  from  voting 
right  upon  the  same  question.  I  do  not,  however,  repent  of  my  vote  upon 
that  occasion.  I  would  now  vote  in  the  same  manner,  under  similar  circum 
stances.  I  should  not  vote  to  expunge,  under  any  circumstances,  any  pro 
ceeding  from  the  journals  by  obliterating  the  record.  If  I  do  not  prove 
before  I  take  my  seat,  that  the  case  in  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  was 
essentially  different  from  that  now  before  the  Senate,  I  shall  agree  to  be  pro 
claimed  inconsistent  and  time-serving. 

It  was  my  settled  conviction  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  session  of 
Congress,  that  the  Senate  had  no  power  to  obliterate  their  journal.  This  was 
shaken,  but  not  removed,  by  the  argument  of  the  Senator  from  Louisiana, 
(Mr.  Porter),  who  confessedly  made  the  ablest  speech  on  the  other  side  of  the 
question.  The  Constitution  declares  that  "  each  House  shall  keep  a  journal 
of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such 
parts  as  may  in  their  judgment  require  secrecy."  What  was  the  position 
which  that  Senator  then  attempted  to  maintain  ?  In  order  to  prove  that  we 
had  no  power  to  obliterate  or  destroy  our  journals,  he  thought  it  necessary  to 
contend  that  the  word  "  keep  "  as  used  in  the  Constitution,  means  both  to 
record  and  to  preserve.  This  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  mere  begging  of  the 
question. 

I  shall  attempt  no  definition  of  the  word  "  keep."  At  least  since  the  days 
of  Plato,  we  know  that  definitions  have  been  dangerous.  Yet  I  think  that 
the  meaning  of  this  word,  as  applied  to  the  subject  matter,  is  so  plain  that  he 
who  runs  may  read.  If  I  direct  my  agent  to  keep  a  journal  of  his  proceed 
ings,  and  publish  the  same,  my  palpable  meaning  is,  that  he  shall  write  these 
proceedings  down,  from  day  to  day,  and  publish  what  he  has  written  for 
general  information.  After  he  has  obeyed  my  commands,  after  he  has  kept 
his  journal,  and  published  it  to  the  world,  he  has  executed  the  essential  part 
of  the  trust  confided  to  him.  What  becomes  of  this  original  manuscript  jour 
nal  afterwards,  is  a  matter  of  total  indifference.  So  in  regard  to  the  manu 
script  journals  of  either  House  of  Congress:  after  more  than  a  thousand 
copies  have  been  printed,  and  published,  and  distributed  over  the  Union,  it  is 
a  matter  of  not  the  least  importance  what  disposition  may  be  made  of  them. 


308  LIFE   OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

They  have  answered  their  purpose,  and,  in  any  practical  view,  become  use 
less.  If  they  were  burnt,  or  otherwise  destroyed,  it  would  not  be  an  event 
of  the  slightest  public  consequence.  Such  indifference  has  prevailed  upon 
this  subject,  that  these  journals  have  been  considered,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  as  so  much  waste  paper,  and,  during  a  period  of  thirty-four  years 
after  the  organization  of  the  Government,  they  were  actually  destroyed. 
From  this  circumstance,  no  public  or  private  inconvenience  has  been  or 
ever  can  be  sustained ;  because  our  printed  journals  are  received  in  evi 
dence  in  all  courts  of  justice  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  originals  were 
produced. 

The  Senator  from  Louisiana  has  discovered  that  to  "  keep  "  means  both 
"  to  record  "  and  "  to  preserve."  But  can  you  give  this,  or  any  other  word 
in  the  English  language,  two  distinct  and  independent  meanings  at  the  same 
time,  as  applied  to  the  same  subject  ?  I  think  not.  From  the  imperfection 
of  human  language,  from  the  impossibility  of  having  appropriate  words  to 
express  every  idea,  the  same  word,  as  applied  to  different  subjects,  has  a 
variety  of  significations.  As  applied  to  any  one  subject,  it  cannot,  at  the 
same  time,  convey  two  distinct  meanings.  In  the  Constitution  it  must  mean 
either  "  to  write  down,"  or  "  to  preserve."  It  cannot  have  both  significations. 
Let  Senators,  then,  take  their  choice.  If  it  signifies  "  to  write  down/'  as  it 
unquestionably  does,  what  becomes  of  the  constitutional  injunction  to  pre 
serve  ?  The  truth  is,  that  the  Constitution  has  not  provided  what  shall  be 
done  with  the  manuscript  journal,  after  it  has  served  the  purposes  for  which 
it  was  called  into  existence.  When  it  has  been  published  to  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  for  whose  use  it  was  ordered  to  be  kept ;  after  it  has  thus 
been  perpetuated,  and  they  have  been  furnished  with  the  means  of  judging 
of  the  public  conduct  of  their  public  servants,  it  ceases  to  be  an  object  of  the 
least  importance.  Whether  it  be  thrown  into  the  garret  of  the  Capitol  with 
other  useless  lumber,  or  be  destroyed,  is  a  matter  of  no  public  interest.  It 
has  probably  never  once  been  referred  to  in  the  history  of  our  Government.  If 
it  should  ever  be  determined  to  be  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  to  obliterate 
or  destroy  this  manuscript  journal,  it  must  be  upon  different  principles  from 
those  which  have  been  urged  in  this  debate.  My  own  impression  is,  that  as 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  have  directed  us  to  keep  a  journal,  a  construc 
tive  duty  may  be  implied  from  this  command,  which  woul$I  forbid  us  to 
obliterate  or  destroy  it.  Under  this  impression,  I  should  vote,  as  I  did 
twenty  years  ago,  in  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  against  any  proposition 
actually  to  expunge  any  part  of  the  journal.  But  waiving  this  unprofitable 
discussion,  let  us  proceed  to  the  real  point  in  controversy. 

Is  any  such  proceeding  as  that  of  actually  expunging  the  journal,  pro 
posed  by  the  resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Missouri  ?  I  answer,  no  such 
thing.  If  the  Constitution  had,  in  express  terms,  directed  us  to  record  and  to 
preserve  a  journal  of  our  proceedings,  there  is  nothing  in  the  resolution  now 
before  us  which  would  be  inconsistent  with  such  a  provision. 

Is  the  drawing  of  a  black  line  around  the  resolution  of  the  Senate,  of  March, 


THE   "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  309 

1834,  to  obliterate  or  deface  it  ?  On  the  contrary,  is  it  not  to  render  it  more 
conspicuous, — to  place  it  in  bold  relief, — to  give  it  a  prominence  in  the  public 
view,  beyond  any  other  proceeding  of  this  body,  in  past,  and  I  trust,  in  all 
future  time.  If  the  argument  of  Senators  were,  not  that  we  have  no  power 
to  obliterate  ;  but  that  the  Senate  possessed  no  power  to  render  one  portion 
of  the  journal  more  conspicuous  than  another,  it  would  have  had  much  greater 
force.  Why,  sir,  by  means  of  this  very  proceeding,  that  portion  of  our 
journal  upon  which  it  operates  will  be  -rescued  from  a  slumber  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  eternal,  and,  fac-similes  of  the  original  resolution,  with 
out  a  word  or  a  letter  defaced,  will  be  circulated  over  the  whole  Union. 

But,  sir,  this  resolution  also  directs  that  across  the  face  of  the  condemnatory 
resolution  there  shall  be  written  by  the  Secretary,  "  Expunged  by  the  order 
of  the  Senate  this day  of ,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1837." 

Will  this  obliterate  any  part  of  the  original  resolution  ?  If  it  does,  the 
duty  of  the  Secretary  will  be  performed  in  a  very  bungling  manner.  No  such 
thing  is  intended.  It  would  be  easy  to  remove  every  scruple  from  every 
mind  upon  this  subject,  by  amending  the  resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Mis 
souri,  so  as  to  direct  the  Secretary  to  perform  his  duty  in  such  a  manner  as 
not  to  obliterate  any  part  of  the  condemnatory  resolution.  Such  a  direction, 
however,  appears  to  me  to  be  wholly  unnecessary.  The  nature  of  the  whole 
proceeding  is  very  plain.  We  now  adopt  a  resolution,  expressing  our  strong 
reprobation  of  the  original  resolution ;  and  for  this  purpose  we  use  the  word 
41  expunged,"  as  the  strongest  term  which  we  can  apply.  We  then  direct  our 
Secretary  to  draw  black  lines  around  it,  and  place  such  a  reference  to  our 
proceedings  of  this  day  upon  its  face,  that  in  all  time  to  come,  whoever  may 
inspect  this  portion  of  our  journal,  will  be  pointed  at  once  to  the  record  of  its 
condemnation.  What  lawyer  has  not  observed  upon  the  margin  of  the 
judgment  docket,  if  the  original  judgment  has  been  removed  to  a  superior 
court,  and  there  reversed,  a  minute  of  such  reversal  ?  In  our  editions  of  the 
statutes,  have  we  not  all  noted  the  repeal  of  any  of  them,  which  may  have 
taken  place  at  a  subsequent  period  ?  Who  ever  heard,  in  the  one  case  or  the 
other,  that  this  was  obliterating  or  destroying  the  record,  or  the  book  ?  So  in 
this  case,  we  make  a  mere  reference  to  our  future  proceeding  upon  the  face 
of  the  resolution,  instead  of  the  margin.  Suppose  we  should  only  repeal 
the  obnoxious  resolution,  and  direct  such  a  reference  to  be  made  upon  its 
face  ?  Would  any  Senator  contend  that  this  would  be  an  obliteration  of  the 
journal  ? 

But  it  has  been  contended  that  the  word  expunge  is  not  the  appropriate 
word ;  and  we  have  wrested  it  from  its  true  signification,  in  applying  it  to  the 
present  case.  Even  if  this  allegation  were  correct,  the  answer  would  be  at 
hand.  You  might  then  convict  us  of  bad  taste,  but  not  of  a  violation  of  the 
Constitution.  On  the  face  of  the  resolution  we  have  stated  distinctly  what 
we  mean.  We  have  directed  the  Secretary  in  what  manner  he  shall  under 
stand  it,  and  we  have  excluded  the  idea  that  it  is  our  intention  to  obliterate 
or  to  destroy  the  journal. 


310  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

But  I  shall  contend  that  the  word  expunge  is  the  appropriate  word,  and 
that  there  is  not  another  in  the  English  language  so  precisely  adapted  to  con- 
vey  our  meaning.  I  shall  show,  from  the  highest  literary  and  parliamentary 
authorities,  that  the  word  has  acquired  a  signification  entirely  distinct  from 
that  of  actual  obliteration.  Let  me  proceed  immediately  to  this  task.  After 
citing  my  authorities,  I  shall  proceed  with  the  argument.  First,  then,  for 
those  of  a  literary  character.  I  read  from  Crabbe's  Synonyraes,  page  140 ; 
and  every  Senator  will  admit  that  this  is  a  work  of  established  reputation.  In 
speaking  of  the  use  of  the  word  expunge,  the  author  says :  "  When  the  con 
tents  of  a  book  are  in  part  rejected,  they  are  aptly  described  as  being 
expunged ;  in  this  manner  the  free-thinking  sects  expunge  everything  from 
the  Bible  which  does  not  suit  their  purpose,  or  they  expunge  from  their  creed 
what  does  not  humor  their  passions."  The  idea  that  an  actual  obliteration  was 
intended  in  these  cases  would  be  manifestly  absurd.  In  the  same  page  there 
is  a  quotation  from  Mr.  Burke  to  illustrate  the  meaning  of  this  word.  "I 
believe,"  says  he,  "  that  any  person  who  was  of  age  to  take  a  part  in  public 
concerns  forty  years  ago  (if  the  intermediate  space  were  expunged  from  his 
memory),  could  hardly  credit  his  senses  when  he  should  hear  that  an  army  of 
two  hundred  thousand  men  was  kept  up  in  this  island."  I  shall  now  cite  Mr. 
Jefferson  as  a  literary  authority,  He  has  often  been  referred  to  on  this  floor 
as  a  standard  in  politics.  For  this  high  authority,  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend 
from  Louisiana  (Mr.  Nicholas).  In  the  original  draft  of  the  declaration  of 
independence,  he  uses  the  word  expunge  in  the  following  manner :  "  Such 
has  been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these  colonies ;  and  such  is  now  the  neces 
sity  which  constrains  them  to  expunge  their  former  systems  of  government." 
Although  the  word  alter  was  substituted  for  expunge,  I  presume  upon  the 
ground  that  this  was  too  strong  a  term,  yet  the  change  does  not  detract  from 
the  literary  authority  of  the  precedent, — Jefferson's  Correspondence,  <fee.,  1st 
volume,  page  17. 

I  presume  that  I  have  shown  that  the  word  expunge  has  acquired  a  distinct 
metaphorical  meaning  in  our  literature,  which  excludes  the  idea  of  actual 
obliteration.  If  I  should  proceed  one  step  further,  and  prove  that  in  legis 
lative  proceedings  it  has  acquired  the  very  same  signification,  I  shall  then  have 
fully  established  my  position.  For  this  purpose  I  cite,  first,  "  the  Secret 
Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Federal  Convention."  In  pag£  118,  we  find 
the  following  entries  :  "  On  motion  to  expunge  the  clause  of  the  qualification 
as  to  age,  it  was  carried — ten  States  against  one."  Again :  "  On  the  clause 
respecting  the  ineligibility  to  any  other  office,  it  was  moved  that  the  words 
'  by  any  particular  State,'  be  expunged — four  States  for,  five  against,  and  two 
divided."  So  page  119:  "The  last  blank  was  filled  up  with  one  year,  and 
carried — eight  ayes,  two  noes,  one  divided." 

"  Mr.  Pinckney  moved  to  expunge  the  clause — agreed  to,  nem.  con.  Again : 
"  Mr.  Butler  moved  to  expunge  the  clause  of  the  stipends — lost,  seven  against, 
three  for,  one  divided."  Again,  in  page  157  :  "  Mr.  Pinckney  moved  that 
that  part  of  the  clause  which  disqualifies  a  person  from  holding  an  office  in 


THE    "  EXPUNGING  "    RESOLUTION.  3H 

the  State  be  expunged,  because  the  first  and  best  characters  in  a  State  may 
thereby  be  deprived  of  a  seat  in  the  national  council." 

"  Question  put  to  strike  out  the  words  moved  for  and  carried — eight  ayes, 
three  noes." 

It  will  thus  be  perceived  that  in  the  proceedings  of  the  very  convention 
which  formed  the  Constitution  under  which  we  are  now  governed,  the  word 
expunge  was  often  used  in  its  figurative  sense.  It  will  certainly  not  be 
asserted,  or  even  intimated,  by  any  Senator  here,  that  when  these  motions  to 
expunge  prevailed,  the  words  of  the  original  draft  of  the  Constitution  were 
actually  obliterated  or  defaced.  The  meaning  is  palpable.  These  provisions 
were  merely  rejected  ;  not  actually  blotted  out. 

But  I  shall  now  produce  a  precedent  precisely  in  point.  It  presents  itself  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts,  and  refers  to  the  famous  reso 
lution  of  that  body  adopted  on  the  15th  day  of  June,  1813,  in  relation  to  the 
capture  of  the  British  vessel  Peacock ;  denouncing  the  late  war,  and  declaring 
that  it  was  not  becoming  in  a  moral  and  religious  people,  to  express  any 
approbation  of  military  or  naval  exploits  which  were  not  immediately  con 
nected  with  the  defence  of  our  seacoast.  Massachusetts  adopted  the  following 
resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  aforesaid  resolve  of  the  fifteenth  day  of  June,  A.  D. 
1813,  and  the  preamble  thereof,  be,  and  the  same  are  hereby,  expunged  from 
the  journals  of  the  Senate." 

It  is  self-evident  that,  in  this  case,  not  the  least  intention  existed  of  defacing 
the  old  manuscript  journal.  The  word  "  expunge  "  was  used  in  its  figurative 
signification,  just  as  it  is  in  the  case  before  us,  to  express  the  strongest  repro 
bation  of  the  former  proceeding.  That  proceeding  was  to  be  expunged  solely 
by  force  of  the  subsequent  resolution,  and  not  by  any  actual  obliteration. 
There  never  was  any  actual  obliteration  of  the  journal. 

Judging,  then,  from  the  highest  English  authorities,  from  the  works  of 
celebrated  authors  and  statesmen,  and  from  the  proceedings  of  legislative 
bodies,  is  it  not  evident  that  the  word  expunge  has  acquired  a  distinct  mean 
ing,  altogether  inconsistent  with  any  actual  obliteration  ? 

All  that  we  have  heard  about  defacing  and  destroying  the  journal  are  mere 
phantoms,  which  have  been  conjured  up  to  terrify  the  timid.  We  intend  no 
such  thing.  We  only  mean,  most  strongly,  to  express  our  conviction  that  the 
condemnatory  resolution  ought  never  to  have  found  a  place  on  the  journal. 
If  more  authorities  were  wanting,  I  might  refer  to  the  Legislature  of  Virginia. 
The  present  expunging  resolution  is  in  exact  conformity  with  their  instruc 
tions  to  their  Senators.  As  a  matter  of  taste,  I  cannot  say  that  I  much  ad 
mire  their  plan,  though  I  entertain  no  doubt  but  that  it  is  perfectly  constitu 
tional.  That  State  is  highly  literary ;  and  I  think  I  have  established  that 
their  Legislature,  when  they  used  the  word  expunge,  without  intending 
thereby  to  efiecb  an  actual  obliteration  of  the  journal,  justly  appreciated 
the  meaning  of  the  language  which  they  employed. 

The  word  expunge  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  only  one  which  we  could  have 


312  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

used,  clearly  and  forcibly  to  accomplish  our  purpose.  Even  if  it  had  not  been 
sanctioned  by  practice  as  a  parliamentary  word,  we  ought  ourselves  to  have 
first  established  the  precedent.  It  suits  the  case  precisely.  If  you  rescind, 
reverse,  or  repeal  a  resolution ;  you  thereby  admit  that  it  once  had  some  con 
stitutional  or  legal  authority.  If  you  declare  it  to  have  been  null  and  void 
from  the  beginning;  this  is  but  the  expression  of  your  own  opinion  that  such 
was  the  fact.  This  word  expunge  acts  upon  the  resolution  itself.  It  at  once 
goes  to  its  origin,  and  destroys  its  legal  existence  as  if  it  had  never  been.  It 
does  not  merely  kill,  but  it  annihilates. 

Parliamentary  practice  has  changed  the  meaning  of  several  other  words 
from  their  primitive  signification,  in  a  similar  manner  with  that  of  the  word 
expunge.  The  original  signification  of  the  word  rescind  is  "  to  cut  off." 
Usage  has  made  it  mean,  in  reference  to  a  law  or  resolution,  to  abrogate  or 
repeal  it.  We  every  day  hear  motions  ll  to  strike  out."  What  is  the  literal 
meaning  of  this  expression  ?  The  question  may  be  best  answered  by  asking 
another.  If  I  were  to  request  you  to  strike  out  a  line  from  your  letter,  and 
you  were  willing  to  comply  with  my  request,  what  would  be  your  conduct  ? 
You  would  run  your  pen  through  it  immediately.  You  would  literally  strike 
it  out.  Yet  what  use  do  we  make  of  this  phrase  every  day  in  our  legislative 
proceedings?  If  I  make  a  motion  to  strike  out  a  section  from  a  bill  and  it 
prevails,  the  Secretary  encloses  the  printed  copy  of  it  in  black  lines,  and 
makes  a  note  on  the  margin  that  it  has  been  stricken  out.  The  original  he 
never  touches.  Why  then  should  not  the  word  expunge,  without  obliterating 
the  proceeding  to  which  it  is  directed,  signify  to  destroy  as  if  it  never  had 
existed  ? 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  I  think  I  need  scarcely  again  recur  to  the 
Pennsylvania  precedent.  It  is  evident  from  the  whole  of  that  proceeding 
that  an  actual  expunging  of  the  journal  was  intended,  if  it  had  not  already 
been  executed.  I  have  no  recollection  whatever  of  the  circumstances,  but  I 
am  under  a  perfect  conviction,  from  the  face  of  the  journal,  that  such  was  the 
nature  of  the  case.  I  should  vote  now  as  I  did  then,  after  a  period  of  more 
than  twenty  years.  Both  my  vote,  and  the  motion  which  I  subsequently 
made  upon  that  occasion,  evidently  proceeded  upon  this  principle.  The  ques 
tion  arose  in  this  manner,  as  it  appears  from  the  journal.  On  the  10th  of 
February,  1816,  ''The  Speaker  informed  the  House  that  a  constitutional 
question  being  involved  in  a  decision  by  him  yesterday,  on  a  motion  to  ex 
punge  certain  proceedings  from  the  journal,  he  was  desirous  of  having  the 
opinion  of  the  House  on  that  decision,"  viz:  '*  that  a  majority  can  expunge 
from  the  journal  proceedings  in  which  the  yeas  and  nays  have  not  been 
called."  Now,  as  no  trace  whatever  appears  upon  the  journal  of  the  pre 
ceding  day  of  the  motion  to  which  the  Speaker  refers,  it  is  highly  probable, 
nay,  it  is  almost  certain,  that  the  proceedings  had  been  actually  expunged 
before  he  asked  the  advice  of  the  House. 

No  man  feels  with  more  sensibility,  the  necessity  which  compels  him  to 
perform  an  unkind  act  towards  his  brother  Senators  than  myself;  but  we  have 


THE    "EXPUNGING"    RESOLUTION.  313 

now  arrived  at  that  point  when  imperious  duty  demands  that  we  should 
either  adopt  this  expunging  resolution  or  abandon  it  forever.  Already  much 
precious  time  has  been  employed  in  its  discussion.  The  moment  has  arrived 
when  we  must  act.  Senators  in  the  opposition  console  themselves  with  the 
belief  that  posterity  will  do  them  justice,  should  it  be  denied  to  them  by  the 
present  generation.  They  place  their  own  names  in  the  one  scale  and  ours 
in  the  other,  and  flatter  themselves  with  the  hope  that  before  that  tribunal  at 
least,  their  weight  will  preponderate.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  willing  to  abide 
the  issue.  I  am  willing  to  be  judged  for  the  vote  which  I  shall  give  to-day, 
not  only  by  the  present,  but  by  future  generations,  should  my  obscure  name 
ever  be  mentioned  in  after  times.  After  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the 
present  moment  shall  have  subsided,  and  the  impartial  historian  shall  come 
to  record  the  proceedings  of  this  day,  he  will  say  that  the  distinguished  men 
who  passed  the  resolution  condemning  the  President  were  urged  on  to  the 
act  by  a  desire  to  occupy  the  high  places  in  the  Government.  That  an  ambi- 
.  tion  noble  in  itself,  but  not  wisely  regulated,  had  obscured  their  judgment, 
and  impelled  them  to  the  adoption  of  a  measure  unjust,  illegal,  and  unconsti 
tutional.  That  in  order  to  vindicate  both  the  Constitution  and  the  President, 
we  were  justified  in  passing  this  expunging  resolution,  and  thus  stamping  the 
former  proceeding  with  our  strongest  disapprobation. 

I  rejoice  in  the  belief  that  this  promises  to  be  one  of  the  last  highly  exciting 
questions  of  the  present  day.  During  the  period  of  General  Jackson's  civil 
administration,  what  has  he  not  done  for  the  American  people  ?  During  this 
period  he  has  had  more  difficult  and  dangerous  questions  to  settle,  both  at 
home  and  abroad, — questions  which  aroused  more  intensely  the  passions  of 
men, — than  any  of  his  predecessors.  They  are  now  all  happily  ended,  except 
the  one  which  we  shall  this  day  bring  to  a  close, 

"  And  all  the  clouds  that  lowered  upon  our  house 
lu  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried." 

The  country  now  enjoys  abundant  prosperity  at  home,  whilst  it  is  re 
spected  and  admired  by  foreign  nations.  Although  the  waves  may  yet  be 
in  some  agitation  from  the  effect  of  the  storms  through  which  we  have  passed, 
yet  I  think  I  can  perceive  the  rainbow  of  peace  extending  itself  across  the 
firmament  of  Heaven. 

Should  the  next  administration  pursue  the  same  course  of  policy  with  the 
present — should  it  dispense  equal  justice  to  all  portions  and  all  interests  of 
the  Union,  without  sacrificing  any — should  it  be  conducted  with  prudence 
and  with  firmness,  and  I  doubt  not  but  that  this  will  be  the  case — we  shall 
hereafter  enjoy  comparative  peace  and  quiet  in  our  day.  This  will  be  the 
precious  fruit  of  the  energy,  the  toils,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  pilot  who  has 
conducted  us  in  safety  through  the  storms  of  his  tempestuous  administration. 

I  am  now  prepared  for  the  question.  I  shall  vote  for  this  resolution ;  but 
not  cheerfully.  I  regret  the  necessity  which  exists  for  passing  it ;  but  I  be 
lieve  that  imperious  duty  demands  its  adoption.  If  I  know  my  own  heart, 


314  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

I  can  truly  say  that  I  am  not  actuated  by  any  desire  to  obtain  a  miserable, 
petty,  personal  triumph,  either  for  myself,  or  for  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  over  my  associates  upon  this  floor. 

I  am  now  ready  to  record  my  vote,  and  thus,  in  the  opprobrious  language 
of  Senators  in  the  opposition,  to  become  one  of  the  executioners  of  the  con 
demnatory  resolution. 


• 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

1836. 

FIRST  INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  SUBJECT  OF  SLAVERY  IN  THE  SENATE, 
DURING  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JACKSON — PETITIONS  FOR  ITS 
ABOLITION  IN  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA — THE  RIGHT  OF  PETITION 
VINDICATED  BY  BUCHANAN — INCENDIARY  PUBLICATIONS — ADMISSION 

OF  MICHIGAN  INTO  THE  UNION — STATUARY  FOR  THE  CAPITOL AFFAIRS 

OF    TEXAS. 

IN  the  latter  part  of  the  second  administration  of  General 
Jackson,  the  subject  of  slavery  began  to  be  pressed  upon 
the  attention  of  Congress  by  petitions  for  its  abolition  in  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

In  a  future  chapter  will  be  traced  the  origin  and  progress  of 
the  anti-slavery  agitation  in  the  Northern  States.  At  present, 
it  is  only  needful  for  me  to  describe  Mr.  Buchanan's  course  as 
a  Senator,  on  the  different  aspects  of  this  subject  which  arose 
during  the  second  administration  of  General  Jackson.  On  the 
7th  of  January,  1836,  two  petitions  were  presented  in  the 
Senate,  signed  by  citizens  of  Ohio,  praying  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  Mr.  Calhoun  demanded 
that  they  should  be  read,  and,  after  the  reading,  he  objected  to 
their  being  received.  Mr.  Buchanan  made  the  following  re 
marks  in  replying  to  Mr.  Calhoun  : 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  that,  for  two  or  three  weeks  past,  there  had  been  in 
his  possession  a  memorial  from  the  Cain  Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  religious 
Society  of  Friends,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  requesting  Congress  to 
abolish  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  within  the  District  of  Columbia.  This 
memorial  was  not  a  printed  form — its  language  was  not  that  in  established 
use  for  such  documents.  It  did  not  proceed  from  those  desperate  fanatics  who 
have  been  endeavoring  to  disturb  the  security  and  peace  of  society  in  the 
Southern  States,  by  the  distribution  of  incendiary  pamphlets  and  papers.  Far 
different  is  the  truth.  It  emanates  from  a  society  of  Christians,  whose  object 
had  always  been  to  promote  peace  and  good-will  among  men,  and  who  have 
been  the  efficient  and  persevering  friends  of  humanity  in  every  clime.  To 


316  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

their  untiring  efforts,  more  than  to  those  of  any  other  denomination  of 
Christians,  we  owe  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  abolishing  the 
African  slave  trade  throughout  the  world.  This  memorial  was  their  testimony 
against  the  existence  of  slavery.  This  testimony  they  had  borne  for  more 
than  a  century.  Of  the  purity  of  their  motives,  there  could  not  be  a  question. 

He  had  omitted  to  present  this  memorial  at  an  earlier  day,  because  he  had 
thought  that,  on  its  presentation  at  the  proper  time,  much  good  might  be  done. 
He  had  believed  that,  by  private  consultations,  some  resolution  might  be  de 
vised  upon  this  exciting  subject  which  would  obtain  the  unanimous  vote  of 
the  Senate.  If  there  was  one  man  in  that  body  not  willing  to  adopt  a  proper 
measure  to  calm  the  troubled  spirit  of  the  South,  he  did  not  know  him. 
This,  in  his  judgment,  would  be  the  best  mode  of  accomplishing  the  object 
which  we  all  desire  to  accomplish.  The  proper  course  to  attain  this  result 
was,  in  his  opinion,  to  refer  the  subject,  either  to  a  select  committee,  or  to  the 
Committee  for  the  District  of  Columbia.  They  would  examine  it  in  all  its 
bearings,  they  would  ascertain  the  views  and  feelings  of  individual  Senators, 
and  he  had  no  doubt  they  would  be  able  to  recommend  some  measure  to  the 
Senate  on  which  they  could  all  unite.  This  would  have  a  most  happy  effect 
upon  the  country.  He  had  intended,  upon  presenting  the  memorial  which  he 
had  in  charge,  to  have  suggested  this  mode  of  proceeding.  He  regretted, 
therefore,  he  had  not  known  that  his  friend  from  Ohio  (Mr.  Morris)  was  in 
possession  of  memorials  having  a  similar  object  in  view.  If  he  had  been 
informed  of  it,  he  should  have  endeavored  to  persuade  him  to  wait  until 
Monday  next,  when  he  (Mr.  B.)  would  have  been  prepared  to  pursue  the 
course  he  had  indicated.  But  the  question  has  now  been  forced  upon  us.  No 
(said  Mr.  B.),  it  has  not  been  forced  upon  me,  because  I  am  glad  to  have  a 
suitable  occasion  of  expressing  my  opinions  upon  the  subject. 

The  memorial  which  I  have  in  my  possession  is  entitled  to  the  utmost 
respect,  from  the  character  of  the  memorialists.  As  I  entirely  dissent  from 
the  opinion  which  they  express,  that  we  ought  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  I  feel  it  to  be  due  to  them,  to  myself,  and  to  the  Senate, 
respectfully,  but  firmly,  to  state  the  reasons  why  I  cannot  advocate  their 
views  or  acquiesce  in  their  conclusions. 

If  any  one  principle  of  constitutional  law  can,  at  this  day,  be  considered  as 
settled,  it  is,  that  Congress  have  no  right,  no  power,  over  the  question  of 
slavery  within  those  States  where  it  exists.  The  property  of  the  master  in 
his  slave  existed  in  full  force  before  the  Federal  Constitution  was  adopted.  It 
wras  a  subject  which  then  belonged,  as  it  still  belongs,  to  the  exclusive  juris 
diction  of  the  several  States.  These  States,  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  never  yielded  to  the  General  Government  any  right  to  interfere  with  the 
question.  It  remains  where  it  was  previous  to  the  establishment  of  our 
confederacy. 

The  Constitution  has,  in  the  clearest  terms,  recognized  the  right  of  property 
in  slaves.  It  prohibits  any  State  into  which  a  slave  may  have  fled  from  pass 
ing  any  law  to  discharge  him  from  slavery,  and  declares  that  he  shall  be 


SPEECH  ON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION.  317 

delivered  up  by  the  authorities  of  such  State  to  his  master.  Nay,  more,  it 
makes  the  existence  of  slavery  the  foundation  of  political  power,  by  giving  to 
those  States  within  which  it  exists  representatives  in  Congress,  not  only  in 
proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  free  persons,  but  also  in  proportion  to 
three-fifths  of  the  number  of  slaves. 

An  occasion  very  fortunately  arose  in  the  first  Congress  to  settle  this  ques 
tion  forever.  The  Society  for  the  abolition  of  Slavery  in  Pennsylvania  brought 
it  before  that  Congress  by  a  memorial  which  was  presented  on  the  llth  day 
of  February,  1790.  After  the  subject  had  been  discussed  for  several  days, 
and  after  solemn  deliberation,  the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  in  Committee  of 
the  Whole,  on  the  23d  day  of  March,  1790,  resolved  "  That  Congress  have 
no  authority  to  interfere  in  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  or  in  the  treatment 
of  them  within  any  of  the  States ;  it  remaining  with  the  several  States  alone 
to  provide  any  regulations  therein,  which  humanity  and  true  policy  may 
require." 

I  have  thought  it  would  be  proper  to  present  this  decision,  which  was 
made  almost  half  a  century  ago,  distinctly  to  the  view  of  the  American 
people.  The  language  of  the  resolution  is  clear,  precise,  and  definite.  It 
leaves  the  question  where  the  Constitution  left  it,  and  where,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  it  ever  shall  remain.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
never  would  have  been  called  into  existence, — instead  of  the  innumerable 
blessings  which  have  flowed  from  our  happy  Union,  we  should  have  had 
anarchy,  jealousy,  and  civil  war  among  the  sister  Republics  of  which  our 
confederacy  is  composed,  had  not  the  free  States  abandoned  all  control  over 
this  question.  For  one,  whatever  may  be  my  opinions  upon  the  abstract 
question  of  slavery,  (and  I  am  free  to  confess  they  are  those  of  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania,)  I  shall  never  attempt  to  violate  this  fundamental  compact. 
The  Union  will  be  dissolved,  and  incalculable  evils  will  arise  from  its  ashes, 
the  moment  any  such  attempt  is  seriously  made  by  the  free  States  in 
Congress. 

What,  then,  are  the  circumstances  under  which  these  memorials  are  now 
presented  ?  A  number  of  fanatics,  led  on  by  foreign  incendiaries,  have  been 
scattering  "  arrows,  firebrands,  and  death "  throughout  the  Southern  States. 
The  natural  tendency  of  their  publications  is  to  produce  dissatisfaction  and 
revolt  among  the  slaves,  and  to  incite  their  wild  passions  to  vengeance.  All 
history,  as  well  as  the  present  condition  of  the  slaves,  proves  that  there  can 
be  no  danger  of  the  final  result  of  a  servile  war.  But,  in  the  mean  time, 
what  dreadful  scenes  may  be  enacted  before  such  an  insurrection,  which 
would  spare  neither  age  nor  sex,  could  be  suppressed  !  What  agony  of  mind 
must  be  suffered,  especially  by  the  gentler  sex,  in  consequence  of  these  pub 
lications  !  Many  a  mother  clasps  her  infant  to  her  bosom  when  she  retires  to 
rest,  under  dreadful  apprehensions  that  she  may  be  aroused  from  her  slumbers 
by  the  savage  yells  of  the  slaves  by  whom  she  is  surrounded.  These  are  the 
works  of  the  abolitionists.  That  their  motives  may  be  honest  I  do  not 
doubt,  but  their  zeal  is  without  knowledge.  The  history  of  the  human  race 


318  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

presents  numerous  examples  of  ignorant  enthusiasts,  the  purity  of  whose  in 
tentions  cannot  be  doubted,  who  have  spread  devastation  and  bloodshed  over 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

These  fanatics,  instead  of  benefiting  the  slaves  who  are  the  objects  of  their 
regard,  have  inflicted  serious  injury  upon  them.  Self-preservation  is  the  first 
law  of  nature.  The  masters,  for  the  sake  of  their  wives  and  children,  for  the 
sake  of  all  that  is  near  and  dear  to  them  on  earth,  must  tighten  the  reins  of 
authority  over  their  slaves.  They  must  thus  counteract  the  efforts  of  the 
abolitionists.  The  slaves  are  denied  many  indulgences  which  their  masters 
would  otherwise  cheerfully  grant.  They  must  be  kept  in  such  a  state  of 
bondage  as  effectually  to  prevent  their  rising.  These  are  the  injurious  effects 
produced  by  the  abolitionists  upon  the  slave  himself.  Whilst,  on  the  one 
hand,  they  render  his  condition  miserable,  by  presenting  to  his  mind  vague 
notions  of  freedom  never  to  be  realized,  on  the  other,  they  make  it  doubly 
miserable,  by  compelling  the  master  to  be  severe,  in  order  to  prevent  any 
attempts  at  insurrection.  They  thus  render  it  impossible  for  the  master  to 
treat  his  slave  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  heart  and  his  feelings. 

Besides,  do  not  the  abolitionists  perceive  that  the  spirit  which  is  thus 
roused  must  protract  to  an  indefinite  period  the  emancipation  of  the  slave  ? 
The  necessary  effect  of  their  efforts  is  to  render  desperate  those  to  whom  the 
power  of  emancipation  really  belongs.  I  believe  most  conscientiously,  in 
whatever  light  this  subject  can  be  viewed,  that  the  best  interests  of  the  slave 
require  that  the  question  should  be  left,  where  the  Constitution  has  left  it,  to 
the  slaveholding  States  themselves,  without  foreign  interference. 

This  being  a  true  statement  of  the  case,  as  applied  to  the  States  where 
slavery  exists,  what  is  now  asked  by  these  memorialists  ?  That  in  this  Dis 
trict  of  ten  miles  square — a  District  carved  out  of  two  slaveholding  States, 
and  surrounded  by  them  on  all  sides — slavery  shall  be  abolished.  What 
would  be  the  effects  of  granting  their  request?  You  would  thus  erect  a  cita 
del  in  the  very  heart  of  these  States,  upon  a  territory  which  they  have  ceded 
to  you  for  a  far  different  purpose,  from  which  abolitionists  and  incendiaries 
could  securely  attack  the  peace  and  safety  of  their  citizens.  You  establish  a 
spot  within  the  slaveholding  States  which  would  be  a  city  of  refuge  for  run 
away  slaves.  You  create  by  law  a  central  point  from  which  trains  of  gun 
powder  may  be  securely  laid,  extending  into  the  surrounding  State^,  which 
may,  at  any  moment,  produce  a  fearful  and  destructive  explosion.  By  passing 
such  a  law,  you  introduce  the  enemy  into  the  very  bosom  of  these  two 
States,  and  afford  him  every  opportunity  to  produce  a  servile  insurrection. 
Is  there  any  reasonable  man  who  can  for  one  moment  suppose  that  Virginia 
and  Maryland  would  have  ceded  the  District  of  Columbia  to  the  United 
States,  if  they  had  entertained  the  slightest  idea  that  Congress  would  ever 
use  it  for  any  such  purpose  ?  They  ceded  it  for  your  use,  for  your  conven 
ience,  and  not  for  their  own  destruction.  When  slavery  ceases  to  exist,  under 
the  laws  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  then,  and  not  till  then,  ought  it  to  be 
abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  • 


THE    RECEPTION    OF    PETITIONS.  319 

(Mr.  B.  said  that,  notwithstanding  these  were  his  opinions,  he  could  not 
vote  for  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun)  not  to 
receive  these  memorials.  He  would  not  at  present  proceed  to  state  his  rea 
sons,  still  hoping  the  Senate  could  yet  agree  upon  some  course  which  would 
prove  satisfactory  to  all.  With  this  view,  he  moved  that  the  whole  subject 
be  postponed  until  Monday  next.) 

When  the  following  Monday  came  (January  llth,  1836),  Mr. 
Buchanan  said : 

He  was  now  about  to  present  the  memorial  of  the  Cain  Quarterly  Meet 
ing  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends  in  Pennsylvania,  requesting  Congress 
to  abolish  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  On  this 
subject  he  had  expressed  his  opinions  to  the  Senate  on  Thursday  last,  and  he 
had  no  disposition  to  repeat  them  at  present.  He  would  say,  however,  that 
on  a  review  of  these  opinions,  he  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  them.  All  he 
should  now  say  was,  that  the  memorial  which  he  was  about  to  present  was 
perfectly  respectful  in  its  language.  Indeed,  it  could  not  possibly  be  other 
wise,  considering  the  respectable  source  from  which  it  emanated. 

It  would  become  his  duty  to  make  some  motion  in  regard  to  this  memorial. 
On  Thursday  last,  he  had  suggested  that  in  his  judgment  the  best  course  to 
pursue  was  to  refer  these  memorials  to  a  selected  committee,  or  to  the  com 
mittee  for  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  still  thought  so ;  but  he  now  found 
that  insurmountable  obstacles  presented  themselves  to  such  a  reference. 

In  presenting  this  memorial  and  in  exerting  himself  so  far  as  in  him  lay, 
to  secure  for  it  that  respectful  reception  by  the  Senate  which  it  deserved,  he 
should  do  his  duty  to  the  memorialists.  After  it  should  receive  this  recep 
tion,  he  should  have  a  duty  to  perform  to  himself  and  to  his  country.  He 
was  clearly  of  opinion,  for  the  reasons  he  had  stated  on  Thursday  last,  that 
Congress  ought  not  at  this  time  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  that  it  was  our  duty  promptly  to  place  this  exciting  question  at  rest. 
He  should,  therefore,  move  that  the  memorial  be  read,  and  that  the  prayer 
of  the  memorialists  be  rejected. 

At  a  subsequent  day  (January  19th),  the  pending  question 
was,  on  the  reception  of  the  Memorial  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Quakers,  or  Friends ;  and  on  this  question  Mr.  Buchanan  said  : 

It  was  not  now  his  intention  to  repeat  anything  he  had  said  on  a  former 
occasion  in  regard  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  this  District.  The  remarks 
which  he  had  then  made,  after  much  reflection,  still  met  his  entire  approba 
tion.  He  would  not  now  have  alluded  to  them  were  it  not  for  the  misappre 
hension  which  still  appeared  to  prevail  upon  this  floor  in  regard  to  the  state 
of  Northern  feeling  on  this  subject. 

Those  remarks  had,  he  believed,  been  more  extensively  circulated  through 
out  Pennsylvania  than  any  which  he  had  ever  made  upon  any  occasion.  If 


320  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

they  had  been  censured  anywhere  in  that  State,  by  any  party,  the  fact  was 
unknown  to  him.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  strong  reasons  to  believe  they  had 
been  received  with  general  approbation. 

He  was  not  in  the  habit  of  using  private  letters  to  sustain  any  position 
which  he  might  take  upon  this  floor  or  elsewhere.  He  would  say,  however, 
that  since  he  had  presented  the  memorial  now  the  subject  of  consideration 
before  the  Senate,  he  had  received  another  memorial  of  a  similar  character 
from  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  This  memorial  had  been  transmitted  to  him 
by  two  gentlemen  whose  name  and  character  would  be  the  strongest  guaranty 
for  the  truth  of  their  assertions,  did  he  feel  himself  at  liberty  to  make  them 
known  to  the  Senate.  He  would  not  even  have  alluded  to  their  letter,  but  that 
it  related  to  a  public  subject  in  which  the  country  was  deeply  interested,  and 
accompanied  the  memorial  which  they  had  requested  him  to  present  to  the 
Senate.  The  following  is  an  extract  from  this  letter : 

"  Although  we  have  not  the  pleasure  of  thy  acquaintance,  permit  us  on 
this  occasion  to  express  our  satisfaction  with  thy  remarks  in  the  Senate  some 
weeks  since,  in  which  the  opinion  was  forcibly  sustained  that  no  sensible  man 
at  the  North  would  advocate  the  right  of  Congress  to  interfere  with  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery  in  the  slave  States  themselves.  We  are  fully  persuaded  this 
is  the  fact  in  our  neighborhood. 

"  In  a  pretty  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  friends  of  abolition  in  this 
city,  we  unhesitatingly  declare  that  we  have  never  heard  such  an  opinion 
advocated,  and  we  defy  our  opponents  to  point  out  a  man  that  has  ever  cir 
culated  any  publication  calculated  to  produce  discord  in  the  Southern  States. 

u  But  whilst  we  fully  recognize  this  view,  we  are  aware  that  the  Constitu 
tion  guaranties  to  us  the  right  of  memorializing  Congress  on  any  subject  con 
nected  with  the  welfare  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  we  intend  ever  to 
exercise  it  in  the  spirit  of  charity  and  good-feeling." 

Mr.  B.  believed  this  statement  to  be  true.  Although  all  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  were  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract,  yet  they  would  not 
sanction  any  attempts  to  excite  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States  to  insurrec 
tion  and  bloodshed.  Whilst  they  knew  their  own  rights,  and  would  main 
tain  them,  they  never  would  invade  the  rights  of  others  which  had  been  se 
cured  by  the  Federal  Constitution.  He  was  proud  to  say  this  had  always 
been  the  character  and  the  conduct  of  the  State  which  he  had  in  part  the 
honor  to  represent  in  her  relations  with  her  sister  States. 

He  felt  himself  justified  in  declaring  that  Pennsylvania  was  perfectly 
sound  upon  this  question.  Abolitionists  there  may  be  in  Pennsylvania,  but 
it  had  never  been  his  fate  to  meet  a  single  one.  If  we  have  a  man  amongst 
us  who  desires,  by  the  circulation  of  incendiary  publications  and  pictures 
throughout  the  slaveholding  States,  to  produce  a  servile  insurrection,  and 
thus  to  abolish  slavery,  he  knew  him  not.  In  the  language  of  the  letter  he 
had  just  read,  whatever  might  be  the  case  further  north,  he  might  defy  any 
gentleman  to  point  out  a  man  in  Pennsylvania  who  has  ever  circulated  any 
publication  calculated  to  produce  discord  in  the  Southern  States. 


SLAVERY    AND    RIGHT    OF    PETITION.  321 

He  had  heard  within  the  last  few  days  that  emissaries  were  now  travel 
ing  throughout  Pennsylvania  for  the  purpose  of  propagating  the  doctrine  of 
immediate  abolition.  He  thought  he  might  venture  to  predict  that  they 
would  fail  in  their  attempts. 

Although  he  did  not  mean  at  present  to  discuss  the  general  question,  yet 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Preston)  must  permit  him  to  say  that, 
in  his  remarks  of  yesterday,  he  had  done  much  to  dignify  the  cause  of 
abolition,  and  to  give  its  supporters  a  character  which  they  did  not  deserve. 

Mr.  B.  was  not  so  well  able  to  judge  what  effect  those  remarks  might  pro 
duce  on  the  South ;  but  he  protested  against  the  accuracy  of  the  statements 
which  that  gentleman  had  made  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  Northern  feel 
ing  on  this  subject.  His  information  had  been  incorrect.  If  the  gloomy 
coloring  of  the  picture  which  he  had  presented  could  be  considered  any  thing 
but  a  fancy  sketch,  the  South  might  believe  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  it 
would  be  their  duty  to  decide  whether  it  was  not  necessary  to  dissolve  this 
Union,  for  the  protection  of  their  rights.  Mr.  B.  thought  far  otherwise. 
This  crisis  had  not  arrived,  and,  he  trusted,  never  would  arrive.  The  force 
of  public  opinion  will  prostrate  this  fanatical  and  dangerous  spirit.  He  must 
say,  however,  that  the  enemies  of  the  cause  of  abolition  at  the  North  had  a 
right  to  expect  that  gentlemen  from  the  South  would  not  adopt  a  course 
which  might  tend  to  increase  our  difficulties.  They  ought  to  permit  us  to 
judge  for  ourselves  in  this  matter,  and  to  throw  no  obstacles  in  our  way 
which  the  nature  of  the  subject  does  not  necessarily  present. 

Let  it  be  once  understood  that  the  sacred  right  of  petition  and  the  cause 
of  the  abolitionists  must  rise  or  must  fall  together,  and  the  consequences  may 
be  fatal.  I  would,  therefore,  warn  Southern  gentlemen  to  reflect  seriously  in 
what  situation  they  place  their  friends  in  the  North,  by  insisting  that  this 
petition  shall  not  be  received. 

We  have  just  as  little  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  South,  as  we 
have  to  touch  the  right  of  petition.  Whence  is  this  right  derived?  Can  a 
republican  government  exist  without  it?  Man  might  as  well  attempt  to 
exist  without  breathing  the  vital  air.  No  government  possessing  any  of  the 
elements  of  liberty  has  ever  existed,  or  can  ever  exist,  unless  its  citizens  or 
subjects  enjoy  this  right.  From  the  very  structure  of  your  Government, 
from  the  very  establishment  of  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  the 
right  of  petition  naturally  and  necessarily  resulted.  A  representative  repub 
lic,  established  by  the  people,  without  the  people  having  the  right  to  make 
their  wants  and  their  wishes  known  to  their  servants,  would  be  the  most 
palpable  absurdity.  This  right,  even  if  it  were  not  expressly  sanctioned  by 
the  Constitution,  would  result  from  its  very  nature.  It  could  not  be  con 
trolled  by  any  action  of  Congress,  or  either  branch  of  it.  If  the  Constitu 
tion  had  been  silent  upon  the  subject,  the  only  consequence  would  be,  that  it 
would  stand  in  the  very  front  rank  of  those  rights  of  the  people  which  are 
expressly  guarantied  to  them  by  the  ninth  article  of  the  amendments  to  that 
instrument,  inserted  from  abundant  but  necessary  caution.  I  shall  read  this 
I.— 21 


322  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

article.  It  declares  that  "  the  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights 
shall  not  be  construed  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people." 
It  would,  without  any  express  provision,  have  stood  in  the  same  rank  with 
the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and  have  been  entirely  beyond  the 
control  of  the  Government.  It  is  a  right  which  could  not  have  been  in 
fringed  without  extinguishing  the  vital  spirit  of  our  institutions.  If  any  had 
been  so  bold  as  to  attempt  to  violate  it,  it  would  have  been  a  conclusive  ar 
gument  to  say  to  them  that  the  Constitution  has  given  you  no  power  over  the 
right  of  petition,  and  you  dare  not  touch  it. 

The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun)  has  justly  denominated 
the  amendments  to  the  Constitution  as  our  Bill  of  Eights.  The  jealousy 
which  the  States  entertained  of  federal  power  brought  these  amendments 
into  existence.  They  supposed  that,  in  future  times,  Congress  might  desire 
to  extend  the  powers  of  this  Government,  and  usurp  the  rights  which  were 
not  granted  them  by  the  people  of  the  States.  From  a  provident  caution, 
they  have,  in  express  terms,  denied  to  Congress  every  sort  of  control  over 
religion ;  over  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press ;  and  over  the  right  of 
petition.  The  first  article  of  the  amendments  declares  that  "  Congress  shall 
make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free 
exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press;  or  the 
right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  Government 
for  a  redress  of  grievances." 

Now,  sir,  what  is  the  first  position  taken  by  the  Senator  from  South  Caro 
lina  against  receiving  this  memorial?  I  desire  to  quote  him  with  perfect 
accuracy.  He  says  that  the  Constitution  prohibits  Congress  from  passing 
any  law  to  abridge  the  right  of  petition  ;  that,  to  refuse  to  receive  this  peti 
tion,  would  not  be  to  pass  any  such  law,  and  that  therefore,  the  Constitution 
would  not  be  violated  by  such  a  refusal. 

Does  not  the  Senator  perceive  that,  if  this  doctrine  can  be  maintained,  the 
right  of  petition  is  gone  forever?  It  is  a  mere  empty  name.  The  Senate 
would  possess  the  power  of  controlling  it  at  their  will  and  pleasure.  No  mat 
ter  what  may  be  the  prayer  of  any  petition ;  no  matter  how  just  may  be 
the  grievances  of  the  people  demanding  redress,  we  may  refuse  to  hear  their 
complaint?,  and  inform  them  that  this  is  one  of  our  prerogatives :  because,  to 
refuse  to  receive  their  petition  is  not  the  passage  of  a  law  abridging  their 
right  to  petition.  How  can  the  gentleman  escape  from  this  consequence? 
Is  the  Senate  to  be  the  arbiter  ?  Are  we  to  decide  what  the  people  may  pe 
tition  for,  and  what  they  shall  not  bring  before  us  ?  Is  the  servant  to  dictate 
to  the  master  ?  Such  a  construction  can  never  be  the  true  one. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  this  argument  is,  that  the  very  article  of  the 
Constitution  which  was  intended  to  guard  the  right  of  petition  with  the 
most  jealous  care  is  thus  perverted  from  its  original  intention,  and  made  the 
instrument  of  destroying  this  very  right.  What  we  cannot  do  by  law,  what 
is  beyond  the  power  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  and  the  President,  accord 
ing  to  the  gentleman's  argument,  the  Senate  can  of  itself  accomplish.  The 


THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION.  323 

Senate  alone,  if  his  argument  be  correct,  may  abridge  the  right  of  petition, 
acting  in  its  separate  capacity,  though  it  could  not,  as  one  branch  of  the 
Legislature,  consent  to  any  law  which  would  confer  upon  itself  this  power. 

What  is  the  true  history  and  character  of  this  article  of  the  Constitution? 
In  the  thirteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  that  "  royal  scoundrel "  Charles  the 
Second,  as  the  Senator  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Leigh)  has  justly  denominated 
him,  an  act  of  Parliament  was  passed,  abridging  the  right  of  petition.  It 
declared  that  "  no  petition  to  the  king  or.  either  House  of  Parliament,  for  any 
alteration  in  Church  or  State,  shall  be  signed  by  above  twenty  persons,  unless 
the  matter  thereof  be  approved  by  three  justices  of  the  peace,  or  the  major 
part  of  the  grand  jury  in  the  county;  and  in  London  by  the  lord  mayor, 
aldermen,  and  common  council ;  nor  shall  any  petition  be  presented  by  more 
than  ten  persons  at  a  time."  Each  Senator  will  readily  perceive  that  the 
right  of  petition  was  thus  laid  almost  entirely  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  the 
sovereign.  The  justices  of  the  peace,  and  the  sheriffs  who  selected  the  grand 
juries,  were  his  creatures,  appointed  and  removed  at  his  pleasure.  Out  of 
the  city  of  London,  without  their  consent,  no  petition  for  an  alteration  in 
Church  or  State  could  be  signed  by  more  than  twenty  individuals.  At  the 
revolution  of  1688,  the  Bill  of  Rights  guarantied  to  English  subjects  the 
right  of  petitioning  the  king,  but  the  courts  of  justice  decided  that  it  did  not 
repeal  the  statute  of  the  second  Charles.  This  statute  still  remained  in  force 
at  the  adoption  of  the  federal  Constitution.  Such  was  the  state  of  the  law 
in  that  country,  from  which  we  have  derived  most  of  our  institutions,  when 
this  amendment  to  the  Constitution  was  adopted. 

Although  the  Constitution,  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  its  framers,  gave 
to  Congress  no  power  to  touch  the  right  of  petition,  yet  some  of  the  States  to 
whom  it  was  submitted  for  ratification,  apprehending  the  time  might  arrive 
when  Congress  would  be  disposed  to  act  like  the  British  Parliament,  expressly 
withdrew  the  subject  from  our  control.  Not  satisfied  with  the  fact  that  no 
power  over  it  had  been  granted  by  the  Constitution,  they  determined  to  pro 
hibit  us  in  express  terms  from  ever  exercising  such  a  power.  This  is  the  true 
history  of  the  first  article  of  our  Bill  of  Rights. 

Let  me  put  another  case  to  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina.  Some  years 
since,  as  a  manager  on  the  part  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  I  had  the 
honor  to  appear  before  this  body,  then  sitting  as  a  high  court  of  impeachment. 
In  that  case,  the  accused,  when  sitting  as  a  district  judge  of  the  United 
States,  had  brought  an  attorney  of  his  court  before  him  by  an  attachment  for 
contempt,  and  without  any  trial  by  jury  had  convicted  him  of  a  libel,  and 
sentenced  him  to  imprisonment.  The  judge  was  acquitted ;  and  at  the  mo 
ment  I  thought  this  decision  had  placed  the  freedom  of  the  press  in  danger. 
If  the  sedition  law  were  clearly  unconstitutional,  and  nobody  now  doubts  it ; 
if  Congress  could  not  confer  upon  the  courts  of  the  United  States,  by  express 
enactment,  any  question  over  the  power  of  libel,  I  thought  it  monstrous  that 
a  judge,  without  the  intervention  of  a  jury,  under  highly  excited  feelings, 
should  be  permitted  to  try  and  to  punish  libels  committed  against  himself 


324  L!FE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

according  to  his  will  and  pleasure.  My  apprehensions  were  of  but  short 
duration.  A  few  days  after  the  acquittal  of  this  judge,  the  Senate,  without 
one  dissenting  voice,  passed  a  bill,  not  to  create  a  new  law,  but  declaratory 
of  what  the  old  law,  or  rather  what  the  Constitution  was,  under  which  no 
federal  judge  will  ever  again  dare  to  punish  a  libel  as  a  contempt.  The  con 
stitutional  provision  in  favor  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  thus  redeemed 
from  judicial  construction. 

Now,  sir,  we  must  all  admit  that  libels  of  the  grossest  character  are  daily 
published  against  the  Senate  and  its  individual  members.  Suppose  an  at 
tempt  should  be  made  to  bring  one  of  these  libelers  before  us,  and  to  punish 
him  for  a  contempt,  would  the  gentleman  from  Soath  Carolina  contend  that 
we  might  do  so  without  violating  the  Constitution,  and  that  we  might  con 
vict  him  and  sentence  him  to  imprisonment,  because  such  a  conviction  and 
sentence  would  not  be  the  passage  of  a  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  the 
press  ?  The  gentleman's  excited  feelings  upon  the  subject  of  abolition  have 
led  his  judgment  astray.  No  construction  can  be  correct  which  would  lead 
to  such  palpable  absurdities. 

The  very  language  of  this  amendment  itself  contains  the  strongest  recogni 
tion  of  the  right  of  petition.  In  the  clearest  terms,  it  presupposes  its  exis 
tence.  How  can  you  abridge  a  right  which  has  no  previous  existence  ?  On 
this  question  I  deem  the  argument  of  my  friend  from  Georgia  (Mr.  King) 
conclusive.  The  amendment  assumes  that  the  people  have  the  right  to  peti 
tion  for  the  redress  of  grievances,  and  places  it  beyond  the  power  of  Congress 
to  touch  this  sacred  right.  The  truth  is,  that  the  authors  of  the  amendment 
believed  this  to  be  a  Government  of  such  tremendous  power  that  it  was 
necessary,  in  express  terms,  to  withdraw  from  its  grasp  their  most  essential 
rights.  The  right  of  every  citizen  to  worship  his  God  according  to  the  dic 
tates  of  his  own  conscience  ;  his  right  freely  to  speak,  and  freely  to  print  and 
publish  his  thoughts  to  the  world ;  and  his  right  to  petition  the  Government 
for  a  redress  of  grievances,  are  placed  entirely  beyond  the  control  of  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States,  or  either  of  its  branches.  There  may  they  ever 
remain !  These  fundamental  principles  of  liberty  are  companions.  They  rest 
upon  the  same  foundation.  They  must  stand  or  must  fall  together.  They 
will  be  maintained  so  long  as  American  liberty  shall  endure. 

The  next  argument  advanced  by  the  gentleman  is,  that  we  are  ntot  bound 
to  receive  this  petition,  because  to  grant  its  prayer  would  be  unconstitutional? 
In  this  argument  I  shall  not  touch  the  question,  whether  Congress  possess  the 
power  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or  not.  Suppose  they 
do  not,  can  the  gentleman  maintain  the  position,  that  we  are  authorized  by 
the  Constitution  to  refuse  to  receive  a  petition  from  the  people,  because  we 
may  deem  the  object  of  it  unconstitutional?  Whence  is  any  such  restriction 
of  the  right  of  petition  derived  ?  Who  gave  it  to  us  ?  Is  it  to  be  found  in 
the  Constitution  ?  The  people  are  not  constitutional  lawyers ;  but  they  feel 
oppression,  and  know  when  they  are  aggrieved.  They  present  their  com 
plaints  to  us  in  the  form  of  a  petition.  I  ask,  by  what  authority  can  we 


THE  RIGHT  OF   PETITION.  323 

refuse  to  receive  it  ?  They  have  a  right  to  spread  their  wishes  and  their  wants 
before  us,  and  to  ask  for  redress.  We  are  bound  respectfully  to  consider  their 
request ;  and  the  best  answer  which  we  can  give  them  is,  that  they  have  not 
conferred  upon  us  the  power,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  to 
grant  them  the  relief  which  they  desire.  On  any  other  principle  we  may 
first  decide  that  we  have  no  power  over  a  particular  subject,  and  then  refuse 
to  hear  the  petitions  of  the  people  in  relation  to  it.  We  would  thus  place  the 
constitutional  right  of  our  constituents,  to  petition  at  the  mercy  of  our  own 
discretion. 

Again,  sir,  we  possess  the  power  of  originating  amendments  to  the  Consti 
tution.  Although,  therefore,  we  may  not  be  able  to  grant  the  petitioners 
relief,  such  a  petition  may  induce  us  to  exercise  this  power,  and  to  ask  for  a 
new  grant  of  authority  from  the  States. 

The  gentleman's  third  proposition  was,  that  we  are  not  bound  to  receive 
this  petition,  because  it  is  no  grievance  to  the  citizens  of  any  of  the  States, 
that  slavery  exists  in  this  District.  But  who  are  to  be  the  judges,  in  the  first 
instance,  whether  the  people  are  aggrieved  or  not  ?  Is  it  those  who  suffer, 
or  fancy  they  suffer,  or  the  Senate  ?  If  we  are  to  decide  when  they  ought 
to  feel  aggrieved,  and  when  they  ought  to  be  satisfied,  if  the  tribunal  to  whom 
their  petitions  are  addressed  may  refuse  to  receive  them,  because,  in  their 
opinion,  there  was  no  just  cause  of  complaint,  the  right  of  petition  is  destroyed. 
It  would  be  but  a  poor  answer  to  their  petitions  to  tell  them  they  ought  not 
to  have  felt  aggrieved,  that  they  are  mistaken,  and  that,  therefore,  their  com 
plaints  would  not  be  received  by  their  servants. 

I  may  be  asked,  is  there  no  case  in  which  I  would  be  willing  to  refuse  to 
receive  a  petition  ?  I  answer  that  it  must  be  a  very  strong  one  indeed  to 
justify  such  a  refusal.  There  is  one  exception,  however,  which  results  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  right  itself.  Neither  the  body  addressed  nor  any  of 
its  members  must  be  insulted,  under  the  pretext  of  exercising  this  right.  It 
must  not  be  perverted  from  its  purpose,  and  be  made  the  instrument  of  de 
grading  the  body  to  which  the  petition  is  addressed.  Such  a  petition  would 
be  in  fraud  of  the  right  itself,  and  the  necessary  power  of  self-protection  and 
self-preservation  inherent  in  every  legislative  body  confers  upon  it  the 
authority  of  defending  itself  against  direct  insults  presented  in  this  or  any 
other  form.  Beyond  this  exception  I  would  not  go  ;  and  it  is  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  self-protection,  in  my  opinion,  that  the  rules  of  the  Senate  enable 
any  of  its  members  to  raise  the  question,  whether  a  petition  shall  be  received 
or  not.  If  the  rule  has  any  other  object  in  view,  it  is  a  violation  of  the 
Constitution. 

I  would  confine  this  exception  within  the  narrowest  limits.  The  acts  of 
the  body  addressed  may  be  freely  canvassed  by  the  people,  and  they  may  be 
shown  to  be  unjust  or  unconstitutional.  These  may  be  the  very  reasons  why 
the  petition  is  presented.  "  To  speak  his  mind  is  every  freeman's  right." 
They  may  and  they  ought  to  express  themselves  with  that  manly  indepen 
dence  which  belongs  to  American  citizens.  To  exclude  their  petition,  it  must 


326  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

appear  palpable  that  an  insult  to  the  body  was  intended,  and  not  a  redress  of 
grievances. 

Extreme  cases  have  been  put  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina.  Ridicu 
lous  or  extravagant  petitions  may  be  presented;  though  I  should  think  that 
scarcely  a  sane  man  could  be  found  in  this  country  who  would  ask  Congress 
to  abolish  slavery  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  In  such  a  case  I  would  receive 
the  petition,  and  consign  it  at  once  to  that  merited  contempt  which  it  would 
deserve.  The  Constitution  secures  the  right  of  being  heard  by  petition  to 
every  citizen  ;  and  I  would  not  abridge  it  because  he  happened  to  be  a  fool. 

The  proposition  is  almost  too  plain  for  argument,  that  if  the  people 
have  a  constitutional  right  to  petition,  a  corresponding  duty  is  imposed  upon 
us  to  receive  their  petitions.  From  the  very  nature  of  things,  rights  and 
duties  are  reciprocal.  The  human  mind  cannot  conceive  of  the  one  without  the 
other.  They  are  relative  terms.  If  the  people  have  a  right  to  command,  it 
is  the  duty  of  their  servants  to  obey.  If  I  have  a  right  to  a  sum  of  money, 
it  is  the  duty  of  my  debtor  to  pay  it  to  me.  If  the  people  have  a  right  to 
petition  their  representatives,  it  is  our  duty  to  receive  their  petition. 

This  question  was  solemnly  determined  by  the  Senate  more  than  thirty 
years  ago.  Neither  before  nor  since  that  time,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  has  the 
general  right  of  petition  ever  been  called  in  question,  until  the  motion  now 
under  consideration  was  made  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina.  Of 
course  I  do  not  speak  of  cases  embraced  within  the  exception  which  I  have 
just  stated.  No  Senator  has  ever  contended  that  this  is  one  of  them.  To 
prove  my  position,  I  shall  read  an  extract  from  our  journals.  On  Monday, 
the  21st  January,  1805,  "Mr.  Logan  presented  a  petition  signed  Thomas 
Morris,  Clerk,  in  behalf  of  the  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  the  people 
called  Quakers,  in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  etc.,  stating  that  the  petitioners, 
from  a  sense  of  religious  duty,  had  again  come  forward  to  plead  the  cause  of 
their  oppressed  and  degraded  fellow-men  of  the  African  race ;  and,  on  the 
question,  "  Shall  this  petition  be  received?"  it  passed  in  the  affirmative ;  yeas, 
19 ;  nays,  9. 

"  The  yeas  and  nays  being  required  by  one-fifth  of  the  Senators  present, 
those  who  voted  in  the  affirmative  are — Messrs.  Adams,  Mass.,  Bayard,  Del., 
Brown,  Ky.,  Condict,  N.  J.,  Franklin,  N.  C.,  Hillhouse,  Conn.,  Howland, 
R  I.,  Logan,  Penn.,  Maclay,  Penn.,  Mitchell,  N.  Y.,  Alcott,  N.  H.,  Pickering, 
Mass.,  Plumer,  N.  H.,  Smith,  Ohio,  Smith,  Vt.,  Stone,  N.  C.,  Sumpter,  S.  C., 
White,  Del.,  Worthington,  Ohio. 

"And  those  who  voted  in  the  negative  are — Anderson,  Tenn.,  Baldwin, 
Ga.,  Bradley,  Vt.,  Cocke,  Tenn.,  Jackson,  Ga.,  Moore,  Va.,  Smith,  Md.? 
Smith,  N.  Y.,  and  Wright,  Md. 

"  So  the  petition  was  read." 

The  Senate  will  perceive  that  I  have  added  to  the  names  of  the  members 
of  the  Senate  that  of  the  States  which  they  each  represented.  The  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  will  see  that,  among  those  who,  upon  this  occasion,  sus 
tained  the  right  of  petition,  there  is  found  the  name  of  General  Sumpter,  his 


THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION.  337 

distinguished  predecessor.  I  wish  him  also  to  observe  that  but  seven 
Senators  from  slaveholding  States  voted  against  receiving  the  petition; 
although  it  was  of  a  character  well  calculated  to  excite  their  hostile  and 
jealous  feelings. 

The  present,  sir,  is  a  real  controversy  between  liberty  and  power.  In  my 
humble  judgment,  it  is  far  the  most  important  question  which  has  been  before 
the  Senate  since  I  have  had  the  honor  of  occupying  a  seat  in  this  body.  It 
is  a  contest  between  those,  however  unintentionally,  who  desire  to  abridge 
the  right  of  the  people,  in  asking  their  servants  for  a  redress  of  grievances, 
and  those  who  desire  to  leave  it,  as  the  Constitution  left  it,  free  as  the  air. 
Petitions  ought  ever  to  find  their  way  into  the  Senate  without  impediment; 
and  I  trust  that  the  decision  upon  this  question  will  result  in  the  establish 
ment  of  one  of  the  dearest  rights  which  a  free  people  can  enjoy. 

Now,  sir,  why  should  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  urge  the  motion 
which  he  has  made  ?  I  wish  I  could  persuade  him  to  withdraw  it.  We  of 
the  North  honestly  believe,  and  I  feel  confident  he  will  not  doubt  our  sin 
cerity,  that  we  cannot  vote  for  his  motion  without  violating  our  duty  to  God 
and  to  the  country — without  disregarding  the  oath  which  we  have  sworn,  to 
support  the  Constitution.  This  is  not  the  condition  of  those  who  advocate  his 
motion.  It  is  not  pretended  that  the  Constitution  imposes  any  obligation 
upon  them  to  vote  for  this  motion.  With  them  it  is  a  question  of  mere 
expediency ;  with  us,  one  of  constitutional  duty.  I  ask  gentlemen  of  the 
South,  for  their  own  sake,  as  well  as  for  that  of  their  friends  in  the  North,  to 
vote  against  this  motion.  It  will  place  us  all  in  a  false  position,  where  neither 
their  sentiments  nor  ours  will  be  properly  understood. 

The  people  of  the  North  are  justly  jealous  of  their  rights  and  liberties. 
Among  these,  they  hold  the  right  of  petition  to  be  one  of  the  most  sacred 
character.  I  would  say  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  South,  why  then  will  you 
array  yourselves,  without  any  necessity,  against  this  right  ?  You  believe  that 
we  are  much  divided  on  the  question  of  abolition;  why,  then,  will  you  intro 
duce  another  element  of  discord  amongst  us,  which  may  do  your  cause  much 
harm,  and  which  cannot  possibly  do  it  any  good  ?  When  you  possess  an  im 
pregnable  fortress,  if  you  will  defend  it,  why  take  shelter  in  an  outwork, 
where  defeat  is  certain?  Why  select  the  very  weakest  position,  one  on 
which  you  will  yourselves  present  a  divided  front  to  the  enemy,  when  it  is  in 
your  power  to  choose  one  on  which  you  and  we  can  all  unite  ?  You  will  thus 
afford  an  opportunity  to  the  abolitionists  at  the  North  to  form  a  false  issue 
with  your  friends.  You  place  us  in  such  a  condition  that  we  cannot  defend 
you,  without  infringing  the  sacred  right  of  petition.  Do  you  not  perceive 
that  the  question  of  abolition  may  thus  be  indissolubly  connected,  in  public 
estimation,  with  a  cause  which  we  can  never  abandon.  If  the  abolitionists 
themselves  had  been  consulted,  I  will  venture  to  assert,  they  ought  to  have 
advised  the  very  course  which  has  been  adopted  by  their  greatest  enemies. 

The  vote  upon  this  unfortunate  motion  may  do  almost  equal  harm  in  the 
South.  It  may  produce  an  impression  there,  that  we  who  will  vote  against 


328  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

the  motion  arc  not  friendly  to  the  protection  of  their  constitutional  rights. 
It  may  arouse  jealousy  and  suspicion,  where  none  ought  to  exist ;  and  may 
thus  magnify  a  danger  which  has  already  been  greatly  exaggerated.  In 
defending  any  great  cause,  it  is  always  disastrous  to  take  a  position  which 
cannot  be  maintained.  Your  forces  thus  become  scattered  and  inefficient, 
and  the  enemy  may  obtain  possession  of  the  citadel  whilst  you  are  vainly 
attempting  to  defend  an  outpost.  I  am  sorry,  indeed,  that  this  motion  has 
been  made. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  defend  my  own  motion  from  the  attacks  which  have 
been  made  upon  it.  It  has  been  equally  opposed  by  both  extremes.  I  have 
not  found,  upon  the  present  occasion,  the  maxim  to  be  true,  that  "  in  medio 
tutissimus  ibis."  The  Senator  from  Louisiana  (Mr.  Porter),  and  the  Senator 
from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster),  seem  both  to  believe  that  little,  if  any, 
difference  exists  between  the  refusal  to  receive  a  petition,  and  the  rejection 
of  its  prayer  after  it  has  been  received.  Indeed,  the  gentleman  from  Louis 
iana,  whom  I  am  happy  to  call  my  friend,  says  he  can  see  no  difference  at  all 
between  these  motions.  At  the  moment  I  heard  this  remark,  I  was  inclined 
to  believe  that  it  proceeded  from  that  confusion  of  ideas  which  sometimes 
exists  in  the  clearest  heads  of  the  country  from  which  he  derives  his  origin, 
and  from  which  I  am  myself  proud  to  be  descended.  What,  sir,  no  differ 
ence  between  refusing  to  receive  a  request  at  all,  and  actually  receiving  it 
and  considering  it  respectfully,  and  afterwards  deciding,  without  delay,  that  it 
is  not  in  your  power  to  grant  it !  There  is  no  man  in  the  country,  acquainted 
with  the  meaning  of  the  plainest  words  in  the  English  language,  who  will 
not  recognize  the  distinction  in  a  moment. 

If  a  constituent  of  that  gentleman  should  present  to  him  a  written  request, 
and  he  should  tell  him  to  go  about  his  business,  and  take  his  paper  with  him, 
that  he  would  not  have  any  thing  to  do  with  him  or  it:  this  would  be  to 
refuse  to  receive  the  petition. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  gentleman  should  receive  this  written  request 
of  his  constituent,  read  it  over  carefully  and  respectfully,  and  file  it  away 
among  his  papers,  but,  finding  it  was  of  an  unreasonable  or  dangerous  charac 
ter,  he  should  inform  him,  without  taking  further  time  to  reflect  upon  it,  that 
the  case  was  a  plain  one,  and  that  he  could  not,  consistently  with  what  he 
believed  to  be  his  duty,  grant  the  request:  this  would  be  to  reject  the  grayer 
of  the  petition. 

There  is  as  much  difference  between  the  two  cases,  as  there  would  be  be 
tween  kicking  a  man  down  stairs  who  attempted  to  enter  your  house,  and  re 
ceiving  him  politely,  examining  his  request,  and  then  refusing  to  comply  with  it. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  most  proper  course  would  be  to  refer  this 
petition  to  a  committee.  What  possible  good  can  result  from  referring  it  ? 
Is  there  a  Senator  on  this  floor  who  has  not  long  since  determined  whether 
he  will  vote  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  District  or  not  ?  Does  any  gentleman 
require  the  report  of  a  committee,  in  order  to  enable  him  to  decide  this  ques 
tion  ?  Not  one. 


THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION.  339 

By  granting  the  prayer  of  this  memorial,  as  I  observed  on  a  former  occa 
sion,  you  would  establish  a  magazine  of  gunpowder  here,  from  which  trains 
might  be  laid  into  the  surrounding  States,  which  would  produce  fearful  explo 
sions.  In  the  very  heart  of  the  slave-holding  States  themselves  you  would 
erect  an  impregnable  citadel  from  whence  the  abolitionists  might  securely 
spread  throughout  these  States,  by  circulating  their  incendiary  pamphlets  and 
pictures,  the  seeds  of  disunion,  insurrection,  and  servile  war.  You  would 
thus  take  advantage  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  in  ceding  to  you  this  District, 
without  expressly  forbidding  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  here  whilst  it  exists 
within  their  limits.  No  man  can,  for  one  moment,  suppose  that  they  would 
have  made  this  cession  upon  any  other  terms,  had  they  imagined  that  a 
necessity  could  ever  exist  for  such  a  restriction.  Whatever  may  be  my 
opinion  of  the  power  of  Congress,  under  the  Constitution,  to  interfere  with  this 
question,  about  which  at  present  I  say  nothing,  I  shall  as  steadily  and  as 
sternly  oppose  its  exercise  as  if  I  believed  no  such  power  to  exist. 

In  making  the  motion  now  before  the  Senate,  I  intended  to  adopt  as 
strong  a  measure  as  I  could,  consistently  with  the  right  of  petition  and  a 
proper  respect  for  the  petitioners.  I  am  the  last  man  in  the  world  who 
would,  intentionally,  treat  these  respectable  constituents  of  my  own  with  dis 
respect.  I  know  them  well,  and  prize  them  highly.  On  a  former  occasion 
I  did  ample  justice  to  their  character.  I  deny  that  they  are  abolitionists.  I 
cannot,  however,  conceive  how  any  person  could  have  supposed  that  it  was 
disrespectful  to  them  to  refuse  to  grant  their  prayer  in  the  first  instance,  and 
not  disrespectful  to  refuse  to  grant  it  after  their  memorial  had  been  referred 
to  a  committee.  In  the  first  case  their  memorial  will  be  received  by  the 
Senate,  and  will  be  filed  among  the  records  of  the  country.  That  it  has 
already  been  the  subject  of  sufficient  deliberation  and  debate;  that  it  has 
already  occupied  a  due  portion  of  the  time  of  the  Senate,  cannot  be  doubted 
or  denied.  Every  one  acquainted  with  the  proceedings  of  courts  of  justice 
must  know  that  often,  very  often,  when  petitions  are  presented  to  them,  the 
request  is  refused  without  any  delay.  This  is  always  done  in  a  plain  case  by 
a  competent  judge.  And  yet  who  ever  heard  that  this  was  treating  the  peti-. 
tioner  with  disrespect  ?  In  order  to  be  respectful  to  these  memorialists,  must 
we  go  through  the  unmeaning  form,  in  this  case,  of  referring  the  memorial  to  a 
committee,  and  pretending  to  deliberate  when  we  are  now  all  fully  prepared 
to  decide? 

I  repeat,  too,  that  I  intended  to  make  as  strong  a  motion  in  this  case  as 
the  circumstances  would  justify.  It  is  necessary  that  we  should  use  every 
constitutional  effort  to  suppress  the^  agitation  which  now  disturbs  the  land. 
This  is  necessary,  as  much  for  the  happiness  and  future  prospects  of  the  slave 
as  for  the  security  of  the  master.  Before  this  storm  began  to  rage,  the  laws 
in  regard  to  slaves  had  been  greatly  ameliorated  by  the  slave-holding  States ; 
they  enjoyed  many  privileges  which  were  unknown  in  former  times.  In 
some  of  the  slave  States  prospective  and  gradual  emancipation  was  publicly 
and  seriously  discussed.  But  now,  thanks  to  the  abolitionists,  the  slaves  have 


330  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

been  deprived  of  these  privileges,  and  whilst  the  integrity  of  the  Union  is 
endangered,  their  prospect  of  final  emancipation  is  delayed  to  an  indefinite 
period.  To  leave  this  question  where  the  Constitution  has  left  it,  to  the 
slave-holding  States  themselves,  is  equally  dictated  by  a  humane  regard  for 
the  slave  as  well  as  for  their  masters. 

There  are  other  objections  to  the  reference  of  this  memorial  to  a  commit 
tee,  which  must,  I  think,  be  conclusive.  I  ask  the  Senate,  after  witnessing 
the  debate  upon  the  present  question,  to  what  conclusion  could  this  commit 
tee  arrive  ?  If  they  attempted  to  assert  any  principle  beyond  the  naked 
proposiiion  before  us,  that  the  prayer  of  the  memorialists  ought  not  to  be 
granted,  we  would  be  cast  into  a  labyrinth  of  difficulties.  It  would  be  con 
fusion  worse  confounded.  If  we  wish  to  obtain  a  strong  vote,  and  thus  at 
the  same  time  tranquilize  the  South  and  the  North  upon  this  exciting  topic, 
the  reference  of  it  to  a  committee  would  be  the  most  unfortunate  course 
which  we  could  adopt.  Senators  are  divided  into  four  classes  on  this  ques 
tion.  The  first  believe  that  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  District  would  be  a  vio 
lation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Should  the  committee 
recommend  any  proposition  of  a  less  decided  character,  these  Senators  would 
feel  it  to  be  their  duty  to  attempt  to  amend  it,  by  asserting  this  principle ;  and 
thus  we  should  excite  another  dangerous  and  unprofitable  debate.  The 
second  class,  although  they  may  not  believe  that  the  subject  is  constitutionally 
beyond  the  control  of  Congress,  yet  they  think  that  the  acts  of  cession  from 
Maryland  and  Virginia  to  the  United  States  forbid  us  to  act  upon  the  sub 
ject.  These  gentlemen  would  insist  upon  the  affirmance  of  this  proposition. 
The  third  class  would  not  go  as  far  as  either  of  the  former.  They  do  not  be 
lieve  that  the  subject  is  placed  beyond  the  power  of  Congress,  either  by  the 
Constitution  or  by  the  compacts  of  cession,  yet  they  are  as  firmly  opposed  to 
granting  the  prayer  of  the  petition,  whilst  slavery  continues  to  exist  in  Mary 
land  and  Virginia,  as  if  they  held  both  these  opinions.  They  know  that  these 
States  never  would  have  ceded  this  territory  of  ten  miles  square  to  the 
United  States  upon  any  other  condition,  if  it  had  entered  into  their  concep 
tion  that  Congress  would  make  an  attempt,  sooner  or  later,  to  convert  it  into 
a  free  district.  Besides,  they  are  convinced  that  to  exercise  this  power,  at  an 
earlier  period,  would  seriously  endanger  not  only  the  peace  and  harmony  of 
the  Union,  but  its  very  existence.  This  class  of  Senators,  whilst  they  enter 
tain  these  opinions,  which  ought  to  be  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  South, 
could  never  consent  to  vote  for  a  resolution  declaring  that  to  act  upon  the 
subject  would  be  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  or  of  the  compacts.  The 
fourth  class,  and  probably  not  the  least  numerous,  are  opposed  to  the  agita 
tion  of  the  question,  under  existing  circumstances,  and  will  vote  against  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  this  District  at  the  present  moment,  but  would  be  un 
willing  to  give  any  vote  which  might  pledge  them  for  the  future.  Here  are 
the  elements  of  discord.  Although  we  can  all,  or  nearly  all,  agree  in  the 
general  result,  yet  we  should  differ  essentially  in  the  means  of  arriving  at  it. 
The  politic  and  the  wise  course,  then,  is,  to  adopt  my  motion  that  the  prayer 


THE    RIGHT    OF   PETITION.  331 

of  the  memorialists  ought  to  be  rejected.  Each  gentleman  will  arrive  at  this 
conclusion  in  his  own  way.  Although  we  may  thus  travel  different  roads, 
we  will  all  reach  the  same  point.  Should  the  committee  go  one  step  further 
than  report  this  very  proposition,  we  should  at  once  be  separated  into  four 
divisions;  and  the  result  must  be  that  the  whole  subject  would  finally  be  laid 
upon  the  table,  and  thus  the  abolitionists  would  obtain  a  victory  over  the 
friends  of  the  Union  both  to  the  North  and  to  the  South. 

Before  I  made  the  motion  now  before  the  Senate,  I  deliberately  and 
anxiously  considered  all  these  embarrassing  difficulties.  At  the  first.  I  was 
under  the  impression  that  the  reference  of  this  subject  to  a  committee  would 
be  the  wisest  course.  In  view  of  all  the  difficulties,  however,  I  changed  my 
opinion :  and  I  am  now  willing,  most  cheerfully,  to  assume  all  the  responsi 
bility  which  may  rest  upon  me  for  having  made  this  motion. 

I  might  have  moved  to  lay  the  memorial  upon  the  table ;  but  I  did  not  be 
lieve  that  this  would  be  doing  that  justice  to  the  South  which  she  has  a  right 
to  demand  at  our  hands.  She  is  entitled  to  the  strongest  vote,  upon  the 
strongest  proposition,  which  gentlemen  can  give,  without  violating  their 
principles. 

I  have  but  a  few  more  words  to  say.  As  events  have  deprived  me  of  the 
occupation  assigned  to  me  by  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina  (Mr.  Mangum), 
I  feel  myself  at  liberty  to  invade  the  province  allotted  by  the  same  gentleman 
to  the  Senator  from  New  York  (Mr.  Wright),  and  to  defend  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  Albany  Regency.  In  this  I  am  a  mere  volunteer.  I  choose 
thus  to  act  because  Governor  Marcy  has  expressed  my  opinions  better  than  I 
could  do  myself. 

And  here,  permit  me  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  Southern  gentlemen 
who  are  not  satisfied  with  his  last  message,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  abolition 
ists,  are  very  unreasonable.  With  the  general  tone  and  spirit  of  that  message 
no  one  has  found  any  fault ;  no  one  can  justly  find  any  fault.  In  point  of 
fact,  it  is  not  even  liable  to  the  solitary  objection  which  has  been  urged 
against  it,  that  he  did  not  recommend  to  the  legislature  the  passage  of  a  law 
for  the  purpose  of  punishing  those  abolitionists  who,  in  that  State,  should 
attempt  to  excite  insurrection  and  sedition  in  the  slaveholding  States,  by  the 
circulation  of  inflammatory  publications  and  pictures.  It  is  true  that  he  does 
not  advise  the  immediate  passage  of  such  a  law,  but  this  was  because  he 
thought  public  opinion  would  be  sufficient  to  put  them  down.  He,  however, 
looks  to  it  as  eventually  proper,  in  case,  contrary  to  his  opinion,  such  a 
measure  should  become  necessary  to  arrest  the  evil.  He  expressly  asserts, 
and  clearly  proves,  that  the  legislature  possesses  the  power  to  pass  such  a  law. 
This  is  the  scope  and  spirit  of  his  message. 

Ought  he  to  have  recommended  the  immediate  passage  of  such  a  law  ?  I 
think  not.  The  history  of  mankind,  in  all  ages,  demonstrates  that  the  surest 
mode  of  giving  importance  to  any  sect,  whether  in  politics  or  religion,  is  to 
subject  its  members  to  persecution.  It  has  become  a  proverb,  that  "  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church."  By  persecution,  religious 


332  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

sects,  maintaining  doctrines  the  most  absurd  and  the  most  extravagant — 
doctrines  directly  at  war  with  the  pure  faith  and  principles  announced  to  the 
world  by  the  Divine  Author  of  our  religion,  have  been  magnified  into  import 
ance.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  State  in  this  Union  (unless  the  informa 
tion  which  we  have  received  from  the  Senators  from  Vermont  might  make 
that  State  an  exception),  where  penal  laws  of  the  character  proposed  would 
not  advance,  instead  of  destroying  the  cause  of  the  abolitionists.  I  feel  con 
fident  such  would  be  the  event  in  Pennsylvania.  Severe  legislation,  unless 
there  is  a  manifest  necessity  for  it,  is  always  prejudicial.  This  question  may 
be  safely  left  to  public  opinion,  which,  in  our  age,  and  in  our  country,  like  a 
mighty  torrent,  sweeps  away  error.  The  people,  although  they  may  some 
times  be  misled  in  the  beginning,  always  judge  correctly  in  the  end.  Let 
severe  penal  laws  on  this  subject  be  enacted  in  any  State — let  a  few  honest 
but  misguided  enthusiasts  be  prosecuted  under  them — let  them  be  tried  and 
punished  in  the  face  of  the  country,  and  you  will  thus  excite  the  sympathies 
of  the  people,  and  create  a  hundred  abolitionists  where  one  only  now  exists. 
Southern  gentlemen  have  no  right  to  doubt  our  sincerity  on  this  subject,  and 
they  ought  to  permit  us  to  judge  for  ourselves  as  to  the  best  mode  of  allaying 
the  excitement  which  they  believe  exists  among  ourselves. 

If  the  spirit  of  abolition  had  become  so  extensive  and  so  formidable  as 
some  gentlemen  suppose,  we  might  justly  be  alarmed  for  the  existence  of  this 
Union.  Comparatively  speaking,  I  believe  it  to  be  weak  and  powerless, 
though  it  is  noisy.  Without  excitement  got  up  here  or  elsewhere,  which  may 
continue  its  existence  for  some  time  longer,  it  will  pass  away  in  a  short 
period,  like  the  other  excitements  which  have  disturbed  the  public  mind,  and 
are  now  almost  forgotten. 

On  the  9th  of  March  (1836)  the  following  proceedings  took 
place : 

The  Senate  proceeded  to  consider  the  petition  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in 
Philadelphia,  on  the  subject  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

The  question  being  on  the  motion  "  that  the  petition  be  not  received  " — 
Mr.  Calhoun  addressed  the  Senate  in  reply  to  what  had  fallen  from  other 
Senators  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  Clay  made  a  few  remarks  in  explanation,  called  for  by  some  part  of 
the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina. 

The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  "  Shall  the 
petition  be  received  ?  "  and  decided  as  follows : 

Yeas,— Messrs.  Benton,  Brown,  Buchanan,  Clay,  Clayton,  Crittenden, 
Davis,  Ewing  of  111.,  Ewing  of  Ohio,  G oldsborough,  Grundy,  Hendricks, 
Hill,  Hubbard,  Kent,  King  of  Ala.,  King  of  Ga.,  Knight,  Linn,  McKean, 
Morris,  Naudain,  Niles,  Prentiss,  Bobbins,  Robinson,  Ruggles,  Shepley, 
Southard,  Swift,  Tallmadge,  Tipton,  Tomlmson,  Wall,  Webster,  Wright.— 36. 


THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION.  333 

Nays. — Messrs.  Black,  Calhoun,  Cuthbert,  Leigh,  Moore,  Nicholas,  Pres 
ton,  Porter,  Walker,  White.— 10. 

The  question  being  next  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  to  reject  the 
prayer  of  the  petition, 

Mr.  Clay  made  some  remarks  on  the  motion,  and  concluded  by  moving  to 
amend  it  by  adding  to  it : — 

For  the  Senate,  without  now  affirming  or  denying  the  constitutional 
power  of  Congress  to  grant  the  prayer  of  the  petition,  believes,  even  supposing 
the  power  uncontested.  which  it  is  not,  that  the  exercise  of  it  would  be 
inexpedient  • 

1st.  Because  the  people  of  the  District  of  Columbia  have  not  themselves 
petitioned  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  within  the  District. 

2d.  Because  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  would  be  injuriously 
affected  by  such  a  measure,  whilst  the  institution  of  slavery  continues  to 
subsist  within  their  respective  jurisdictions,  and  neither  of  these  States  would 
probably  have  ceded  to  the  United  States  the  territory  now  forming  the  Dis 
trict  if  it  had  anticipated  the  adoption  of  any  such  measure  without  clearly 
and  expressly  guarding  against  it.  And, 

3d.  Because  the  injury  which  would  be  inflicted  by  exciting  alarm  and 
apprehension  in  the  States  tolerating  slavery,  and  by  disturbing  the  harmony 
between  them  and  the  other  members  of  the  Confederacy,  would  far  exceed 
any  practical  benefit  which  could  possibly  flow  from  the  abolition  of  slavery 
within  the  District. 

Mr.  Porter  wished  more  time  to  reflect,  and  moved  to  lay  the  motion  on 
the  table,  but  withdrew  it  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Buchanan. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  that  some  remarks,  both  of  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun),  and  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Clay),  com 
pelled  him  to  make  a  few  observations  in  his  own  defence. 

Sir,  said  Mr.  B.,  I  rejoice  at  the  result  of  the  vote  which  has  this  day  been 
recorded.  It  will  forever  secure  to  the  citizens  of  this  country,  the  sacred  right 
of  petition.  The  question  has  now  been  finally  settled  by  a  decisive  vote  of 
the  Senate.  The  memorial  which  I  presented  from  a  portion  of  the  highly 
respectable  Society  of  Friends,  has  been  received  by  a  triumphant  majority. 
Another  happy  consequence  of  this  vote  is,  that  abolition  is  forever  separated 
from  the  right  of  petition.  The  abolitionists  will  now  never  be  able  to  con 
nect  their  cause  with  the  violation  of  a  right  so  justly  dear  to  the  people. 
They  must  now  stand  alone.  This  is  the  very  position  in  which  every  friend 
of  the  Union,  both  to  the  North  and  the  South,  ought  to  desire  to  see  them 
placed. 

From  the  remarks  which  have  just  been  made  by  the  Senators  from  South 
Carolina  and  Kentucky,  it  might  almost  be  supposed  that  my  motion  to  reject 
the  prayer  of  the  memorialists,  was  trifling  with  the  right  of  petition,  which, 
in  the  course  of  debate,  I  have  defended  with  all  my  power.  Is  there  the 
slightest  foundation  for  such  an  imputation  ? 

The  memorial  has  been  received  by  the  Senate,  and  has  been  read.   If  this 


334  LIFE    OF    JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

body  are  in  doubt  whether  they  will  grant  its  prayer — if  they  wish  further 
information  upon  this  subject  than  what  they  already  possess,  then  they  ought 
to  refer  it.  On  the  other  hand,  if  every  Senator  has  already  determined  how 
he  will  vote  upon  the  question,  why  send  the  memorial  to  a  committee  ?  It 
presents  but  one  simple  question  for  our  decision.  It  asks  us  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  My  motion  proposes  that  this  prayer 
shall  be  rejected.  Now,  is  it  not  self-evident  to  every  Senator  upon  this  floor, 
that  any  committee  which  can  be  formed  out  of  this  body,  will  arrive  at  the 
same  conclusion  ?  Why,  then,  refer  this  memorial  to  obtain  a  report,  when 
we  already  know  what  that  report  will  be  ?  Why  keep  the  question  open  for 
further  agitation  and  debate  ?  Should  it  be  referred  to  a  committee,  upon 
their  report,  we  shall  have  the  same  ground  to  travel  over  again  which  we 
have  been  treading  for  so  long  a  time.  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  when  a 
petition  is  presented  to  any  tribunal,  in  a  case  so  clear  as  not  to  require 
deliberation,  that  it  is  either  disrespectful  to  the  petitioners,  or  that  it  infringes 
the  right  of  petition,  to  decide  against  its  prayer  without  delay. 

But  in  this  case,  powerful  reasons  exist  why  the  memorial  ought  not  to  be 
referred.  Although  we  all  agree  that  slavery  ought  not  to  be  abolished  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  yet  we  arrive  at  this  conclusion  by  different  courses  of 
reasoning.  Before  I  presented  this  memorial,  I  endeavored  to  ascertain  from 
Senators  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  obtain  a  strong  vote  in  favor  of  any 
proposition  more  specific  in  its  terms  than  that  now  before  the  Senate.  I 
found  this  would  be  impossible.  I  then  made  the  motion  to  reject  the  prayer 
of  the  memorial,  after  much  deliberation. 

I  found  the  Senate  divided  upon  this  subject  into  four  sections.  One  por 
tion  was  opposed  to  the  prayer  of  the  memorial,  because,  in  their  opinion,  it 
would  be  unconstitutional  to  grant  it ;  another,  because  it  would  violate  our 
compacts  of  cession  with  Virginia  and  Maryland  ;  a  third,  because  it  would 
be  inexpedient  and  unjust  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  District,  whilst  it  exists  in 
the  surrounding  States ;  and  a  fourth,  who  were  unwilling  to  go  even  to  this 
extent,  but  who  equally  condemned  its  abolition  at  the  present  moment. 
Here  were  the  elements  of  discord.  Whilst  all,  or  nearly  all,  are  harmonious 
in  their  conclusion  that  the  prayer  of  the  petition  ought  not  to  be  granted, 
their  premises  are  far  different.  My  object  was  to  get  the  strongest  vote,  for 
the  purpose  of  calming  the  agitation,  both  to  the  South  and  to  the  Northf  In 
order  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  my  motion  must  be  one  on  which  the  largest 
majority  could  agree,  and  on  which  each  member  might  vote  for  his  own 
peculiar  reasons.  I  ask  what  motion  could  I  have  made,  so  well  calculated 
to  attain  the  end,  as  the  one  now  before  the  Senate  ? 

The  amendment  which  has  just  been  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  Ken 
tucky  will,  I  fear,  prove  to  be  the  apple  of  discord  in  this  body.  It  is  too 
strong  a  measure  for  one  portion  of  the  Senate,  whilst  it  is  too  weak  for 
another.  Those  who  believe  that  we  have  no  power  under  the  Constitution  to 
abolish  slavery  in  this  District,  will  not  vote  for  the  amendment,  because  it  does 
recognize  this  principle;  whilst  such  gentlemen  as  deem  it  inexpedient  at  the 


THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION.  335 

present  time  to  act  upon  the  subject,  but  who  do  not  wish  to  commit  them 
selves  for  the  future,  will  be  equally  opposed  to  the  reasons  which  this  amend 
ment  assigns.  For  my  own  part,  individually,  I  should  not  object  to  the 
amendment.  I  could  most  cheerfully  vote  for  all  the  principles  which  it  con 
tains.  If  I  believed  it  would  unite  in  its  favor  as  large  a  majority  of  the 
Senate  as  the  motion  which  I  have  made,  unaccompanied  by  these  reasons, 
it  should  have  my  support.  But  this,  I  am  convinced,  will  not  be  the  case  ; 
and  my  purpose  is  to  obtain  the  largest  vote  possible,  because  this  will  have 
the  strongest  influence  upon  public  opinion.  It  would  most  effectually  check 
the  agitation  upon  this  subject. 

Sir,  said  Mr.  B.,  this  question  of  domestic  slavery  is  the  weak  point  in  our 
institutions.  Tariffs  may  be  raised  almost  to  prohibition,  and  then  they  may 
be  reduced  so  as  to  yield  no  adequate  protection  to  the  manufacturer ;  our 
Union  is  sufficiently  strong  to  endure  the  shock.  Fierce  political  storms  may 
arise — the  moral  elements  of  the  country  may  be  convulsed  by  the  struggles 
of  ambitious  men  for  the  highest  honors  of  the  Government — the  sunshine 
does  not  more  certainly  succeed  the  storm,  than  that  all  will  again  be  peace. 
Touch  this  question  of  slavery  seriously — let  it  once  be  made  manifest  to  the 
people  of  the  South  that  they  cannot  live  with  us,  except  in  a  state  of  con 
tinual  apprehension  and  alarm  for  their  wives  and  their  children,  for  all  that 
is  near  and  dear  to  them  upon  the  earth, — and  the  Union  is  from  that 
moment  dissolved.  It  does  not  then  become  a  question  of  expediency,  but 
of  self-preservation.  It  is  a  question  brought  home  to  the  fireside,  to  the 
domestic  circle  of  every  white  man  in  the  Southern  States.  This  day,  this  dark 
and  gloomy  day  for  the  Republic,  will,  I  most  devoutly  trust  and  believe, 
never  arrive.  Although,  in  Pennsylvania,  we  are  all  opposed  to  slavery  in 
the  abstract,  yet  we  will  never  violate  the  constitutional  compact  which  we 
have  made  with  our  sister  States.  Their  rights  will  be  held  sacred  by  us. 
Under  the  Constitution  it  is  their  own  question ;  and  there  let  it  remain. 

Mr.  Preston  said  there  may  be  other  reasons ;  he  had  some  which  were 
stronger  than  those  assigned,  and  he  should  vote  against  these,  which  con 
tained  a  negative  pregnant,  looking  to  a  state  of  things  when  Congress  could 
act  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  Porter  said  one  of  his  reasons  for  wishing  to  lay  on  the  table  the 
amendment  was,  that  he  might  examine  and  ascertain  if  such  reasons  as 
would  be  satisfactory  to  him,  so  as  to  command  his  vote,  could  be  assigned. 
Pie  renewed  his  motion,  and  again  withdrew  it ;  when 

Mr.  Clay  stated  that  he  had  no  objection  to  let  the  amendment  lie  for 
further  examination. 

After  a  few  words  from  Mr.  Cuthbert,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Morris,  the 
Senate  adjourned. 

On  the  llth  of  March,  the  following  proceedings  occurred : 

Mr.  Leigh  rose,  and  said  that,  in  pursuance  of  the  promise  which  he  yester 
day  made  to  the  Senate  to  move  to  resume  the  consideration  of  the  abolition 


336  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

petition  at  the  earliest  moment  that  he  should  have  decided  what  course  his 
duty  required  him  to  pursue  in  regard  to  the  amendment  which  he  yesterday 
offered  to  the  motion  for  rejection,  now  moved  that  the  Senate  take  up  that 
subject. 

The  motion  having  been  agreed  to,  Mr.  Leigh  withdrew  the  amendment 
offered  by  him  yesterday ;  and  the  question  recurred  on  Mr.  Buchanan's 
motion  that  the  prayer  of  the  petition  be  rejected. 

[The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  petition : 

To  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  EEPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

The  memorial  of  Cain  Quarterly  Meeting  of  the  Religious  Society  of 
Friends,  commonly  called  Quakers,  respectfully  represents :  That,  having  long 
felt  deep  sympathy  with  that  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  United  States 
which  is  held  in  bondage,  and  having  no  doubt  that  the  happiness  and 
interests,  moral  and  pecuniary,  of  both  master  and  slave,  and  our  whole  com 
munity,  would  be  greatly  promoted  if  the  inestimable  right  to  liberty  was 
extended  equally  to  all,  we  contemplate  with  extreme  regret  that  the  District 
of  Columbia,  over  which  you  possess  entire  control,  is  acknowledged  to  be 
one  of  the  greatest  marts  for  the  traffic  in  the  persons  of  human  beings  in 
the  known  world,  notwithstanding  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  declare 
that  all  men  have  an  unalienable  right  to  the  blessing  of  liberty. 

We  therefore  earnestly  desire  that  you  will  enact  such  laws  as  will  secure 
the  right  of  freedom  to  every  human  being  residing  within  the  constitutional 
jurisdiction  of  Congress,  and  prohibit  every  species  of  traffic  in  the  persons 
of  men,  which  is  as  inconsistent  in  principle,  and  inhuman  in  practice,  as  the 
foreign  slave  trade. 

Signed  by  direction,  and  on  behalf  of  the  aforesaid  quarterly  meeting,  held 
in  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania,  the  19th  of  11  mo.,  1835. 

LINDLET  COATS, 
ESTHER  HAYES, 

Clerks.] 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered  on  the  question  of  rejection. 

Mr.  McKean  moved  to  amend  the  motion  by  striking  out  all  after  the  word 
"  that" — (namely,  the  words  "  the  prayer  of  the  petition  to  be  rejected,")  and 
inserting  "  it  is  inexpedient  at  this  time  to  legislate  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia." 

On  this  question  the  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered,  on  his  motion. 

The  question  being  taken,  it  was  decided  as  follows : 

Yeas — Messrs.  Hendricks,  McKean — 2. 

Nays — Messrs.  Benton,  Black,  Brown,  Buchanan,  Clay,  Crittenden,  Cuth- 
bert,  Davis,  Ewing  of  Illinois,  Ewing  of  Ohio,  Goldsborough,  Grundy,  Hill, 
Hubbard,  King  of  Alabama,  King  of  Georgia,  Knight,  Leigh,  Linn,  Nicholas, 
Niles,  Porter,  Prentiss,  Preston,  Bobbins,  Robinson,  Ruggles,  Shepley,  Swift, 
Tallmadge,  Tipton,  Tomlinson,  Walker,  Wall,  Webster,  White,  Wright— 37. 

Mr.  McKean  moved  to  amend  the  motion  by  inserting  between  the  first 


THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION. 


word  "  that "  and  the  words  "  the  prayer  of  the  petition  be  rejected,"  the 
words  "  inexpedient  to  legislate  on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  that." 

On  this  question  he  called  for  the  yeas  and  nays,  which  were  ordered. 

The  question  was  then  taken,  and  decided  as  follows : 

Yeas — Messrs.  Ewing  of  Ohio,  Hendricks,  McKean — 3. 

Nays — Messrs.  Benton,  Black,  Brown,  Buchanan,  Clay,  Crittenden,  Cuth- 
bert,  Davis,  Ewing  of  Illinois,  Goldsborpugh,  Grundy,  Hill,  Hubbard,  King 
of  Alabama,  King  of  Georgia,  Knight,  Leigh,  Linn,  Moore,  Niles,  Nicholas, 
Preston,  Porter,  Bobbins,  Robinson,  Euggles,  Shepley,  Swift,  Tallmadge, 
Tipton,  Tomlinson,  Walker,  Wall,  Webster,  White,  Wright— 36. 

The  question  being  on  the  original  motion  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  "  that  the 
prayer  of  the  petition  be  rejected  " — 

Mr.  McKean  said  that,  in  offering  the  amendments  which  he  had  proposed, 
he  had  discharged  his  conscience  of  an  imperative  duty.  It  had  pleased  the 
Senate  to  reject  these  amendments,  and,  as  he  was  thus  deprived  of  the 
power  of  making  the  motion  more  palatable,  all  that  he  could  now  do  was  to 
vote  for  the  proposition  of  his  colleague. 

Same  day,  after  debate. — The  question  was  then  taken  on  the  motion  to 
reject  the  prayer  of  the  petition,  and  decided  as  follows : 

Yeas — Messrs.  Benton,  Black,  Brown,  Buchanan,  Clay,  Crittenden,  Cuth- 
bert,  Ewing  of  Illinois,  Ewing  of  Ohio,  Goldsborough,  Grundy,  Hill, 
Hubbard,  King  of  Alabama,  King  of  Georgia,  Leigh,  Linn,  McKean,  Moore, 
Nicholas,  Niles,  Porter,  Preston,  Bobbins,  Robinson,  Ruggles,  Shepley,  Tall 
madge,  Tipton,  Tomlinson,  Walker,  Wall,  White,  Wright— 34. 

Nays — Messrs.  Davis,  Hendricks,  Knight,  Prentiss,  Swift,  Webster — 6. 

So  the  prayer  of  the  petition  was  rejected. 

On  the  25th  of  April,  Mr.  Buchanan  presented  a  petition 
from  the  Society  of  Friends,  in  Philadelphia,  on  which  he  said: 

He  rose  to  present  the  memorial  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  religious 
Society  of  Friends,  which  had  been  recently  held  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
remonstrating  against  the  admission  of  Arkansas  into  the  Union,  whilst  a 
provision  remained  in  her  constitution  which  admits  of  and  may  perpetuate 
slavery.  This  Yearly  Meeting  embraced  within  its  jurisdiction  the  greater 
part  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  the  whole  of  the  State  of  Delaware, 
and  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland.  The  language  of  this  memorial  was 
perfectly  respectful.  Indeed,  it  could  not  be  otherwise,  considering  the 
source  from  which  it  emanated.  It  breathed  throughout  the  pure  and 
Christian  spirit  which  had  always  animated  the  Society  of  Friends;  and 
although  he  did  not  concur  with  them  in  opinion,  their  memorial  was  entitled 
to  be  received  with  great  respect. 

When  the  highly  respectable  committee,*  which  had  charge  of  this  memorial, 

*  Dr.  Parrish,  Wm.  Wharton,  Joseph  Fonlkc. 
I.— 22 


338  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

called  upon  him  this  morning,  and  requested  him  to  present  it  to  the  Senate,  he 
had  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  inform  them  in  what  relation  he  stood  to  the  question. 
He  stated  to  them  that  he  had  been  requested  by  the  delegate  from  Arkansas  to 
take  charge  of  the  application  of  that  Territory  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union, 
and  that  he  had  cheerfully  taken  upon  himself  the  performance  of  this  duty. 
He  also  read  to  them  the  8th  section  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  6th  March,  1820, 
containing  the  famous  Missouri  compromise;  and  informed  them  that  the 
whole  Territory  of  Arkansas  was  south  of  the  parallel  of  36  degrees  and  a  half 
of  north  latitude ;  and  that  he  regarded  this  compromise,  considering  the  excit 
ing  and  alarming  circumstances  under  which  it  was  made,  and  the  dangers  to 
the  existence  of  the  Union  which  it  had  removed,  to  be  almost  as  sacred  as  a 
constitutional  provision.  That  there  might  be  no  mistake  on  the  subject,  he 
had  also  informed  them  that  in  presenting  their  memorial  he  should  feel  it  to 
be  his  duty  to  state  these  facts  to  the  Senate.  With  this  course  on  his  part 
they  were  satisfied,  and  still  continued  their  request  that  he  might  present 
the  memorial.  He  now  did  so  with  great  pleasure.  He  hoped  it  might  be 
received  by  the  Senate  with  all  the  respect  it  so  highly  deserved.  He  asked 
that  it  might  be  read ;  and  as  the  question  of  the  admission  of  Arkansas  was 
no  longer  before  us,  he  moved  that  it  might  be  laid  upon  the  table.  The 
memorial  was  accordingly  read,  and  was  ordered  to  be  laid  upon  the  table. 

Tlie  next  time  that  the  subject  of  slavery  came  before  the 
Senate  was  in  June,  1836.  It  then  arose  upon  a  bill  which  had 
been  proposed  in  conformity  with  a  special  recommendation  by 
President  Jackson,  in  his  annual  message  of  December,  1835, 
to  restrain  the  use  of  the  mails  for  the  circulation  of  incendiary 
publications.  The  bill  contained  the  following  provisions  : 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  deputy  postmaster, 
in  any  State,  Territory,  or  District  of  the  United  States,  knowingly  to  deliver 
to  any  person  whatever,  any  pamphlet,  newspaper,  handbill,  or  other  printed 
paper  or  pictorial  representation  touching  the  subject  of  slavery,  where,  by 
the  laws  of  the  said  State,  Territory,  or  District,  their  circulation  is  prohibited; 
and  any  deputy  postmaster  who  shall  be  guilty  thereof,  shall  be  forthwith 
removed  from  office. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  nothing  in  the  acts  of  Congress  to 
establish  and  regulate  the  Post  Office  Department,  shall  be  construed  to  pro 
tect  any  deputy  postmaster,  mail  carrier,  or  other  officer  or  agent  of  said 
department,  who  shall  knowingly  circulate  in  any  State,  Territory,  or  District, 
as  aforesaid,  any  such  pamphlet,  newspaper,  handbill,  or  other  printed  paper 
or  pictorial  representation,  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  such  State,  Territory,  or 
District. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That  the 
deputy  postmasters  of  the  offices  where  the  pamphlets,  newspapers,  handbills, 


INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS.  339 

or  other  printed  papers  or  pictorial  representations  aforesaid,  may  arrive  for 
delivery,  shall,  under  the  instructions  of  the  Postmaster  General,  from  time  to 
time  give  notice  of  the  same,  so  that  they  may  be  withdrawn,  by  the  person 
who  deposited  them  originally  to  be  mailed,  and  if  the  same  shall  not  be 
withdrawn  in  one  month  thereafter,  shall  be  burnt  or  otherwise  destroyed. 

This  bill,  on  the  2d  of  June,  1836,  was  ordered  to  be  en 
grossed  and  read  a  third  time,  by  the  casting  vote  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  the  Vice-President.  On  the  8th  of  June  the  following 
debate  and  proceedings  took  place : 

Mr.  Webster  addressed  the  Senate  at  length  in  opposition  to  the  bill,  com 
mencing  his  argument  against  what  he  contended  was  its  vagueness  and  ob 
scurity  in  not  sufficiently  defining  what  were  the  publications,  the  circulation 
of  which  it  intended  to  prohibit.  The  bill  provided  that  it  should  not  be  law 
ful  for  any  deputy  postmaster,  in  any  State,  Territory,  or  District  of  the 
United  States,  knowingly  to  deliver  to  any  person  whatever,  any  pamphlet, 
newspaper,  handbill,  or  other  printed  matter  or  pictorial  representation, 
touching  the  subject  of  slavery,  where  by  the  laws  of  said  State,  District,  or 
Territory,  their  circulation  was  prohibited.  Under  this  provision  Mr.  W. 
contended  that  it  was  impossible  to  say  what  publications  might  not  be  pro 
hibited  from  circulation.  No  matter  what  was  the  publication,  whether  for 
or  against  slavery — if  it  touched  the  subject  in  any  shape  or  form,  it  would 
fall  under  the  prohibition.  Even  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  might 
be  prohibited ;  and  the  person  who  was  clothed  with  the  power  to  judge  in 
this  delicate  matter  was  one  of  the  deputy  postmasters  who,  notwithstanding 
the  difficulties  with  which  he  was  encompassed  in  coming  to  a  correct  decision 
must  decide  correctly,  under  pain  of  being  removed  from  office.  It  would 
be  necessary,  also,  he  said,  for  the  deputy  postmasters  referred  to  in  this 
bill  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  all  the  various  laws  passed  by  the 
States,  touching  this  subject  of  slavery,  and  to  decide  them,  no  matter  how 
variant  they  might  be  with  each  other.  Mr.  W.  also  contended  that  the  bill 
conflicted  with  that  provision  in  the  Constitution  which  prohibited  Congress 
from  passing  any  law  to  abridge  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press.  What 
was  the  liberty  of  the  press?  he  asked.  It  was  the  liberty  of  printing  as 
well  as  the  liberty  of  publishing,  in  all  the  ordinary  modes  of  publication  ; 
and  was  not  the  circulation  of  the  papers  through  the  mails  an  ordinary  mode 
of  publication  ?  He  was  afraid  that  they  were  in  some  danger  of  taking  a 
step  in  this  matter,  that  they  might  hereafter  have  cause  to  regret,  by  its 
bemg  contended  that  whatever  in  this  bill  applies  to  publications  touching 
slavery,  applies  to  other  publications  that  the  States  might  think  proper  to 
prohibit ;  and  Congress  might,  under  this  example,  be  called  upon  to  pass  laws 
to  suppress  the  circulation  of  political,  religious,  or  any  other  description  of 
publications,  which  produced  excitement  in  the  States.  Was  this  bill  ia 
accordance  with  the  general  force  and  temper  of  the  Constitution  and  its 


340  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

amendments?  It  was  not  in  accordance  with  that  provision  of  the  instru 
ment,  under  which  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  was  secured. 
Whatever  laws  the  State  Legislatures  might  pass  on  the  subject,  Congress 
was  restrained  from  legislating  in  any  manner  whatever,  with  regard  to  the 
press.  It  would  be  admitted,  that  if  a  newspaper  came  directed  to  him,  he 
had  a  property  in  it ;  and  how  could  any  man,  then,  take  that  property  and 
burn  it  without  due  form  of  law  ?  and  he  did  not  know  how  this  newspaper 
could  be  pronounced  an  unlawful  publication  and  having  no  property  in  it, 
without  a  legal  trial. 

Mr.  W.  argued  against  the  right  to  examine  into  the  nature  of  publications 
sent  to  the  post-office,  and  said  that  the  right  of  an  individual  in  his  papers, 
was  secured  to  him  in  every  free  country  in  the  world.  In  England,  it  was 
expressly  provided  that  the  papers  of  the  subject  shall  be  free  from  all  unreason 
able  searches  and  seizures — language,  he  said,  to  be  found  in  our  Constitution. 
This  principle  established  in  England,  so  essential  to  liberty,  had  been  fol 
lowed  out  in  France,  where  the  right  of  printing  and  publishing  was  secured 
in  the  fullest  extent ;  the  individual  publishing  being  amenable  to  the  laws 
for  what  he  published  ;  and  every  man  printed  and  published  what  he  pleased, 
at  his  peril.  Mr.  W.  went  on  at  some  length  to  show  that  the  bill  was  con 
trary  to  that  provision  of  the  Constitution,  which  prohibits  Congress  to  pass 
any  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said,  that  as  he  had  voted  for  the  engrossment  of  this  bill, 
and  should  vote  for  its  final  passage,  he  felt  himself  bound  to  defend  and 
justify  his  vote  against  the  argument  of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  (Mr. 
Webster).  In  doing  so,  he  would  imitate  that  Senator,  if  in  no  other  respect, 
at  least  in  being  brief. 

It  is  indispensable  to  the  clear  and  distinct  understanding  of  any  argu 
ment,  to  know  precisely  what  is  the  question  under  discussion.  Without  this 
knowledge,  we  cannot  tell  whether  in  any  or  what  degree  the  argument  is 
applicable  to  the  subject.  What,  then,  is  the  naked  question  now  under  dis 
cussion,  stripped  of  all  the  mist  which  has  been  cast  around  it  ?  This  bill 
embraced  but  a  single  principle,  though  this  principle  was  carried  out  through 
three  sections.  It  provides  that  deputy  postmasters,  within  the  limits  of  such 
slaveholding  States  as  have  found  it  necessary  for  their  own  safety  to  pass 
laws  making  it  penal  to  circulate  inflammatory  publications  and  pictorial  repre 
sentations  calculated  to  excite  the  slaves  to  insurrection,  shall  not  be  protected 
by  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  in  violating  these  State  laws.  Postmasters 
within  these  States  who  shall  knowingly  distribute  such  publications  are  liable 
to  be  removed  from  office.  The  bill  also  provides  that  the  post-office  laws  of 
the  United  States  shall  not  protect  postmasters,  mail  carriers,  or  other  officers 
or  agents  of  the  department  who  shall  knowingly  circulate  such  incendiary 
publications,  from  the  penalties  denounced  against  this  offence  under  the  laws 
of  the  States.  This  is  the  spirit  and  principle  of  the  bill.  It  does  no  more 
than  to  withdraw  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  establishing 
the  Post  Office  Department,  from  postmasters  and  other  agents  of  this 


INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS.  341 

Government  who  shall  wilfully  transgress  State  laws  deemed  absolutely 
necessary  to  secure  the  States,  within  which  they  exist,  from  servile  insur 
rection. 

This  bill  did  not  affect,  in  the  slightest  degree,  any  of  the  non-slaveholding 
States.  Neither  did  it  apply  to  any  of  the  slaveholding  States,  except  those 
within  which  the  danger  of  insurrection  had  become  so  imminent  as  to  com 
pel  them  to  pass  laws  of  the  character  referred  to  in  the  bill. 

Of  the  policy  and  justice  of  passing  such  a  bill  he  could  not  doubt,  provided 
we  possess  the  power.  No  person  would  contend  that  this  Government 
ought  to  become  the  instrument  of  exciting  insurrection  within  any  of  the 
States,  unless  we  were  constrained  to  pursue  this  course  by  an  overruling 
constitutional  necessity.  The  question  then  is,  does  any  such  necessity  exist  ? 
Are  we  bound  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  through  our  post- 
offices,  to  circulate  publications  among  the  slaves,  the  direct  tendency  of 
which  is  to  excite  their  passions  and  rouse  them  to  insurrection  ?  Have  we 
no  power  to  stay  our  hand  in  any  case  ?  Even  if  a  portion  of  this  Union 
were  in  a  state  of  open  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  must  we  aid  and 
assist  the  rebels  by  communicating  to  them,  through  our  Post  Office  Depart 
ment,  such  publications  and  information  as  may  encourage  and  promote  their 
designs  against  the  very  existence  of  the  confederacy  itself?  If  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  has  placed  us  in  this  deplorable  condition,  we  must 
yield  to  its  mandates,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  consequences. 

Mr.  B.  did  not  believe  that  the  Constitution  placed  us  in  any  such  position. 
Our  power  over  the  mails  was  as  broad  and  general  as  any  words  in  the 
English  language  could  confer.  The  Constitution  declares  that  "Congress 
shall  have  power  to  establish  post-offices  and  post  roads."  This  is  the  only 
provision  which  it  contains  touching  the  subject.  After  the  establishment  of 
these  post-offices  and  post  roads,  who  shall  decide  upon  the  purposes  for 
which  they  shall  be  used?  He  answered,  Congress,  and  Congress  alone. 
There  was  no  limitation,  no  restriction,  whatever,  upon  our  discretion  con 
tained  in  the  bond.  We  have  the  power  to  decide  what  shall  and  what  shall 
not  be  carried  in  the  mail,  and  what  shall  be  the  rate  of  postage.  He  freely 
admitted  that,  unless  in  extreme  cases,  where  the  safety  of  the  Republic  was 
involved,  we  should  never  exercise  this  power  of  discrimination  between 
what  papers  should  and  should  not  be  circulated  through  the  mail.  The 
Constitution,  however,  has  conferred  upon  us  this  general  power,  probably 
for  the  very  purpose  of  meeting  these  extreme  cases;  and  it  is  one  which, 
from  its  delicate  nature,  we  shall  not  be  likely  to  abuse. 

He  differed  entirely  from  the  opinion  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina 
(Mr.  Calhoun),  as  to  the  source  whence  the  power  was  derived  to  pass  this 
bill.  No  action  of  the  State  legislatures  could  either  confer  it  or  take  it 
away.  It  was  perfect  and  complete  in  itself  under  the  Federal  Constitution, 
or  it  had  no  existence.  With  that  Senator  he  entirely  concurred  in  opinion, 
that  the  sedition  law  was  clearly  unconstitutional.  Congress  have  no  power  to 
abridge  the  freedom  of  the  press,  or  to  pass  any  law  to  prevent  or  to  punish 


342  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

any  publication  whatever.  He  understood  the  freedom  of  the  press  to  mean 
precisely  what  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had  stated.  But  does  it 
follow,  as  the  gentleman  contends,  that  because  we  have  no  power  over  the 
press,  that  therefore  we  are  bound  to  carry  and  distribute  anything  and  every, 
thing  which  may  proceed  from  it,  even  if  it  should  be  calculated  to  stir  up 
insurrection  or  to  destroy  the  Government  ?  So  far  as  this  Government  is 
concerned,  every  person  may  print,  and  publish,  and  circulate  whatever  he 
pleases ;  but  are  we,  therefore,  compelled  to  become  nis  agents,  and  to  circu 
late  for  him  everything  he  may  choose  to  publish  ?  This  is  the  question. 
Any  gentleman  upon  this  floor  may  write  what  he  thinks  proper  against  my 
character ;  but  because  he  can  exercise  this  liberty,  am  I  therefore  bound  to 
carry  and  to  circulate  what  he  has  written  ?  So  any  individual  within  the 
broad  limits  of  this  Union,  without  previous  restraint  and  without  danger  of 
punishment  from  the  Federal  Government,  may  publish  what  is  calculated  to 
aid  and  assist  the  enemies  of  the  country  in  open  war ;  but  does  it  follow,  as 
a  necessary  consequence,  that  this  very  Government  is  bound  to  carry  and 
circulate  such  publications  through  its  mails  ?  A  more  perfect  non  sequitur 
never  had  been  presented  to  his  mind.  It  was  one  thing  not  to  restrain  or 
punish  publications ;  it  was  another  and  an  entirely  different  thing  to  carry 
and  circulate  them  after  they  have  been  published.  The  one  is  merely  passive ; 
the  other  is  active.  It  was  one  thing  to  leave  our  citizens  entirely  free  to 
print  and  publish  and  circulate  what  they  pleased  ;  and  it  was  another  thing 
to  call  upon  us  to  aid  in  their  circulation.  From  the  prohibition  to  make  any 
law  "  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press,"  it  could  never  be 
inferred  that  we  must  provide  by  law  for  the  circulation  through  the  post- 
office  of  everything  which  the  press  might  publish.  And  yet  this  is  the 
argument  both  of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  and  the  Senator  from 
South  Carolina.  If  this  argument  were  well  founded,  it  was  very  clear  to  his 
mind,  that  no  State  law  could  confer  upon  Congress  any  power  to  pass  this 
bill.  We  derived  our  powers  from  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  from  that 
alone.  If,  under  its  provisions,  we  have  had  no  authority  to  pass  the  bill,  we 
could  derive  jio  such  authority  from  the  laws  of  the  States. 

Why,  then,  did  Mr.  B.  vote  for  a  bill  to  prevent  the  circulation  of  publica 
tions  prohibited  by  State  laws  ?  Not  because  we  derived  any  power  from 
these  laws ;  but,  under  the  circumstances,  they  contained  the  best  rule  to 
guide  us  in  deciding  what  publications  were  dangerous.  The  States  were  the 
best  judges  of  what  was  necessary  for  their  own  safety  and  protection ;  and 
they  would  not  call  for  the  passage  of  this  bill,  unless  they  were  firmly  con 
vinced  that  the  situation  in  which  they  were  placed  imperiously  demanded  it. 
They  were  willing  to  submit  to  a  great  evil  in  depriving  themselves  of  infor 
mation  which  might  be  valuable  to  them,  in  order  to  avoid  the  still  greater 
evil  that  would  result  from  the  circulation  of  these  publications  and  pictorial 
representations  among  their  slaves.  Such  a  law  would  not  be  permitted  to 
exist  after  the  necessity  for  it  had  ended.  He  was  therefore  willing,  upon 
this  occasion,  to  refer  to  the  laws  of  the  States,  not  for  the  purpose  of 


INCENDIARY  PUBLICATIONS.  343 

conferring  any  power  on  Congress,  but  merely  for  a  description  of  the  pub 
lications  which  it  should  be  unlawful  for  our  deputy-postmasters  within  these 
States  to  circulate. 

This  bill  was  in  strict  conformity  with  the  recommendations  contained  in 
the  President's  message  on  this  subject,  which  had,  he  believed,  found  favor 
everywhere.  The  principles  of  this  message,  which  had  been  pronounced 
unconstitutional  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun),  had,  he 
believed,  been  highly  commended  in  a  resolution  passed  by  the  legislature  of 
that  State.  He  would  read  an  extract  from  the  President's  message  : 

"  In  connection  with  these  provisions  in  relation  to  the  Post  Office  Depart 
ment,  I  must  also  invite  your  attention  to  the  painful  excitement  produced  in 
the  South,  by  attempts  to  circulate  through  the  mails  inflammatory  appeals 
addressed  to  the  passions  of  the  slaves,  in  prints,  and  in  various  sorts  of  pub 
lications,  calculated  to  stimulate  them  to  insurrection,  and  to  produce  all  the 
horrors  of  a  servile  war. 

"  There  is,  doubtless,  no  respectable  portion  of  our  countrymen  who  can 
be  so  far  misled  as  to  feel  any  other  sentiment  than  that  of  indignant  regret 
at  conduct  so  destructive  of  the  harmony  and  peace  of  the  country,  and  so 
repugnant  to  the  principles  of  our  national  compact,  and  to  the  dictates  of 
humanity  and  religion.  Our  happiness  and  prosperity  essentially  depend 
upon  peace  within  our  borders — and  peace  depends  upon  the  maintenance,  in 
good  faith,  of  those  compromises  of  the  Constitution  upon  which  the  Union 
is  founded.  It  is  fortunate  for  the  country  that  the  good  sense,  the  generous 
feeling,  and  the  deep-rooted  attachment  of  the  people  of  the  non-slaveholding 
States  to  the  Union,  and  to  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  same  blood  in  the 
South,  have  given  so  strong  and  impressive  a  tone  to  the  sentiments  enter 
tained  against  the  proceedings  of  the  misguided  persons  who  have  engaged  in 
these  unconstitutional  and  wicked  attempts,  and  especially  against  the 
emissaries  from  foreign  parts  who  have  dared  to  interfere  in  this  matter,  as  to 
authorize  the  hope,  that  those  attempts  will  no  longer  be  persisted  in.  But 
if  these  expressions  of  the  public  will  shall  not  be  sufficient  to  effect  so  desir 
able  a  result,  not  a  doubt  can  be  entertained  that  the  non-slaveholding  State?, 
so  far  from  countenancing  the  slightest  interference  with  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  South,  will  be  prompt  to  exercise  their  authority  in  suppressing, 
so  far  as  in  them  lies,  whatever  is  calculated  to  produce  this  evil. 

"  In  leaving  the  care  of  other  branches  of  this  interesting  subject  to  the 
State  authorities,  to  whom  they  properly  belong,  it  is  nevertheless  proper  for 
Congress  to  take  such  measures  as  will  prevent  the  Post  Office  Department, 
which  was  designed  to  foster  an  amicable  intercourse  and  correspondence 
between  all  the  members  of  the  confederacy,  from  being  used  as  an  instru 
ment  of  an  opposite  character.  The  General  Government,  to  which  the  great 
trust  is  confided,  of  preserving  inviolate  the  relations  created  among  the 
States  by  the  Constitution,  is  especially  bound  to  avoid  in  its  own  action,  any 
thing  that  may  disturb  them.  I  would,  therefore,  call  the  special  attention  of 
Congress  to  the  subject,  and  respectfully  suggest  the  propriety  of  passing  such 


344  LiB^E    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

a  law  as  will  prohibit,  under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation  in  the  Southern 
States,  through  the  mail,  of  incendiary  publications  intended  to  instigate  the 
slaves  to  insurrection." 

In  reply  to  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  B.  said,  that  he  did  not  think  there  was  any 
vagueness  in  that  part  of  the  bill  on  which  the  gentleman  had  commented, 
except  what  arose  from  the  nature  of  the  subject.  It  is  vague,  says  the 
gentleman,  because  it  contains  no  description  of  the  publications,  the  circula 
tion  of  which  it  intends  to  prohibit,  except  the  words  "  touching  the  subject 
of  slavery."  On  this  foundation  he  had  erected  a  considerable  portion  of  his 
argument.  Mr.  B.  acknowledged  that  if  the  bill  contained  no  other  descrip 
tion  than  this,  it  would  be  impossible  to  carry  it  into  execution.  But  this 
was  not  the  fact.  The  subsequent  language  restricted  this  vague  description ; 
because  it  confined  the  operation  of  the  bill  to  such  publications  only, 
"  touching  the  subject  of  slavery,"  as  were  prohibited  from  circulation  by  the 
laws  of  the  respective  States. 

We  have,  said  Mr.  B.,  wisely  and  properly  referred,  for  the  description  of 
the  offence,  to  the  laws  of  the  different  States  which  will  be  embraced  by  the 
bill.  It  was  just — it  was  politic — it  was  treating  those  States  with  a  proper 
degree  of  respect,  to  make  our  law  conform  with  their  laws,  and  thus  to  take 
care  that  no  conflict  should  arise  between  our  deputy  postmasters  and  their 
State  authorities.  Could  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  himself  make  the 
bill  more  explicit?  He  could  not  do  it,  consistently  with  the  principles  upon 
which  it  was  founded,  without  incorporating  into  its  provisions  all  the  laws 
of  all  the  States  who  had  thought  proper  to  pass  laws  upon  this  subject. 
Our  deputy  postmasters  were  resident  citizens  of  those  States.  They  were 
bound  to  know  the  State  laws  under  which  they  lived,  and  all  that  this  bill 
requires  is,  that  they  shall  not  violate  them. 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  has  contended  that  any  newspaper  which 
had  been  sent  to  an  individual  by  mail,  and  was  deposited  in  a  post-office,  was 
his  property;  and  we  had,  therefore,  no  right  to  say  it  should  not  be 
delivered.  But  this  was  begging  the  question.  It  was  taking  that  for  granted 
which  remained  to  be  proved.  If  Congress,  as  he  (Mr.  B.)  had  contended, 
possessed  the  incontestable  power  of  declaring  what  should  and  what  should 
not  be  circulated  through  the  mails,  no  man  could  have  the  right  to 
demand  from  any  post-office  that  which  the  law  had  declared  should  not  thus 
be  circulated.  If  we  can,  without  violating  the  Constitution,  say  that  these 
inflammatory  publications  tending  to  excite  servile  war  shall  not  be  distri 
buted  by  our  postmasters  among  the  individuals  to  whom  they  are  directed, 
no  question  of  property  could  then  arise.  No  man  can  have  a  property  in 
that  which  is  a  violation  of  the  law.  It  then  becomes  a  question,  not  of 
property,  but  of  public  safety.  Admit  the  gentleman's  premises,  that  we  have 
no  right  to  pass  any  law  upon  this  subject,  and  he  can  establish  his  position 
that  a  property  exists  in  those  publications  whilst  in  the  post-offices.  With 
out  this  admission,  his  argument  entirely  fails. 

He  felt  as  reluctant  as  any  man  could  feel,  to  vote  for  any  law  interfering 


INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS.  345 

with  the  circulation  through  the  mails  of  any  publication  whatever,  no  matter 
what  might  be  its  character.  But  if  the  slaves  within  any  Southern  State 
were  in  rebellion,  or  if  a  palpable  or  well-founded  danger  of  such  a  rebellion 
existed,  with  his  present  convictions,  should  he  refuse  to  prevent  the  circula 
tion  of  publications  tending  to  encourage  or  excite  insurrection,  he  would 
consider  himself  an  accomplice  in  their  guilt.  He  entertained  no  doubt  what 
ever  of  the  power  of  Congress  to  pass  this  bill,  or  of  the  propriety  of  exer 
cising  that  power.  He  would  not  have  voted  for  the  bill  which  had  been 
reported  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  (Mr.  Calhoun)  because  he 
thought  it  a  measure  far  beyond  what  was  required  by  the  necessity  of  the 
case.  This  bill,  whilst  it  was  sufficiently  strong  to  correct  the  evil,  would  be 
confined  in  its  operation  to  those  States  within  which  the  danger  existed. 

Mr.  Davis  (of  Massachusetts)  stated  at  length  his  objections  to  the  passage  of 
(he  bill.  Senators  assumed  that  there  were  no  difficulties  in  the  way,  because 
the  post-office  power  gave  to  Congress  the  right  to  decide  what  should  be  car 
ried  in  the  mails.  On  a  former  occasion  he  had  said  all  that  was  proper  in  regard 
to  this  matter.  He  then  drew  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  constitutional 
question  involved,  and  demonstrated,  as  he  thought,  that  there  was  no  au 
thority  in  the  Constitution  to  pass  this  bill,  or  anything  like  it.  The  language 
of  the  Constitution  was  very  simple  :  it  only  said  that  Congress  should  have 
the  power  to  establish  post-offices  and  post  roads.  Now  what  was  a  post- 
office,  in  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution  ?  To  understand  this,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  ascertain  what  was  the  meaning  held  at  the  time  the  Constitu 
tion  was  adopted.  You  had  a  post-office  at  the  time  the  Constitution  was 
made,  and  a  press  also ;  and  the  provision  in  the  Constitution  was  made  in 
reference  to  both  these  known  things.  The  object  in  establishing  the  post- 
office,  then,  was  to  send  abroad  intelligence  throughout  the  country ;  and  it 
was  intended  for  the  transmission  of  newspapers,  pamphlets,  judicial  and 
legislative  proceedings,  and  all  matters  emanating  from  the  press,  relating  to 
politics,  literature,  and  science,  and  for  the  transmission  of  private  letters.  It 
would  be,  therefore,  in  his  opinion,  in  conflict  with  the  provision  of  the  Con 
stitution,  giving  Congress  the  power  to  establish  the  post-office,  as  welt  as  an 
abridgment  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions 
of  the  bill. 

The  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  reiterated  the  argument  used  the  other 
day  by  his  friend  from  Georgia,  that  you  have  no  right  to  diffuse  publications 
through  the  agency  of  the  post-office,  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  a  servile  war. 
Now  let  me  tell  the  gentleman,  (said  Mr.  D.)  that  this  is  an  old  argument 
against  the  liberty  of  the  press,  and  that  it  has  been  used  whenever  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  establish  a  censorship  over  it.  The  public  morals  were 
said  to  be  in  danger ;  it  was  necessary  to  prevent  licentiousness,  tumult,  and 
sedition ;  and  the  public  good  required  that  the  licentiousness  of  the  press 
should  be  restrained.  All  these  were  the  plausible  pretences  under  which  the 
freedom  of  the  press  had  been  violated  in  all  ages.  Now  they  knew  that  the 
press  was  at  all  times  corrupt ;  but  when  they  came  to  decide  the  question 


346  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

whether  the  tares  should  be  rooted  up,  and  the  wheat  along  with  it,  those 
who  had  decided  in  favor  of  liberty,  had  always  decided  that  it  was  better 
to  put  up  with  a  lesser  evil  than  to  draw  down  upon  themselves  one  of  such 
fearful  magnitude,  as  must  result  from  the  destruction  of  the  press.  Mr.  D. 
contended  that  the  power  to  be  given  to  the  deputy  postmasters  to  decide 
what  should,  and  what  should  not  be  distributed  from  the  post-office,  gave 
them  a  dangerous  discretion  over  a  very  delicate  matter,  and  that  the  power 
was  one  highly  susceptible  of  abuse,  and  always  liable  to  misconstruction. 

Mr.  Grundy  (of  Tennessee)  observed  that  this  bill  was  intended  simply  to 
prevent  any  officer  of  the  Government,  who  should  violate  the  laws  of  the  States 
in  which  he  resided,  from  sheltering  himself  under  the  post-office  law.  As  the 
bill  now  stood,  the  objections  with  regard  to  abridging  the  freedom  of  the 
press  had  no  application  whatever.  There  was  no  provision  in  the  bill  inter 
fering  with  the  printing  or  publishing  of  any  matter  whatever,  nor  was  it 
even  pretended  that  Congress  possessed  the  power  of  doing  so.  It  was  not 
even  said  that  certain  publications,  no  matter  how  incendiary  in  their  charac 
ter,  should  not  be  deposited  in  the  post-office,  and  transmitted  though  the 
mails.  Therefore  all  the  objections  that  he  had  heard  to  the  bill  fell  to  the 
ground.  In  this  bill,  the  Government  simply  said  to  the  individuals  in  its 
employ,  "  We  will  not  help  you  to  do  an  act  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  the 
State  in  which  you  live."  That  was  the  ground  on  which  the  bill  was  framed, 
and  it  could  not  be  pretended  that  this  was  an  abridgment  of  the  liberty  of 
the  press.  It  was  only  the  Government  declining  to  assist  an  individual  in 
the  violation  of  the  law,  and  that  was  the  whole  bill.  The  Government, 
under  the  Constitution,  had  an  entire  control  of  the  Post-Office  Department. 
It  had  the  power  to  regulate  what  matters  should  be  carried  though  the 
mails,  and  what  should  not.  We  say  to  everybody  that  to  these  slaveholding 
States  you  may  transmit  through  the  mails  what  you  please,  but  if  you  trans 
mit  to  one  of  our  officers  what  is  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the  State  in 
which  he  resides,  we  shall  say  to  that  officer,  you  shall  not  put  on  the  mantle 
of  the  Government  to  assist  you  in  the  violation  of  that  law ;  you  shall  be 
subject  to  the  penalties  of  the  State  laws,  besides  removal  from  office.  In 
fact  there  was  not  the  slightest  pretext  for  saying  that  this  bill  violates  in  the 
remotest  degree  the  freedom  of  the  press.  Nothing  should  be  carried  in  the 
mails  but  what  was  proper  for  transmission  through  them  ;  but  if  there  was 
anything  sent  through  them  tending  to  excite  insurrection  and  bloodshed,  how 
could  there  be  an  objection  to  the  passage  of  a  law,  saying  that  it  should  not 
be  delivered  out  of  the  post-office  ? 

The  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  objected  to  the  vagueness  of  the  bill 
in  saying  what  shall  not  be  distributed  from  the  post-offices.  How  could  the 
matter,  .he  asked,  be  made  more  specific  ?  When  the  publication  arrived  at 
the  post-office  where  it  was  prohibited,  and  was  about  to  be  handed  out,  the 
State  law  would  be  consulted,  and  by  it,  it  would  be  decided  whether  it  was 
in  violation  of  the  State  law  or  not,  and  it  could  thus  be  determined  whether 
it  was  proper  for  delivery.  He  should  not  say  anything  as  to  the  report — he 


INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS.  347 

did  not  concur  in  it  farther  than  that  this  was  a  great  evil,  and  should  be  cor 
rected  in  the  mildest  way  that  it  could  be  done.  This  bill  did  not  affect  any 
individual  but  those  of  the  post-offices  of  the  States  where  laws  have  been 
passed  prohibiting  publications  and  pictorial  representations,  calculated  to 
excite  insurrection  among  the  slaves.  He  was  opposed  to  the  original  bill, 
because  it  interfered  with  what  publications  should  be  deposited  in,  as  well  as 
delivered  from,  the  post-offices.  But  it  was  only  at  the  delivery  office  where 
this  bill  would  operate,  and  the  postmaster  at  such  office  would  be  operated 
on  by  the  laws  of  the  State  in  which  it  is  situated.  If  this  bill  was  not 
passed,  nothing  could  be  done,  and  the  post-office  would  be  made  (for  there 
were  persons  wicked  enough  to  do  it)  the  medium  through  which  to  send 
fire-brands  throughout  the  country. 

Mr.  Clay  said  that  he  considered  this  bill  totally  unnecessary  and  uncalled 
for  by  public  sentiment ;  and  in  this  he  differed  with  the  Senator  from  Penn 
sylvania  (Mr.  Buchanan) ;  for  he  believed  that  the  President's  message  on  the 
subject  had  met  with  general  disapprobation;  that  it  was  unconstitutional; 
and  if  not  so,  that  it  contained  a  principle  of  a  most  dangerous  and  alarming 
character.  When  he  saw  that  the  exercise  of  the  most  extraordinary  and 
dangerous  power  had  been  assumed  by  the  head  of  the  post-office,  and  that 
it  had  been  sustained  by  this  message,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  subject 
and  inquired  whether  it  wag  necessary  that  the  General  Government  should, 
under  any  circumstances,  exercise  such  a  power,  and  whether  it  possessed  it; 
and  after  much  reflection,  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  they  could  not 
pass  any  law  interfering  with  the  subject  in  any  shape  or  form  whatever. 

The  evil  complained  of  was  the  circulation  of  papers  having  a  certain  ten 
dency.  The  papers,  unless  circulated,  did  no  harm,  and  while  in  the  post- 
office  or  in  the  mail — it  was  a  circulation  solely  which  constituted  the  evil. 
It  was  the  taking  them  out  of  the  mail,  and  the  use  that  was  to  be  made  of 
them,  that  constituted  the  mischief. — Then  it  was  perfectly  competent  to  the 
State  authorities  to  apply  the  remedy.  The  instant  that  a  prohibited  paper 
was  handed  out,  whether  to  a  citizen  or  sojourner,  he  was  subject  to  the  laws 
which  might  compel  him  either  to  surrender  them  or  burn  them.  He  con 
sidered  the  bill  not  only  unnecessary,  but  as  a  law  of  a  dangerous,  if  not  a 
doubtful  authority. 

It  was  objected  that  it  was  vague  and  indefinite  in  its  character;  and  how 
is  that  objection  got  over?  The  bill  provided  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for 
any  deputy  postmaster,  in  any  State,  Territory,  or  District  of  the  United 
States,  knowingly  to  deliver  to  any  person  whatever,  any  pamphlet,  news 
paper,  handbill,  or  other  printed  paper  or  pictorial  representation,  touching 
the  subject  of  slavery,  where,  by  the  laws  of  said  State,  Territory,  or  District, 
their  circulation  is  prohibited.  Now,  what  could  be  more  vague  and  indefinite 
than  this  description  ?  Now,  could  it  be  decided  by  this  description,  what 
publications  should  be  withheld  from  distribution?  The  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania  said  that  the  laws  of  the  States  would  supply  the  omission.  He 
thought  the  Senator  was  premature  in  saying  that  there  would  be  a  precision 


348  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

in  State  laws,  before  he  showed  it  by  producing  the  law.  He  had  seen  no 
such  law,  and  he  did  not  know  whether  the  description  in  the  bill  was  appli 
cable  or  not.  There  was  another  objection  to  this  part  of  the  bill :  it  applied 
not  only  to  the  present  laws  of  the  States,  but  to  any  future  laws  they  might 
pass. 

Mr.  C.  denied  that  the  bill  applied  to  the  slaveholding  States  only,  and 
went  on  to  argue  that  it  could  be  applied  to  all  the  States,  and  to  any  pub 
lication  touching  the  subject  of  slavery  whatever,  whether  for  or  against  it, 
if  such  publication  was  only  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  such  State.  Thus,  for 
instance,  a  n on- slaveholding  State  might  prohibit  publications  in  defence  of 
the  institution  of  slavery,  and  this  bill  would  apply  to  it  as  well  as  to  the 
laws  of  the  slaveholding  States ;  but  the  law  would  be  inoperative :  it 
declared  that  the  deputy  postmaster  should  not  be  amenable,  unless  he  know 
ingly  shall  deliver,  etc.  Why,  the  postmaster  might  plead  ignorance,  and  of 
course  the  law  would  be  inoperative. 

But  he  wanted  to  know  whence  Congress  derived  the  power  to  pass  this 
law.  It  was  said  that  it  was  to  carry  into  effect  the  laws  of  the  States. 
Where  did  they  get  such  authority  ?  He  thought  that  their  only  authority  to 
pass  laws  was  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution ;  but  to  pass  laws  to  carry 
into  effect  the  laws  of  the  States,  was  a  most  prolific  authority,  and  there 
was  no  knowing  where  it  was  to  stop  :  it  would  make  the  legislation  of  Con 
gress  dependent  upon  the  legislation  of  twenty-four  different  sovereignties. 
He  thought  the  bill  was  of  a  most  dangerous  tendency.  The  Senator  from 
Pennsylvania  asked  if  the  post-office  power  did  not  give  them  the  right  to 
regulate  what  should  be  carried  in  the  mails.  Why,  there  was  no  such  power 
as  that  claimed  in  the  bill ;  and  if  they  passed  such  a  law,  it  would  be  exer 
cising  a  most  dangerous  power.  Why,  if  such  doctrine  prevailed,  the 
Government  might  designate  the  persons,  or  parties,  or  classes  who  should 
have  the  benefit  of  the  mails,  excluding  all  others. 

It  was  too  often  in  the  condemnation  of  a  particular  evil  that  they  were 
urged  on  to  measures  of  a  dangerous  tendency.  All  must  agree  as  to  the 
dangerous  consequences  of  persons  residing  out  of  certain  States  transmitting 
to  them  incendiary  publications,  calculating  to  promote  civil  war  and  blood 
shed.  All  must  see  the  evil,  and  a  great  evil  it  was,  and  he  hoped  that  a 
stop  would  be  put  to  it ;  but  Congress  had  no  power  to  pass  beyond  the  Con 
stitution  for  the  purpose  of  correcting  it.  The  States  alone  had  the  power,  and 
their  power  was  ample  for  the  purpose.  He  hoped  never  to  see  the  time 
when  the  General  G-overnment  should  undertake  to  correct  the  evil  by  such 
measures  as  the  one  before  them.  If  (said  Mr.  C.)  you  can  pass  this  law  to 
prohibit  the  delivery  through  the  post-office  of  publications  touching  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery,  might  they  not  also  pass  laws  to  prohibit  any  citizen  of  New 
York  or  Massachusetts  from  publishing  and  transmitting  through  the  mails 
touching  that  subject?  If  you  may  touch  the  subject  of  slavery  at  all,  why 
not  go  to  the  root  of  the  evil  ?  Suppose  one  of  the  Southern  States  were  to 
pass  a  law  of  this  kind,  would  you  not  be  called  upon  by  all  the  arguments 


INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS.  349 

now  used  in  favor  of  this  bill,  to  carry  such  laws  into  effect  ?  Mr.  C.  con 
cluded  by  saying  that  the  bill  was  calculated  to  destroy  all  the  landmarks  of  the 
Constitution,  establish  a  precedent  for  dangerous  legislation,  and  to  lead  to 
incalculable  mischief.  There  was  no  necessity  for  so  dangerous  an  assump 
tion  of  authority,  the  State  laws  being  perfectly  competent  to  correct  the  evil 
complained  of.  He  must  say,  that  from  the  first  to  the  last  he  was  opposed 
to  the  measure. 

Mr.  Calhoun  could  not  concur  with*  the  views  taken  by  the  Senators  from 
Massachusetts  and  Kentucky,  that  this  bill  would  comprehend  in  its  provi 
sions  all  publications  touching  the  subject  of  slavery.  In  order  to  bring  any 
publications  within  the  provision  of  the  bill,  two  qualifications  were  necessary. 
The  first  was,  that  it  must  relate  to  the  subject  of  slavery ;  and  the  next  was, 
that  it  must  be  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the  States  to  which  it  is  transmitted. 
He  thought  that  this  was  the  view  that  would  be  taken  of  it  by  the  courts. 
The  object  of  this  bill  was  to  make  it  the  duty  of  the  postmasters  in  the  States 
to  conform  to  the  laws  of  such  States,  and  not  to  deliver  out  papers  in  viola 
tion  of  their  laws.  The  simple  question  was,  had  this  Government  the  power 
to  say  to  its  officers,  you  shall  not  violate  the  laws  of  the  States  in  which  you 
reside  ?  Could  it  go  further,  and  make  it  their  duty  to  co-operate  with  the 
States  in  carrying  their  laws  into  effect?  This  was  the  simple  question.  Now 
could  any  man  doubt  that  Congress  possessed  the  power  to  pass  both  meas 
ures,  so  that  their  officers  might  not  come  in  conflict  with  the  State  laws  ? 
Indeed,  he  looked  upon  measures  of  this  kind  to  prevent  conflicts  between 
the  General  and  State  Governments,  which  were  likely  to  ensue,  as  essentially 
necessary,  for  it  was  evident  that  when  such  conflicts  took  place,  the  State 
must  have  the  ascendancy.  Mr.  C.  then  briefly  recapitulated  the  principles 
on  which  this  bill  was  founded,  and  contended  that  it  was  in  aid  of  laws  passed 
by  the  States,  as  far  as  Congress  had  the  power  constitutionally  to  go,  and 
assumed  no  power  to  prohibit  or  interfere  with  the  publication  or  circulation 
of  any  paper  whatever ;  it  only  declared,  that  the  officers  of  the  Government 
should  not  make  their  official  stations  a  shield  for  violating  the  State  laws. 
Was  there  any  one  there  who  would  say,  that  the  States  had  not  the  power 
to  pass  laws  prohibiting,  and  making  penal,  the  circulation  of  papers  calcu 
lated  to  excite  insurrection  among  their  slaves  ?  It  being  admitted  that  they 
could,  could  not  Congress  order  its  officers  to  abstain  from  the  violation  of 
these  laws  ?  We  do  not  (said  Mr.  C.)  pass  a  law  to  abridge  the  freedom  of 
the  press,  or  to  prohibit  the  publication  and  circulation  cf  any  paper  whatever 
— this  has  been  done  by  the  States  already.  The  inhibition  of  the  Constitution 
was  on  Congress,  and  not  on  the  States,  who  possessed  full  power  to  pass 
any  laws  they  thought  proper.  They  knew  that  there  were  several  prece 
dents  to  sanction  this  bill.  Congress  had  passed  laws  to  abstain  from  the 
violation  of  the  health  laws  of  the  States.  Could  any  one  say  that  the  Consti 
tution  gave  to  Congress  the  power  to  pass  quarantine  laws  ?  He  had  not 
adverted  to  the  message  of  the  President  on  this  subject,  because  he  believed 
that  the  President  acted  from  the  best  motives,  and  that  that  part  of  the  mes- 


350  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

sage  was  drawn  up  without  sufficient  reflection.  He  denied,  however,  that 
this  message  was  in  conformity  with  the  Constitution.  It  would  be  directly 
abridging  the  liberty  of  the  press  for  Congress  to  pass  such  laws  as  the  Presi 
dent  recommended.  One  part  of  the  message  he  would  refer  to,  which  was 
in  these  words : 

"  I  would,  therefore,  call  the  special  attention  of  Congress  to  the  subject, 
and  respectfully  suggest  the  propriety  of  passing  such  a  law  as  will  prohibit, 
under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation  in  the  Southern  States,  through  the 
mail,  of  incendiary  publications,  intended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to  insurrection." 
This  was  clearly  unconstitutional,  for  it  not  only  recommended  the  prohibition 
of  publications  and  circulation  of  incendiary  papers  (abridging  the  freedom  of 
the  press),  but  it  recommended  also  the  infliction  of  severe  penalties,  which 
powers  were  expressly  prohibited  by  the  Constitution.  On  no  other  principle 
could  this  ever  be  defended,  than  that  it  was  simply  abstaining  from  a  viola 
tion  of  the  laws  of  the  States. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  contended  that  this  bill  was  useless,  and  he 
(Mr.  C.)  agreed  that  it  was  so  in  one  sense,  and  that  was,  with  or  without 
this  bill,  the  Southern  States  would  execute  their  own  laws  against  the  circu 
lation  of  such  papers.  It  was  a  case  of  life  and  death  with  them ;  and  did 
anybody  suppose  that  they  would  permit  so  many  magazines  in  their  bosoms, 
to  blow  them  to  destruction,  as  these  post-offices  must  be,  if  these  incendiary 
publications  continued  to  be  circulated  through  them  ?  While  the  Southern 
States  contained  so  many  postmasters  opposed  to  their  institutions,  as  it  was 
in  his  own  State,  where  almost  every  postmaster  was  opposed  to  it,  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  for  them  to  take  effectual  measures  for  their  own  security. 
It  was  the  assertion  of  the  principle,  that  the  States  had  a  right  to  protect 
themselves,  which  made  the  bill  valuable  in  his  eye ;  it  prevented  the  conflict 
which  would  be  likely  to  take  place  between  the  General  and  State  Govern 
ments,  unless  some  measure  of  the  kind  should  be  adopted.  The  States  had  a 
right  to  go  to  the  extent  of  this  bill,  and  they  would  be  wanting  to  them 
selves  and  to  posterity,  if  they  omitted  to  do  it.  It  was  on  the  doctrine  of 
State  rights  and  State  intervention,  that  he  supported  this  bill,  and  on  no 
other  grounds. 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  objected  to  the  returning  of  these  papers, 
whose  delivery  was  prohibited.  He  regretted  this  as  much  as  the  Senator 
did,  but  his  objection  was,  that  it  did  not  go  far  enough ;  he  thought  that 
these  papers  should  be  delivered  to  the  prosecuting  officers  of  the  States,  to 
enable  them  to  ferret  out  the  designs  of  the  incendiaries. 

Mr.  Webster  remarked,  that  in  general,  it  might  be  safely  said,  that  when 
different  gentlemen  supported  a  measure  admitted  to  be  of  a  novel  character, 
and  placed  their  defence  of  it  on  different  and  inconsistent  grounds,  a  very 
simple  person  might  believe,  in  such  case,  that  there  were  no  very  strong 
grounds  for  adopting  the  measure.  The  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  and  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  not  only  placed  their  defence  of  their  bill  on 
opposite  grounds,  but  each  opposed  the  principles  on  which  the  other  founded 


INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS.  351 

his  support  of  it.  Where  the  object  to  be  gained  was  apparently  good,  and 
the  case  urgent,  as  it  was  represented  to  be,  how  could  limitations  of  power 
stand  against  powerful  opponents,  which  have  always  been  urging  to  des 
potism?  Now,  against  the  objects  of  this  bill,  he  had  not  a  word  to  say; 
but  with  constitutional  lawyers,  there  was  a  great  difference  between  the 
object  and  the  means  to  carry  it  into  effect.  It  was  not  the  object  to  be 
gained,  but  the  means  to  attain  it,  which  they  should  look  to,  for  though  the 
object  might  be  good,  the  means  might  not  be  so.  His  objections  went  to 
the  means  and  not  to  the  object;  and  he  did  not  yield  the  argument  because 
the  object  was  a  good  one,  and  the  case  was  urgent.  It  was  better  to  limit 
the  power,  and  run  the  risk  of  injury  from  the  want  of  it,  than  to  give  a 
power  which  might  be  exercised  in  a  dangerous  manner. 

The  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  said  that  this  bill  was  calling  on  Congress 
to  do  nothing  but  to  abstain  from  violating  the  laws  of  the  States.  It  was 
one  thing,  said  the  Senator,  for  Congress  to  abstain  from  giving  these  incen 
diary  papers  circulation,  and  another  to  pass  laws  saying  that  they  shall  not 
be  published.  But  if  Congress  had  no  mail  through  which  these  papers  could 
be  transmitted,  what  did  the  gentleman  mean  by  Congress  abstaining  from 
giving  them  circulation  ?  It  meant  that  Congress  should  interfere  and  should 
create  an  especial  exception  as  to  what  should  be  transmitted  by  their 
ordinary  channel  of  intelligence,  and  that  that  exception  should  be  caused  by 
the  character  of  the  writing  or  publication.  He  contended  that  Congress  had 
not  the  power,  drawn  from  the  character  of  the  paper,  to  decide  whether  it 
should  be  carried  in  the  mail  or  not,  for  such  decision  would  be  a  direct 
abridgment  of  the  freedom  of  the  press.  He  confessed  that  he  was  shocked 
at  the  doctrine.  He  looked  back  to  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  which  were 
so  universally  condemned  throughout  the  country,  and  what  was  their  object  ? 
Certainly  to  prohibit  publications  of  a  dangerous  tendency.  Mr.  W.  here 
quoted  the  sedition  law,  to  show  the  objects  it  intended  to  effect.  But  the 
deputy  postmasters  (Mr.  W.  said)  must  look  into  the  newspaper  mail  to  see 
if  there  were  any  publications  in  it  touching  the  subject  of  slavery  calculated 
to  excite  insurrections  among  the  slaves. 

Now,  said  Mr.  W.,  the  country  would  have  been  rent  into  atoms  if  the 
sedition  law,  instead  of  saying  that  papers  should  not  be  published  in  such 
and  such  a  way,  had  declared  that  the  deputy  postmasters  should  have  the 
power  to  search  the  mails  to  see  if  they  contained  any  publications  calculated 
to  "  bring  the  Government  into  disrepute,  promote  insurrection,  and  lead  to 
foreign  war,"  the  evils  the  sedition  law  intended  to  guard  against.  All  the 
papers  described  in  the  law  of  '99  were  unlawful  by  the  laws  of  any  of  the 
States,  and  yet  that  law  which  had  created  so  much  excitement  and  met  with 
such  general  reprobation,  contained  nothing  like  the  power  claimed  by  this 
bill.  Any  law  distinguishing  what  shall  or  shall  not  go  into  the  mails,  founded 
on  the  sentiments  of  the  paper,  and  making  the  deputy  postmaster  the  judge, 
he  should  say,  was  expressly  unconstitutional,  if  not  recommended  by  gentle 
men  of  such  high  authority.  This  bill  (said  Mr.  W.)  went  beyond  the 


352  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

recommendation  of  the  President,  for  his  recommendation  was,  that  the  person 
who  circulated  the  papers  described  by  him  should  be  punished  by  severe 
penalties.  Now,  this  was  the  old  law  of  liberty — there  was  not  a  word  of 
previous  restraint  in  it  as  imposed  by  this  bill.  Mr.  W.  then  went  into  an 
argument  to  show  the  vagueness  of  the  bill  in  describing  the  paper,  the  deliv 
ery  of  which  was  prohibited.  Under  it,  it  was  impossible  to  determine  what 
publications  should  be  prohibited  ;  abolition  pamphlets  were  to  be  stopped  at 
the  South,  and  anti-abolition  papers  were  to  be  stopped  at  the  North.  In 
reply  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  he  said  that  he  did  not  assume  that  these  prohibited 
publications  either  were  or  were  not  property.  All  he  said  was,  that  they 
ought  not  to  make  the  deputy  postmasters  the  judge,  and  take  away  the 
property  without  the  authority  of  law.  What  he  had  to  say  was,  that  it  was 
a  question  of  property  or  no  property,  and  that  they  could  not  make  the 
deputy  postmaster  the  judge  of  the  fact,  as  he  could  not  be  a  judge  of  prop 
erty  known  to  the  Constitution  and  the  law. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  he  had  not  anticipated,  when  he  first  addressed  the 
Senate  upon  this  subject,  that  he  should  have  occasion  to  make  any  further 
remarks,  but  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had  replied  to  his  argument,  in 
such  a  special  manner,  that  he  felt  himself  constrained  to  reply  to  some  of  his 
remarks.  Now,  permit  me  to  say  (continued  Mr.  B.)  that  he  has  not  at  all 
met  the  point  of  my  argument.  He  has  invested  this  subject  with  an  air  of 
greater  importance  and  responsibility  than  it  deserves :  he  has  played  around 
it  with  all  his  powers,  but  without  touching  the  real  question  involved  in  the 
discussion. 

Congress  has  no  power  (says  the  gentleman)  to  pass  any  law  abridging  the 
freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press.  Granted.  He  most  freely  admitted  that 
Congress  had  no  power  to  touch  the  press  at  all.  We  can  pass  no  law  what 
ever  either  to  prevent  or  to  punish  any  publication,  under  any  circumstances 
whatever.  The  sedition  law  violated  this  principle.  It  punished  libels  against 
the  Federal  Government  and  its  officers ;  and  having  met  with  general  repro 
bation,  it  was  repealed,  or  permitted  to  expire  by  its  own  limitation,  he  did 
not  recollect  which. 

Mr.  B.  said  he  admitted  these  premises  of  the  gentleman  in  their  broadest 
extent;  but  did  they  justify  his  conclusions?  In  order  to  maintain  his  argu 
ment,  he  must  prove  that  the  Constitution,  in  declaring  that  Congress  shall 
not  pass  any  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  the  press,  has  thereby,  and  from 
the  force  of  these  terms  alone,  commanded  us  to  circulate  and  distribute, 
through  our  post-offices,  everything  which  the  press  may  publish,  no  matter 
whether  it  shall  promote  insurrection  and  civil  war  or  not.  This  is  the  propo 
sition  which  he  must  establish.  All  the  gentleman's  remarks  in  favor  of  the 
liberty  of  the  press  met  his  cordial  approbation ;  but  they  did  not  apply  to 
the  constitutional  question  then  under  discussion.  He  had  argued  this  ques 
tion  precisely  as  if,  in  addition  to  the  words  already  in  the  Constitution,  that 
"  Congress  shall  make  no  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press," 
there  had  been  inserted,  "  or  to  prevent  the  circulation  of  any  production  of 


INCENDIARY    PUBLICATIONS.  353 

the  press  through  the  post-offices."  But  these  words  were  not  in  the  instru 
ment  ;  and  the  only  question  was,  whether  the  one  prohibition  could  be  in 
ferred  from  the  other.  Mr.  B.  said  he  was  in  favor  of  a  plain  and  literal 
construction  of  the  Constitution.  He  took  it  for  his  guide;  and  he  could 
never  consent  to  interpolate  what  its  framers  never  intended  should  be  there. 
They  have  conferred  upon  Congress,  in  express  terms,  a  general  discretion  in 
regard  to  the  Post  Office  Department ;  and  the  question  then  was,  shall  we 
exercise  it  in  the  manner  proposed  by  this  bill,  for  the  purpose  of  preventing 
servile  war,  bloodshed  and  disunion  ? 

How  had  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  met  his  argument  ?  He  says 
that  the  principles  upon  which  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun) 
and  himself  had  sustained  this  bill,  were  at  variance  with  each  other;  and 
that  this  of  itself  was  sufficient  to  cast  doubt  over  the  measure.  But  was  it 
the  first  time  the  gentleman  had  known  correct  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from 
varying  or  even  unfounded  premises  ?  The  bill  itself  ought  not  to  be  con 
demned  for  the  arguments  of  its  friends.  He  would  remind  the  gentleman 
of  the  advice  given  by  a  distinguished  English  judge,  to  a  young  friend  about 
to  occupy  a  judicial  station  in  the  West  Indies,  which  was,  never  to  give 
reasons  for  his  judgments,  where  it  could  be  avoided;  because  his  natural 
sense  and  perception  of  justice  would  almost  always  enable  him  to  decide 
correctly,  though  he  might,  and  probably  often  would,  assign  insufficient 
reasons  for  his  decisions.  This  bill  ought  to  be  judged  by  its  own  provisions, 
and  ought  not  to  be  condemned  for  the  reasons  in  support  of  it  which  had 
been  advanced  either  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  or  himself. 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had  argued  as  though  he  (Mr.  B.)  had 
said,  that  as  the  end  proposed  by  this  measure  was  good,  he  should  vote  for 
it,  notwithstanding  the  means  might  be  unconstitutional. 

[Here  Mr.  Webster  explained,  and  said  he  had  not  imputed  to  Mr.  B.  such 
an  argument.] 

Mr.  B.  proceeded.  The  Senator  did  not  mean  this  imputation;  but  his 
argument  seemed  to  imply  as  much.  However  necessary  he  might  believe 
this  bill  to  be,  if  he  did  not  find  a  clear  warrant  for  its  passage  in  the  Consti 
tution,  it  should  never  have  his  support.  He  never  could  believe  that  this 
Government,  having  exclusive  control  over  the  Post-Office  Department  in  all 
its  various  relations,  was  yet  so  impotent  to  prevent  evil,  that  it  must,  under 
the  fundamental  law  which  called  it  into  existence,  whether  it  would  or  not, 
distribute  publications  tending  directly  to  promote  servile  insurrection,  and  to 
produce  its  own  destruction. 

The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun)  had  misapprehended  him 
in  one  particular.  He  (Mr.  B.)  had  disclaimed  all  authority  to  pass  this  bill 
derived  from  State  laws,  or  from  any  other  source  than  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  He  had  not  said  he  would  vote  for  a  similar  bill  in  all 
cases  where  the  State  Legislatures  might  think  proper  to  pass  laws  to  pro 
hibit  the  circulation  of  any  publication  whatever.  He  considered  the  passage 
of  such  laws  merely  as  evidence  of  the  necessity  for  legislation  by  Congress ; 
I.— 23 


354  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

but  he  was  very  far  from  adopting  the  principle  that  it  should  be  conclusive 
evidence  in  all  cases.  Congress  must  judge  for  itself  under  all  the  circum 
stances  of  each  particular  case. 

In  reply  to  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  Mr.  B.  said  that  this  bill 
would  not  be  a  penal  law.  Everything  like  a  penalty  had  been  stricken  from 
its  provisions,  unless  the  removal  of  a  deputy  postmaster  from  office  by  the 
Postmaster  General  might  be  viewed  in  that  light.  By  it  we  merely  directed 
our  agent  not  to  violate  State  laws  by  distributing  publications  calculated  to 
excite  insurrection.  He  would  not  have  occasion  to  study  all  the  laws  of  all 
the  States  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  as  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had 
alleged.  All  that  would  be  required  of  him  was  to  know  the  laws  of  the 
State  of  which  he  was  a  citizen,  and  to  take  care  not  to  violate  them. 

The  gentleman  had  said  that  he  (Mr.  B.)  had  mistaken  the  recommenda 
tion  contained  in  the  President's  message.  Now  he  undertook  to  assert  that 
this  bill  was  in  conformity  with  the  recommendation  of  the  President,  and 
carried  it  out  in  all  essential  particulars. 

[Here  Mr.  B.  again  read  the  last  paragraph  of  the  message  which  he  had 
read  before.] 

Now,  sir,  (said  Mr.  B.)  does  not  the  President  expressly  assert  that  Con 
gress  has  authority  to  regulate  what  shall  be  distributed  through  the  post- 
offices,  and  does  he  not  "  suggest  the  propriety  of  passing  such  a  law  as  will 
prohibit,  under  severe  penalties,  the  circulation  in  the  Southern  States,  through 
the  mail,  of  incendiary  publications,  intended  to  instigate  the  slaves  to  insur 
rection? "  Except  that  this  bill  contained  no  severe  penalties,  it  was  framed 
both  in  its  spirit  and  in  its  letter  according  to  the  suggestion  of  the  President. 
What  other  bill  could  we  pass  of  a  milder  character  than  the  one  now  before 
us,  to  prevent  the  circulation  of  these  incendiary  publications?  Let  the 
President's  recommendation  be  entitled  to  what  weight  it  might,  this  bill  was 
in  exact  accordance  with  it. 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had  contended  that  this  bill  conferred 
upon  deputy  postmasters  the  power  of  depriving  individuals  of  their  property 
in  newspapers  and  other  publications,  in  violation  of  that  clause  in  the  Con 
stitution,  which  declares  that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  his  property 
without  due  process  of  law.  By  this  bill  we  had  not  attempted  to  shield  any 
postmaster  from  legal  responsibity  for  his  conduct.  We  could  not  df>  so,  if 
we  would.  We  had  merely  prescribed  for  him,  as  we  had  done  for  our  other 
agents,  the  line  of  his  duty.  We  did  not  attempt  to  protect  him  from  the 
suit  of  any  person  who  might  consider  himself  aggrieved.  If  any  individual 
to  whom  a  publication  was  directed,  and  who  had  demanded  it  from  the  post 
master  and  had  been  refused,  should  believe  our  law  to  be  unconstitutional,  he 
might  bring  this  question  before  the  judiciary,  and  try  it,  like  any  other  ques 
tion.  All  our  officers  and  agents  are  liable  to  be  sued,  and  if  the  law  under 
which  they  acted  should  prove  to  be  unconstitutional,  it  would  afford  them  no 
protection.  On  the  present  occasion  we  proposed  to  proceed  in  the  spirit  of 
the  common  law  principle,  that  any  individual  may  abate  a  nuisance;  though 


INCENDIARY   PUBLICATIONS.  355 

he  thereby  rendered  himself  responsible,  in  case  it  should  appear  afterwards 
that  the  thing  abated  was  not  a  nuisance.  So  here,  the  postmaster  refusing 
to  deliver  a  newspaper  under  our  law,  would  be  responsible  in  damages  to 
the  party  aggrieved,  in  case  it  should  appear  that  the  law  under  which  he  had 
acted  was  unconstitutional. 

As  to  the  necessity  for  passing  this  bill,  he  should  say  but  a  few  words.  It 
was  very  easy  for  gentlemen  to  say  that  necessity  was  the  plea  of  tyrants. 
He  admitted  it  had  been  so,  and  would  be  so  in  all  time  to  come.  But  after 
all,  if  we  possessed  the  power  to  legislate  in  this  case,  from  our  situation  we 
were  compelled  to  judge  whether  it  was  necessary  to  call  it  into  efficient  action 
or  not.  This  duty  devolved  upon  us.  We  could  not  avoid  deciding  this 
question.  Was  it  not,  then,  within  our  knowledge  that  the  slaveholding 
States  had  been  attempted  to  be  flooded  with  pamphlets  and  pictorial  repre 
sentations  calculated  to  excite  servile  insurrection  ?  Had  we  not  seen  upon 
this  floor  many  of  these  pictorial  representations,  whose  direct  effect  would 
be  to  excite  the  wild  and  brutal  passions  of  the  slaves  to  cut  the  throats  of 
their  masters  ?  Within  the  last  few  months,  had  there  not  been  blood  shed  ? 
and  had  there  not  been  several  attempted  insurrections  in  some  of  the 
Southern  States?  These  facts  were  incontestable.  Believing  and  knowing 
all  this  to  be  true,  he  said  the  case  of  necessity,  in  his  judgment,  was  fully 
established,  and  he  should  vote  for  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

Mr.  Cuthbert  (of  Georgia)  was  not  desirous  to  throw  himself  into  the  current 
of  this  debate  at  this  time.  The  position  which  he  held — the  infrequency  of  his 
occupying  that  floor,  and  the  indisposition  under  which  he  labored,  authorized 
him  to  expect  the  attention  of  the  Senate  for  a  short  time,  when  he  should  be 
better  able  to  address  them  than  he  then  was.  He  therefore  hoped  the  Sen 
ate  would  indulge  him  in  an  opportunity  of  being  heard  on  the  subject,  by 
postponing  it,  to  be  taken  up  within  a  very  short  period.  It  appeared  to 
him  that  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  had  said  precisely  what  should  have 
been  said  in  support  of  this  bill.  It  appeared  to  him  that  that  Senator  had 
given  an  unanswerable  reply  to  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  on  points 
on  which  he  principally  relied  for  his  opposition  to  the  measure  before  them. 
What  is  the  state  of  the  case  (said  Mr.  C.)?  The  deputy  postmaster  in  one 
of  the  States  holds  in  his  hand  an  incendiary  publication,  intended  to  carry 
blood  and  desolation  through  the  land.  Is  he  bound  in  duty  to  hold  it  from 
circulation?  If  he  gives  it  to  another,  the  evil  intended  by  that  publication 
will  ensue ;  but  then  your  officer,  contends  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts, 
is  bound  to  deliver  it,  because  you  have  no  power  to  pass  a  law  abridging 
the  freedom  of  the  press.  According  to  this  doctrine,  that  which  an  individual 
cannot  do,  your  officer  is  bound  to  do.  It  appeared  to  him  that  the  obvious 
necessity  of  this  law  was  to  prevent  the  post-office  agents  from  committing  a 
criminal  offence  against  the  laws  of  the  States,  and  then  shielding  themselves 
under  the  post-office  law.  But  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had  not  met 
this  point,  but  had  rather  evaded  and  played  around  it.  This  was  a  question 
which  should  not  be  discussed  with  the  chicanery  of  a  pettifogging  lawyer, 


356  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

but  should  be  considered  with  those  enlarged  ideas  and  noble  sentiments 
which  belong  to  the  statesman.  They  should  argue  it  as  became  enlightened 
patriots,  anxious  to  promote  harmony  and  good  feeling  through  our  common 
country,  and  to  preserve  all  its  parts  from  the  dangers  of  insurrection. 

He  denied  that  property  could  be  affected  by  this  law,  as  contended  by  the 
Senator  from  Massachusetts.  There  could  be  no  property  in  these  incendiary 
publications.  The  postmaster  holds  in  his  hand  that  which,  by  the  laws  of 
the  States,  is  in  the  condition  of  stolen  property,  and  he  is  bound  to  give  it 
back.  He  holds  in  his  hand  what,  by  his  own  judgment,  he  considers  not  to  be 
property — which  his  own  judgment  condemns,  and  he  is  therefore  bound  to 
resign  it.  The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  said,  rightly,  that  the  person  to 
whom  this  publication  is  directed  may  come  forward  and  demand  it,  under 
the  provision  of  this  law.  Now,  if  the  Senator  thought  there  was  anything 
wanting  in  this  provision  of  the  bill,  why  did  he  not  propose  an  amendment  ? 
If  he  did  propose  any,  he  (Mr.  C.)  had  not  heard  it.  The  property  is  not  to 
be  destroyed ;  it  must  be  returned  to  him  who  sent  it. 

In  another  point  of  view  (Mr.  C.  said),  the  postmaster  must  judge  whether 
these  papers  are  legal  or  not.  He  holds  in  his  hand  papers  which  the  laws  of 
his  State  have  said  shall  not  be  circulated,  under  a  penalty.  Is  he  not  to 
decide  whether  he  shall  incur  that  penalty  or  not  ?  How  stood  the  argument 
of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  ?  He  requires  that  the  officer  shall  violate 
the  laws  of  his  State,  or  that  the  General  Government  shall  protect  him  in  it. 
With  regard  to  the  members  that  compose  the  Senate,  every  gentleman  was 
conscious  in  his  own  breast  of  a  strong  desire  to  prevent  the  evils  of  a  servile 
war  in  the  Southern  States.  Of  this  he  was  confident.  But  with  regard  to 
the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  he  should  be  guilty  of  a  want  of  candor  if 
he  allowed  him  that  clearness  of  judgment  which  belonged  to  the  statesman ; 
he  should  be  wanting  in  that  sincerity  of  heart  on  which  he  had  ever  prided 
himself,  if  he  declared  his  conviction  that  the  honorable  Senator  had  treated 
this  subject  with  the  liberal  and  impartial  spirit  it  deserved.  The  gentleman's 
course  had  uniformly  been  opposed  to  all  those  measures  which  tended  to 
quiet  the  country,  and  heal  those  sectional  dissensions  which  disturb  the 
Union. 

When  a  large  and  overwhelming  vote  was  taken  in  the  Senate,  ^on  the 
motion  of  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania,  believed  by  all  to  be  so  necessary 
to  settle  a  question,  threatening  the  most  fearful  consequences,  it  was  held  to 
be  highly  desirable  that  there  should  be  an  unanimous  vote.  Yet,  on  an 
occasion  when  the  Senator  ceuld  well  have  shown  a  desire  to  harmonize  and 
conciliate,  his  vote  was  found  in  the  negative.  Again,  the  Senator  from 
Massachusetts  had  put  forth  a  paper  calculated  to  excite  great  distrust  in  the 
body  of  the  people  affected  by  it.  He  alluded  to  the  resolutions  adopted  at  a 
meeting  held  in  Boston  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  of  which  the  gentleman 
was  said  to  be  the  author,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  Congress  had  the 
power  to  regulate  the  transfer  of  slaves  from  one  State  to  another.  Mr.  C. 
said  that  he  had  addressed  the  Senate  but  seldom,  and  as  he  wished  to  be 


INCENDIARY  PUBLICATIONS.  357 

heard  on  this  subject  more  at  large,  when  his  health  was  better  and  under 
more  favorable  circumstances,  he  hoped  the  Senate  would  indulge  him  by 
a  postponement. 

Mr.  Webster  said  that  he  had  heard  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from 
Georgia  (Mr.  Cuthbert)  with  attention  and  with  respect ;  and  considering  his 
speech  of  a  personal  character,  it  became  him  to  notice  it;  but  as  the  gentle 
man  proposed  to  discuss  this  subject  more  at  large  when  his  health  was  better, 
and,  as  he  said,  under  circumstances  less  tending  to  irritation,  he  should  post 
pone  his  reply  till  then.  He  should  hear  the  gentleman  with  pleasure,  and 
he  looked  forward  to  it  with  much  solicitude,  and  should  endeavor  to  reply 
to  him  according  to  his  best  abilities.  Mr.  W.  then  entered  into  a  lengthy 
reply  to  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  the  course  of  which  he  contended 
that  the  law  was  unnecessary,  because  the  States  had  at  present  the  power 
to  punish  the  deputy  postmasters  who  should  circulate  incendiary  publications 
in  violation  of  their  laws. 

Mr.  Buchanan  did  not  rise  again  to  argue  the  question.  He  did  not  feel 
any  petty  desire  to  have  the  last  word.  He  should  now  merely  remark  that 
the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  in  his  last  observations,  had  done  nothing 
more  than  again  to  restate  his  proposition,  without  offering  any  new  argu 
ment  in  its  support.  He  reminded  him  of  another  powerful  man,  in  the 
ancient  time,  who  was  condemned  to  roll  a  large  stone  to  the  top  of  a  moun 
tain,  which  was  always  falling  back  upon  him,  and  which  he  never  could 
accomplish.  The  gentleman's  position  was  one  which  even  his  great  powers 
did  not  enable  him  to  maintain. 

Mr.  B.  should  not  again  have  risen  but  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  single 
remark.  The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  had  just  expressed  the  opinion 
that  deputy  postmasters  could  be  punished,  under  State  authority,  for  circu 
lating  inflammatory  pamphlets  and  papers  in  violation  of  State  laws.  If  this 
be  true,  then  all  the  power  over  the  post-office  which  we  confer  by  this  bill 
already  exists  in  the  States.  The  effect  of  it,  then,  will  be  nothing  more  than 
to  express  our  assent  to  the  exercise  of  a  power  over  deputy  postmasters  by 
the  States,  which  the  gentleman  admits  to  exist  already.  Upon  this  principle 
there  can  be  no  objection  to  the  adoption  of  the  present  measure. 

Mr.  Cuthbert  only  rose  to  repeat  the  request  that  the  Senate  would,  by 
the  postponement  of  the  subject  to  a  short  day,  allow  him  an  opportunity  of 
being  heard  on  it  when  his  health  was  better. 

Mr.  C.  then  moved  to  lay  the  bill  on  the  table ;  which  motion  was  lost. 

The  bill  was  then  rejected  by  the  following  vote  : 

Yeas — Messrs.  Black,  Brown,  Buchanan,  Calhoun,  Cuthbert,  G-rundy,  King 
of  Alabama,  King  of  Georgia,  Mangum,  Moore,  Nicholas,  Porter,  Preston, 
Rives,  Robinson,  Tallmadge,  Walker,  White  and  Wright— 19. 

Nays — Messrs.  Benton,  Clay,  Crittenden,  Davis,  Ewing  of  Illinois,  Ewing 
of  Ohio,  Goldsborough,  Hendricks,  Hubbard,  Kent,  Knight,  Leigh,  McKean, 
Morris,  Naudain,  Niles,  Prentiss,  Ruggles,  Shepley,  Southard,  Swift,  Tipton, 
Tomlinson,  Wall,  and  Webster — 25. 


358  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

During  this  session  of  Congress  (1836),  Michigan  sought 
admission  into  the  Union.  The  following  speech  was  made  by 
Mr.  Buchanan  on  the  first  of  April,  in  reply  to  some  of  the 
arguments  against  the  admission  of  that  State : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  Nothing  was  more  remote  from  my  intention,  when  I 
closed  my  remarks  on  Wednesday  last,  than  again  to  address  you  on  the 
subject  of  the  admission  of  Michigan  into  the  Union ;  but  my  argument  on 
that  occasion  has  been  so  strongly  assailed  by  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey 
(Mr.  Southard),  and  other  gentlemen,  that  I  feel  myself  almost  constrained  to 
reply.  Even  under  this  strong  necessity,  I  would  not  now  trespass  upon 
your  time,  if  I  believed  I  should  thus  provoke  a  protracted  debate,  and 
thereby  prevent  the  decision  of  the  question  before  we  adjourn  this  afternoon. 

I  shall  undertake  to  demonstrate,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said, 
that  under  the  ordinance  of  1787,  aliens  who  were  residents  of  the  North 
western  Territory,  had  a  clear  right  to  exercise  the  elective  franchise. 

The  territory  ceded  by  Virginia  to  the  United  States  was  sufficiently 
extensive  for  an  immense  empire.  The  parties  to  this  compact  of  cession 
contemplated  that  it  would  form  five  sovereign  States  of  this  Union.  At 
that  early  period  we  had  just  emerged  from  our  revolutionary  struggle, 
and  none  of  the  jealousy  was  then  felt  against  foreigners,  and  particularly 
against  Irish  foreigners,  which  now  appears  to  haunt  some  gentlemen. 
There  had  then  been  no  attempts  made  to  get  up  a  native  American  party  in 
this  country.  The  blood  of  the  gallant  Irish  had  flowed  freely  upon  every 
battle-field  in  defence  of  the  liberties  which  we  now  enjoy.  Besides,  the 
Senate  will  well  recollect  that  the  ordinance  was  passed  before  the  adoption 
of  our  present  Constitution,  and  whilst  the  power  of  naturalization  remained 
with  the  several  States.  In  some,  and  perhaps  in  all  of  them,  it  required  so 
short  a  residence,  and  so  little  trouble,  to  be  changed  from  an  alien  to  a 
citizen,  that  the  process  could  be  performed  without  the  least  difficulty.  I 
repeat  that  no  jealousy  whatever  then  existed  against  foreigners. 

What,  at  that  early  period,  was  the  condition  of  the  vast  Territory,  part  of 
which  has  been  formed  into  the  State  of  Michigan  ?  It  was  a  wilderness  and 
a  frontier.  The  wise  men  of  the  old  Congress  who  framed  this  ordinance 
desired  to  promote  its  population,  and  to  render  it  a  barrier  against  foreign 
invasion.  They  were  willing  that  all  persons,  whether  citizens  of  any  of  the 
States,  or  foreigners,  who  should  establish  a  fixed  residence  in  the  Territory, 
and  become  the  owners  of  a  freehold,  might  not  only  enjoy  the  privilege  of 
voting,  but  that  of  holding  offices.  In  regard  to  the  construction  of  the 
ordinance  itself,  I  shall  not  follow  in  detail  the  argument  of  the  Senator  from 
New  Jersey.  Indeed,  I  do  not  consider  it  a  question  for  construction.  The 
language  is  so  plain,  that  he  who  runs  may  read.  No  ingenuity  can  cast  the 
slightest  shade  of  doubt  over  it. 

The  ordinance  declares  that  "  so  soon  as  there  shall  be  five  thousand  free, 
male  inhabitants  of  full  age,  in  the  district,  upon  giving  proof  thereof  to  the 


ADMISSION  OF  MICHIGAN  INTO  THE  UNION.  359 

governor,  they  shall  receive  authority,  with  time  and  place,  to  elect  repre 
sentatives  from  their  counties  or  townships,  to  represent  them  in  the  general 
assembly ;  provided  that,  for  every  five  hundred  free  male  inhabitants,  there 
shall  be  one  representative,  and  so  on,  progressively,  with  the  number  of  free 
male  inhabitants,  shall  the  right  of  representation  increase,  until  the  number 
of  representatives  shall  amount  to  twenty-five;  after  which  the  number  and 
proportion  of  representatives  shall  be  regulated  by  the  legislature ;  provided, 
that  no  person  be  eligible  or  qualified  to  act  as  a  representative,  unless  he  shall 
have  been  a  citizen  of  one  of  the  United  States  three  years,  and  be  a  resident  in 
the  district,  or  unless  he  shall  have  resided  in  the  district  three  years ;  and  in 
either  case,  shall  likewise  hold  in  his  own  right,  in  fee  simple,  two  hundred 
acres  of  land  within  the  same;  provided  also,  that  a  freehold  of  fifty  acres  of 
land  in  the  district,  having  been  a  citizen  of  one  of  the  States,  and  being  resi 
dent  in  the  district,  or  the  like  freehold  and  two  years  residence  in  the  district, 
shall  be  necessary  to  qualify  a  man  as  an  elector  of  a  representative." 

Now,  sir,  I  have  said  that  this  language  is  too  plain  for  construction.  When 
had  the  people  of  this  Territory  the  right  to  elect  representatives  ?  Was  it 
when  there  were  five  thousand  free  male  citizens  within  its  borders  ?  By  no 
means ;  but  as  soon  as  there  were  that  number  of  free  male  inhabitants, 
whether  citizens  or  not.  Who  were  entitled  to  vote  at  these  elections? 
They,  referring  directly  and  immediately  to  the  five  thousand  free  male 
inhabitants  of  full  age. 

The  subsequent  portion  of  the  clause  which  I  have  just  read,  makes  this 
question,  if  possible,  still  plainer.  It  divides  those  capable  of  being  elected 
representatives,  as  well  as  the  electors,  into  two  distinct  classes,  conferring 
advantages,  in  both  cases,  upon  those  inhabitants  who  had  been  citizens  of  one 
of  the  States  for  a  period  of  three  years.  If  a  candidate  for  the  House  of 
Representatives  had  been  "  a  citizen  of  one  of  the  United  States  three  years," 
he  was  eligible,  although  he  might  not  have  been  a  resident  of  the  Territory 
for  more  than  a  single  day.  Nothing  more,  in  this  case,  is  required  than 
that  he  should  be  a  resident.  No  period  of  residence  was  necessary.  If  the 
candidate,  on  the  other  hand,  belonged  to  the  second  class — if  he  had  been  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  one  of  the  States  for  less  than  three  years,  or  if  he  still 
continued  to  be  an  alien,  in  order  to  render  him  eligible  as  a  representative, 
he  must  "  have  resided  in  the  district  three  years."  In  short,  if  he  had  been- 
a  citizen  for  three  years,  it  was  no  matter  how  brief  his  residence  might  have 
been ;  but  if  "  a  free  male  inhabitant "  of  any  other  description,  a  residence 
of  three  years  was  indispensable.  A  similar  distinction  prevails  in  regard  to 
the  electors.  "  A  citizen  of  any  of  the  States,  if  a  resident  of  the  district  but 
for  a  single  day,  had  a  right  to  exercise  the  elective  franchise.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  were  not  a  citizen,  "  two  years  residence  in  the  district "  was 
required. 

The  property  qualification  was  the  same  both  for  citizens  and  for  other 
residents. 

[Mr.  Buchanan  here  read  other  portions  of  the  ordinance  to  prove  that  its 


360  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

framers  were  careful  in  their  use  of  terms,  and  always  distinguished  with 
great  precision,  between  the  use  of  the  words  "free  male  inhabitants"  and 
"  citizens  of  one  of  the  United  States,"  etc.  He  also  referred,  as  a  further 
proof  of  his  position,  to  the  language  of  that  portion  of  the  ordinance  which 
provides  for  the  election  of  the  legislative  council.] 

Now,  sir,  said  Mr.  B.,  have  I  not  clearly  established  the  position,  that, 
under  this  ordinance,  aliens  were  entitled  to  elect  and  to  be  elected,  provided 
they  had  resided  a  sufficient  time  in  the  territory,  and  were  possessed  of  the 
necessary  freehold  qualification  ?  If  I  can  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the 
plainest  English  words,  neither  doubt  nor  difficulty  can  longer  rest  upon  this 
question. 

But  it  has  been  urged  that  in  order  to  become  a  freeholder,  a  person  must 
first  have  been  a  citizen  of  one  of  the  States.  In  reply,  I  might  content  my 
self  by  saying  that  this  is  begging  the  question.  It  is  assuming  the  very 
proposition  to  be  proved.  But  I  shall  give  this  objection  two  answers.  In 
the  first  place,  although  I  have  become  somewhat  rusty  in  my  legal  knowl 
edge,  yet  I  feel  perfectly  safe  in  asserting,  that,  under  the  strict  principles  of 
the  common  law  of  England,  an  alien  may  purchase  real  estate,  may  hold  real 
estate,  may  transmit  real  estate  to  his  heirs,  or  devise  it  by  his  will.  His 
title  is  good  against  all  mankind,  except  the  crown  ;  and  can  only  be  divested 
by  what  in  technical  language  is  termed  "  an  office  found  ''  in  favor  of  the 
king.  Admitting  that  the  Government  in  this  country  possessed  the  same 
right,  they  have,  in  the  most  solemn  terms,  abandoned  it,  by  holding  out  in 
ducements,  under  the  ordinance,  to  foreigners,  to  become  the  proprietors  of 
real  estate  within  the  Northwestern  Territory. 

An  answer  still  more  conclusive  may  be  given  to  this  objection.  The  old 
Congress  which  framed  the  ordinance  had  the  unquestionable  power  to  enable 
aliens  to  purchase  and  hold  real  estate.  It  was  their  policy  to  promote  the 
settlement  of  this  Territory ;  and  for  this  purpose  they  have  plainly  declared, 
by  the  ordinance,  that  aliens,  or  in  other  words,  that  any  free  male  inhabitant, 
might  hold  real  estate.  Even  at  this  day  aliens,  without  any  restriction,  pur 
chase  lands  from  the  United  States.  To  lure  them  to  make  purchases,  as  we 
have  done,  and  then  to  attempt  to  forfeit  their  estates,  would  be  a  violation  of 
every  principle  of  justice  and  public  faith.  ^* 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  have  repeatedly,  in  relation  to  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  Illinois,  placed  the  same  construction  on  this  ordinance  which  I 
have  done.  I  shall  not  exhaust  either  myself,  or  the  Senate,  by  referring  to 
more  than  one  or  two  of  these  instances.  In  April,  1802,  when  Congress 
passed  the  act  authorizing  the  people  of  Ohio  to  form  a  constitution  and  State 
government,  it  became  necessary  to  prescribe  the  qualifications  of  the  electors 
of  delegates  to  the  convention.  They  performed  this  duty  in  the  fourth  sec 
tion  of  that  act.  It  declares  as  follows  :  "  That  all  male  citizens  of  the  United 
States  who  shall  have  arrived  at  full  age,  and  resided  within  the  said  Territory 
at  least  one  year  previous  to  the  day  of  election,  and  shall  have  paid  a  terri 
torial  or  county  tax,  and  all  persons  having,  in  other  respects,  the  legal  quati- 


ADMISSION    OF    MICHIGAN  INTO    THE    UNION.  301 

fications  to  vote  for  representatives  in  the  general  assembly  of  the  territory, 
be,  and  they  are  hereby,  authorized  to  choose  representatives  to  form  a  con 
vention." 

Who  were  these  persons  having,  in  other  respects,  the  legal  qualifications 
to  vote  for  Territorial  representatives  ?  Let  the  ordinance  itself  answer  this 
question.  They  were  free  male  persons,  not  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
who  held  a  freehold  in  fifty  acres  of  land  within  the  Territory,  and  had  resided 
there  for  two  years.  Congress,  actua'ted  by  the  more  liberal  and  enlightened 
spirit  of  the  age,  in  the  year  1802,  dispensed  with  the  freehold  qualification  in 
regard  to  citizens  of  the  United  States.  They  suffered  it  to  remain,  however, 
in  relation  to  those  persons  within  the  Territory  who  were  not  citizens  :  but 
who  possessed  the  legal  qualifications,  in  other  respects,  to  vote  for  Territorial 
representatives. 

I  shall  merely  refer  to  another  instance  in  the  case  of  Illinois.  On  the 
20th  May,  1812,  Congress  passed  an  act  to  extend  the  right  of  suffrage  in 
that  Territory.  Under  this  act,  no  freehold  was  necessary,  in  any  case,  to 
the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise.  The  spirit  of  the  age  had  corrected 
this  error  in  politics.  I  am  glad  of  it.  Our  own  experience  has  taught  us 
that  the  citizen,  in  humble  circumstances,  who  pays  his  personal  tax,  feels  as 
deep  an  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  country,  and  would  make  as  many  sacri 
fices  to  promote  its  prosperity  and  glory,  as  the  man  who  has  an  income  of 
thousands  from  his  real  estate.  Wealth  has  never  been,  and  never  can  be,  a 
true  standard  of  patriotism.  By  the  first  section  of  this  act,  Congress  declared 
that  "  each  and  every  free  white  male  person,  who  shall  have  attained  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years,  and  who  shall  have  paid  a  county  or  Territorial  tax,  and 
who  shall  have  resided  one  year  in  said  Territory  previous  to  any  general 
election,  and  be,  at  the  time  of  such  election,  a  resident  thereof,  shall  be 
entitled  to  vote  for  members  of  the  legislative  council  and  house  of  repre 
sentatives  for  the  said  Territory."  You  perceive,  sir,  that  Congress,  by  this 
act,  no  longer  retained  the  distinction  which  they  had  established  in  regard 
to  Ohio,  between  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  persons  in  other  respects 
entitled  to  vote  for  members  of  the  Territorial  legislature.  They  are  all 
blended  together  into  the  same  mass,  and  the  elective  franchise  is  conferred 
upon  them  all,  under  the  denomination  of  free  white  male  persons,  who  have 
(paid  taxes  and  resided  one  year  in  the  Territory.  The  phrase  citizens  of  the 
United  States  does  not  once  occur  in  the  act.  In  the  second  and  third  sec 
tions  these  free  white  male  persons  are  denominated  citizens  of  the  Territory, 
not  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Under  the  ordinance  of  1787,  they  were, 
in  fact,  constituted  citizens  of  the  Territory ;  and  this  phraseology  is,  there 
fore,  perfectly  correct. 

The  Senator  from  New  Jersey  (Mr.  Southard)  has  undertaken  the  Hercu 
lean  task  of  proving  that  neither  the  ordinance  nor  the  act  of  1802,  in  relation 
to  Ohio,  nor  the  act  to  which  I  have  just  referred,  nor  the  other  similar  acts 
conferred  upon  any  persons  not  citizens  of  the  United  States  the  right  of 
voting.  How  far  he  has  been  successful,  I  shall  leave  for  the  Senate  to  judge. 


3G2  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

These  portions  of  the  ordinance  to  which  I  have  heretofore  referred  were 
subject  to  the  control  of  Congress.  They  have  been  modified  and  changed 
in  several  instances,  some  of  which  have  been  referred  to  and  commented 
upon  in  this  debate.  But  I  now  come  to  speak  of  one  of  those  articles  of  the 
ordinance,  essential  to  the  correct  decision  of  this  question,  which  is  placed 
beyond  the  power  of  Congress.  To  use  its  own  emphatic  language,  they 
"  shall  be  considered  as  articles  of  compact  between  the  original  States  and 
the  people  and  States  in  the  said  Territory,  and  forever  remain  unalterable, 
unless  by  common  consent."  This  solemn  agreement  has  been  confirmed  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  No  person  either  denies  or  doubts 
the  sacred  character  and  the  binding  force  of  this  contract.  The  fifth  of  these 
articles  of  this  ordinance  declares  as  follows  :  "  And  whenever  any  of  the  said 
States  shall  have  sixty  thousand  free  inhabitants  therein,  such  State  shall  be 
admitted  by  its  delegates  into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  on  an  equal 
footing  with  the  original  States,  in  all  respects  whatever;  and  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  form  a  permanent  constitution  and  State  government;  provided 
the  constitution  and  government  so  to  be  formed  shall  be  republican,  and  in 
conformity  to  the  principles  contained  in  these  articles;  and,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  consistent  with  the  general  interest  of  the  confederacy,  such  admission 
shall  be  allowed  at  an  earlier  period,  and  when  there  may  be  a  less  number 
of  free  inhabitants  in  the  State  than  sixty  thousand." 

Now,  sir,  under  this  provision,  these  sixty  thousand  free  inhabitants  had  a 
right  to  frame  a  constitution  whenever  they  pleased.  They  had  a  right  to 
determine  which  of  them  should  be  electors  of  delegates  to  their  own  conven 
tion  for  that  purpose,  and  which  of  them  should  not.  It  rested  solely  within 
their  own  discretion,  whether  the  elective  franchise  should  be  confined  to 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  be  extended  to  other  inhabitants  of  the 
Territory.  It  was  the  right  and  the  duty  of  Congress  first  to  determine  the 
boundaries  of  the  States  to  be  formed  within  the  limits  of  the  Northwestern  Ter 
ritory.  Had  this  duty  been  performed,  the  free  inhabitants  of  Michigan,  after 
they  amounted  to  sixty  thousand,  would  have  become  a  distinct  political 
community  under  the  ordinance.  They  would  have  possessed  the  sovereign 
right  to  form  a  constitution ;  and  if  the  constitution  were  republican,  and  in 
conformity  to  the  ordinance,  they  might  have  demanded  admission,*by  their 
delegates,  into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  They  could  not  have  been 
refused  without  a  direct  violation  of  the  solemnly  pledged  faith  of  the  nation. 
If  Congress  had  objected  that  persons,  not  citizens  of  the  United  States,  had 
been  permitted  to  vote  at  the  election  for  delegates,  they  might  have  triumph 
antly  presented  this  ordinance,  and  declared  that  the  question  was  settled  by 
its  terms  and  its  spirit ;  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  they  were  entitled 
to  shake  off  their  Territorial  dependence,  and  assume  an  equal  rank  with  the 
other  States  of  the  Union.  Throughout  the  ordinance  there  is  a  marked 
distinction  between  ''free  inhabitants"  and  "  citizens  of  the  United  States." 

It  is  true  that  Congress  have  never  yet  determined  the  boundaries  of  the 
State  of  Michigan ;  but  their  omission  to  do  so  could  not  affect,  in  any  degree, 


ADMISSION    OF   MICHIGAN    INTO    THE    UNION.  363 

the  right  of  the  free  male  inhabitants  to  vote  for  delegates  to  the  convention 
which  framed  their  constitution.  As  soon  as  Michigan  shall  have  been 
admitted  into  the  Union,  the  boundaries  of  Wisconsin  will  then  be  irrevocably 
determined.  It  will  be  the  last  of  the  five  States  into  which  the  North 
western  Territory  can  be  divided  under  the  terms  of  the  ordinance.  When 
that  Territory  shall  contain  sixty  thousand  free  inhabitants,  they  will  have  an 
absolute  right  to  demand  admission,  as  a  State,  into  the  Union,  and  we  can 
not  refuse  to  admit  them  without  violating  the  public  faith.  Still,  I  should 
not  advise  them  to  frame  a  constitution  without  a  previous  act  of  Congress. 

The  precedent  in  the  case  of  Tennessee,  on  which  I  commented  when  I 
addressed  the  Senate  on  Wednesday  last,  has  completely  silenced  all  opposi 
tion  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  a  previous  act  of  Congress  to  enable  the 
people  of  Michigan  to  form  a  State  constitution.  It  now  seems  to  be  con 
ceded,  that  our  subsequent  approbation  is  equivalent  to  our  previous  action. 
This  can  no  longer  be  doubted.  We  have  the  unquestionable  power  of 
waiving  any  irregularities  in  the  method  of  framing  the  constitution,  had  any 
such  existed.  It  is  wiser,  I  admit,  for  Congress,  in  the  first  instance,  to  pass 
such  an  act;  but,  after  they  had  refused  to  do  so,  from  year  to  year,  the 
people  of  Michigan  had  no  other  alternative  but  either  to  take  the  matter 
into  their  own  hands,  or  abandon  the  hope  of  admission  into  the  Union, 
within  any  reasonable  time. 

But  I  am  not  done  with  this  Tennessee  precedent. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  when  North  Carolina  ceded  to  the  United  States 
the  territory  which  now  composes  the  State  of  Tennessee,  it  was  specially 
stipulated  that  the  inhabitants  within  the  same  should  "  enjoy  all  the  privi 
leges,  benefits  and  advantages,"  set  forth  in  the  ordinance  for  the  government 
of  the  Northwestern  Territory.  This  provision  makes  the  case  of  Tennessee 
one  precisely  in  point  with  the  present.  I  would  ask,  then,  who  voted  at  the 
election  for  delegates  to  frame  the  constitution  of  Tennessee  ?  Let  the 
proclamation  of  Governor  Blount,  issued  in  obedience  to  an  act  of  the  Ter 
ritorial  legislature,  answer  this  question.  He  declares  "  that  all  free  males 
(not  free  male  citizens,)  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  upwards,"  shall  be 
entitled  to  vote.  Under  this  proclamation  every  free  male  inhabitant  of  the 
Territory  had  a  right  to  vote,  no  matter  how  short  a  time  his  inhabitancy  may 
have  continued.  In  this  respect  it  differs  from  the  Territorial  law  of  Michi 
gan,  which  requires  a  previous  residence  of  three  months. 

With  a  full  knowledge  of  these  facts,  General  Washington,  in  his  message 
to  Congress  of  the  8th  of  April,  1796,  on  the  subject  of  the  admission  of 
Tennessee  into  the  Union,  declares  that  "  among  the  privileges,  benefits  and 
advantages  thus  secured  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territory  south  of  the  river 
Ohio,  appear  to  be  the  right  of  forming  a  permanent  constitution  and  state 
of  government,  and  of  admission  as  a  State  by  its  delegates  into  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States  in  all 
respects  whatever,  when  it  should  have  therein  sixty  thousand  free  inhabi 
tants  ;  provided  the  constitution  and  government  so  to  be  formed  should  be 


364  LIFE    OF    JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

republican,  and  in  conformity  to  the  principles  contained  in  the  articles  of  the 
said  ordinance." 

The  State  of  Tennessee  was  accordingly  admitted.  At  this  early  day, 
•when  the  ordinance  was  better  understood  than  it  can  be  at  present,  no  objec 
tion  was  made  from  any  quarter,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  that  delegates  to  the 
convention  which  formed  the  constitution  of  that  State,  were  voted  for  by 
inhabitants  who  were  not  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Certain  it  is,  that  no 
such  question  was  raised  by  General  Washington.  Even  Mr.  King,  whose 
report  was  decidedly  adverse  to  the  admission  of  this  State,  never,  in  the 
most  distant  manner,  adverts  to  this  objection  which  has  now  been  so 
strongly  urged  by  Senators. 

I  stated  when  I  last  addressed  the  Senate,  as  a  proposition  clearly  estab 
lished,  that  under  the  ordinance,  the  States  formed  out  of  the  Northwestern 
Territory  had  a  right  to  confer  the  elective  franchise  upon  the  inhabitants 
resident  within  them  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  their  constitutions, 
whether  they  were  citizens  or  not.  I  then  also  asserted,  that  the  States  of 
Ohio  and  Illinois  had  not  only  exercised  this  power  to  the  extent  which 
Michigan  had  done,  but  had  gone  much  further.  They  had  not,  like  Michi 
gan,  confined  the  elective  franchise  to  inhabitants  actually  resident  within  their 
respective  States,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  their  constitutions ;  but  had 
made  a  general  provision  by  which  all  such  inhabitants,  though  not  citizens, 
would  be  entitled  to  vote  in  all  future  time.  These  positions,  which  I  thought 
impregnable,  have  been  violently  assailed ;  and  it  has  been  contended  that, 
under  the  provisions  of  these  constitutions,  no  persons,  except  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  are  entitled  to  vote.  This  renders  it  necessary  that  I  should 
again  turn  to  these  constitutions.  The  first  section  of  the  fourth  article  of  the 
constitution  of  Ohio  declares,  that  "  in  all  elections,  aU  white  male  inhabitants, 
above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  having  resided  in  the  State  one  year  next 
preceding  the  election,  and  who  have  paid,  or  are  charged  with,  a  State  or 
county  tax,  shall  enjoy  the  right  of  an  elector ;  but  no  person  shall  be  enti 
tled  to  vote,  except  in  the  county  or  district  in  which  he  shall  actually  reside 
at  the  time  of  the  election."  The  fifth  section  of  the  same  article  varies  the 
expression,  and  confers  the  right  of  voting  "on  white  male  persons"  who  are 
compelled  to  labor  on  the  roads.  These  "white  male  inhabitants,"  o*" white 
male  persons,"  are  not  required  to  be  citizens  of  the  United  States.  The 
terms  are  as  general  as  they  can  be.  They  embrace  all  persons,  whether 
citizens  of  the  United  States  or  not,  who  have  resided  within  the  State  for 
one  year,  and  are  in  other  respects  qualified.  Besides,  it  would  be  easy  to 
show,  by  adverting  to  other  parts  of  this  constitution,  that  the  framers  of  it, 
in  several  cases,  when  they  intended  to  confine  its  benefits  to  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  have  so  declared  in  express  terms.  We  have  heard  it  stated 
that  by  a  judicial  decision,  the  right  to  vote  has  been  restricted  to  citizens  of 
the  United  States.  This  decision  has  not  been  produced.  I  should  be  very 
much  pleased  to  see  it.  I  am  aware  that  judicial  construction  can  work  won 
ders  ;  but  if  any  court  has  decided  that  "  all  white  male  inhabitants,"  or 


ADMISSION    OF   MICHIGAN    INTO    THE    UNjjON  36£ 

- 

"  white  male  persons,"  are  restricted  in  their  meaning  to  white  male  citizen; 
of  the  United  States,  it  is  a  stretch  bf  judicial  construction  which  surpasses 
anything  of  which  I  could  have  conceived. 

The  constitution  of  Illinois  is  still  more  general  in  its  provisions.  It  declares 
that  "  in  all  elections,  all  white  male  inhabitants,  above  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years,  having  resided  in  the  State  six  months,  next  preceding  the  election, 
shall  enjoy  the  right  of  an  elector ;  but  no  person  shall  be  entitled  to  vote 
except  in  the  county  or  district  in  which  he  shall  actually  reside  at  the  time 
of  the  election."  We  have  been  informed  by  the  Senators  from  Illinois,  that 
the  practice  of  that  State  has  always  conformed  to  the  plain  meaning  of  the 
constitution.  At  this  day,  any  alien,  who  has  resided  within  that  State  for 
six  months,  is  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  elective  franchise.  Indeed,  this 
privilege  has-  induced  aliens  to  settle  in  that  State  in  preference  to  others 
where  they  cannot  vote  until  after  they  have  become  citizens  of  the  United 
States. 

Now,  sir,  I  wish  to  be  fairly  understood  upon  this  question.  As  a  general 
principle,  I  do  not  think  that  any  State  of  this  Union  ought  to  permit  any 
person  to  exercise  the  right  of  an  elector  who  is  not  either  a  native  or  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States.  There  may  have  been,  and  I  think 
there  was,  a  propriety  in  conferring  the  elective  franchise  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Territory,  actually  resident  therein,  although  not  citizens,  who  had  a 
right  under  the  ordinance  to  participate  in  the  formation  of  the  constitution. 
Beyond  this,  the  power,  even  under  the  ordinance,  is  extremely  doubtful. 
Michigan  has  wisely  confined  herself  within  these  limits.  She  has  not  fol 
lowed  the  example  of  Ohio  and  Illinois.  These  States  have  been  admitted 
into  the  Union,  notwithstanding  the  extravagant  provisions  in  their  constitu 
tions  in  favor  of  foreigners.  Would  it  not  then  be  extremely  ungracious  to 
exclude  Michigan,  when  no  foreigner  can  ever  hereafter  enjoy  the  right 
of  voting,  except  such  as  were  resident  within  the  limits  of  the  State  at  the 
time  of  the  formation  of  her  constitution  ? 

According  to  the  census,  it  would  appear  that  not  more  than  from  five  to 
six  hundred  aliens  could  have  been  in  that  situation.  At  the  present  time  it 
is  probable  that  many  of  these  have  become  naturalized  citizens.  The  evil,  if 
it  be  one,  is  very  small.  Within  a  short  period  it  will  entirely  disappear. 
Would  it  be  wise,  would  it  be  politic,  would  it  be  statesman-like,  to  annul  all 
that  has  been  done  by  the  convention  of  Michigan,  merely  for  this  reason  ? 
Ought  we,  on  this  account,  to  defer  the  final  settlement  of  the  disputed  boun 
dary  between  Ohio  and  Michigan,  and  thus  again  give  rise  to  anarchy  and 
confusion,  and  perhaps  to  the  shedding  of  blood  ?  Do  you  feel  confident,  that 
the  people  of  Michigan,  after  you  have  violated  their  rights,  by  refusing  to 
admit  them  into  the  Union  at  this  time,  would  ever  act  under  your  law 
authorizing  them  to  form  a  new  constitution  ?  We  must  all  desire  to  see  this 
unfortunate  boundary  question  settled ;  and  the  passage  of  this  bill  presents 
the  best,  if  not  the  only  means,  of  accomplishing  a  result  so  desirable. 

Have  the  people  of  Michigan,  or  any  portion  of  them,  ever  complained  of 


366  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

this  part  of  their  constitution  ?  I  would  ask,  by  what  authority  have  the 
Senators  from  Ohio  and  New  Jersey  (Messrs.  Ewing  and  Southard)  raised  this 
objection,  whilst  the  people  themselves  are  content  ?  Even  if  they  did  com 
mit  an  error  in  this  respect,  we  ought  to  treat  them  as  children,  and  not  as 
enemies.  It  is  the  part  of  greatness  and  magnanimity  to  pass  over  unim 
portant  errors  of  judgment  committed  by  those  who  are.  in  some  degree, 
dependent  upon  us.  It  would,  indeed,  be  a  severe  measure  of  justice,  for  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  after  having  admitted  Ohio  and  Illinois  into 
the  Union,  to  close  the  door  of  admission  against  Michigan.  This,  in  truth, 
would  be  straining  at  a  gnat,  and  swallowing  a  camel. 

Suppose  you  deprive  the  people  of  Michigan  of  a  territory  to  which  they 
all  believe,  however  erroneously,  they  have  a  right,  and  transfer  it  to  Ohio, 
and  then  drive  them  from  your  door  and  refuse  to  admit  them  into  the 
Union;  can  any  Senator  here  view  the  probable  consequences  with  com 
posure?  They  are  a  high-spirited  and  manly  people.  You  cannot  blame 
them  for  that.  They  are  bone  of  your  bone,  and  flesh  of  your  flesh.  They 
have  been  taught,  by  your  example,  to  resist  what  they  believe  to  be  oppres 
sion.  Will  they  patiently  submit  to  your  decree  ?  Will  they  tamely  surrender 
up  to  Ohio  that  territory  of  which  they  have  been  in  possession  for  thirty 
years  ?  Their  past  history  proves  conclusively  that  they  will  maintain  what 
they  believe  to  be  their  rights,  to  the  death.  You  may  have  civil  war  as  the 
direct  consequence  of  your  vote  this  day.  Should  the  amendment  of  the 
Senator  from  Ohio  (Mr.  Ewing)  prevail,  whilst  it  will  leave  unsettled  the 
question  of  boundary  so  important  to  his  own  State,  it  may,  and  probably 
will  produce,  scenes  of  bloodshed  and  civil  war  along  the  boundary  line.  I 
have  expressed  the  opinion,  that  Congress  possess  the  power  of  annexing  the 
territory  in  dispute  to  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  that  it  is  expedient  to  exercise  it. 
The  only  mode  of  extorting  a  reluctant  consent  from  the  people  of  Michigan 
to  this  disposition,  is  to  make  it  a  condition  of  their  admission,  under  their 
present  constitution,  into  the  Union.  The  bill  proposes  to  do  so,  and,  in  my 
humble  judgment,  Ohio  is  deeply  interested  in  its  passage. 

I  shall  now,  following  the  example  of  my  friend  from  New  York  (Mr. 
Wright),  proceed  to  make  some  suggestions  upon  another  point.  They  are 
intended  merely  as  suggestions,  for  I  can  say  with  truth  I  have  forAied  no 
decided  opinion  upon  the  subject.  A  friend  called  to  see  me  last  evening,  and 
attempted  to  maintain  the  proposition  that  the  several  States,  under  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  and  independent  of  the  ordinance  applicable  to 
the  Northwestern  Territory,  had  the  power  of  conferring  the  right  to  vote 
upon  foreigners  resident  within  their  territories.  This  opinion  was  at  war 
with  all  my  former  impressions.  He  requested  me  to  do  as  he  had  done,  and 
to  read  over  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  carefully,  with  a  view  to 
this  question.  I  have  complied  with  his  request,  and  shall  now  throw  out  a 
few  suggestions  upon  this  subject,  merely  to  elicit  the  opinion  of  others. 

The  older  I  grow,  the  more  I  am  inclined  to  be  what  is  called  "  a  State 
rights  man."  The  peace  and  security  of  this  Union  depend  upon  giving  to 


ADMISSION   OF   MICHIGAN   INTO   THE   UNION.  367 

the  Constitution  a  literal  and  fair  construction,  such  as  would  be  placed  upon 
it  by  a  plain,  intelligent  man,  and  not  by  ingenious  constructions,  to  increase 
the  powers  of  this  Government,  and  thereby  diminish  those  of  the  States. 
The  rights  of  the  States,  reserved  to  them  by  that  instrument,  ought  ever  to 
be  held  sacred.  If  then  the  Constitution  leaves  to  them  to  decide  according 
to  their  own  discretion,  unrestricted  and  unlimited,  who  shall  be  electors,  it 
follows  as  a  necessary  consequence  that  they  may,  if  they  think  proper,  con- 
1  fer  upon  resident  aliens  the  right  of  voting. 

It  has  been  supposed,  and  is  perhaps  generally  believed,  that  this  power 
has  been  abridged  by  that  clause  in  the  Constitution  which  declares,  that  "  the 
citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of 
citizens  of  the  several  States."  Does  then  a  State,  by  conferring  upon  a 
person,  not  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  the  privilege  of  voting,  necessarily 
constitute  him  a  citizen  of  such  State  ?  Is  the  elective  franchise  so  essentially 
connected  with  the  citizenship,  that  the  one  cannot  exist  without  the  other? 
This  is  the  question.  If  it  be  so,  no  State  can  exercise  this  power ;  because, 
no  State,  by  bestowing  upon  an  alien  the  privilege  of  voting,  can  make  him  a 
citizen  of  that  State,  and  thereby  confer  upon  him  "the  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens  of  the  several  States."  Citizens  are  either  natives  of 
the  country,  or  they  are  naturalized.  To  Congress  exclusively  belongs  the 
power  of  naturalization ;  and  I  freely  admit,  that  no  foreigner  can  become  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  but  by  complying  with  the  provisions  of  the  acts 
of  Congress  upon  this  subject.  But  still  we  are  brought  back  to  the  question, 
may  not  a  State  bestow  upon  a  resident  alien  the  right  to  vote,  within  its 
limits,  as  a  personal  privilege,  without  conferring  upon  him  the  other  privileges 
of  citizenship,  or  ever  intending  to  render  it  obligatory  upon  the  other  States 
to  receive  him  as  a  citizen  ?  Might  not  Virginia  refuse  to  a  foreigner  who 
had  voted  in  Illinois,  without  having  been  naturalized,  "  the  privileges  and 
immunities  "  of  one  of  her  citizens,  without  any  violation  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  ?  Would  such  an  alien  have  any  pretext  for  claiming, 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  right  to  vote  within  a  State 
where  citizens  of  the  United  States  alone  are  voters? 

It  is  certain  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  the  broadest 
terms,  leaves  to  the  States  the  qualifications  of  their  own  electors,  or  rather  it 
does  not  restrict  them  in  any  manner  upon  this  question.  The  second  section 
of  the  first  article  provides  "  that  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  com 
posed  of  members  chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several 
States,  and  the  electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for 
electors  of  the  most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  Legislature."  By  the  first 
section  of  the  second  article,  "each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the 
Legislature  thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal  to  the  whole  number 
of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Con 
gress."  Both  these  provisions  seem  to  recognize  in  the  States  the  most  absolute 
discretion  in  deciding  who  shall  be  qualified  electors.  There  is  no  declaration  or 
intimation  throughout  the  whole  instrument  that  these  electors  shall  be  citizens 


368  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

of  the  United  States.  Are  the  States  not  left  to  exercise  this  discretion  in 
the  same  sovereign  manner  they  did  before  they  became  parties  to  the 
Federal  Constitution  ?  There  is  at  least  strong  plausibility  in  the  argument, 
especially  when  we  consider  that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  in  order 
more  effectually  to  guard  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  inserted  a  provi 
sion,  "  that  the  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitu 
tion,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively, 
or  to  the  people." 

Without  any  stretch  of  imagination,  we  might  conceive  a  case  in  which 
this  question  would  shake  our  Union  to  the  very  centre.  Suppose  that  the 
decision  of  the  next  Presidential  election  should  depend  upon  the  vote  of 
Illinois ;  and  it  could  be  made  to  appear,  that  the  aliens  who  voted  under  the 
Constitution  in  that  State,  had  turned  the  scale  in  favor  of  the  successful 
candidate.  What  would  then  be  the  consequence?  Have  we  a  right  to 
rejudge  her  justice  ?  to  interfere  with  her  sovereign  rights  ?  to  declare  that 
her  Legislature  could  not  appoint  electors  of  President  and  Vice  President  in 
such  manner  as  they  thought  proper,  and  to  annul  the  election  ? 

It  is  curious  to  remark,  that  except  in  a  few  instances,  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  has  not  prescribed  that  the  officers  elected  or  appointed 
under  its  authority,  shall  be  citizens ;  and  we  all  know  in  practice,  that  the 
Senate  have  been  constantly  in  the  habit  of  confirming  the  nominations  of 
foreigners  as  consuls  of  the  United  States.  They  have  repeatedly  done  so,  I 
believe,  in  regard  to  other  officers. 

I  repeat  that,  on  this  question,  I  have  formed  no  fixed  opinion  one  way  or 
the  other.  On  the  other  points  of  the  case,  I  entertain  the  clearest  convic 
tion,  that  Michigan  is  entitled  to  admission  into  the  Union. 

I  have  thus  completed  all  I  intend  to  say  upon  this  subject.  I  have  been 
most  reluctantly  drawn  a  second  time  into  this  debate.  I  had  the  admission 
of  Arkansas  specially  entrusted  to  my  care.  Few,  if  any,  of  the  objections 
urged  against  Michigan,  are  applicable  to  Arkansas ;  but  I  could  not  conceal 
from  myself  the  fact,  that  the  admission  of  the  one  depended  upon  that  of 
the  other ;  and  I  am  equally  anxious  to  receive  both  the  sisters. 

The  people  of  Texas  were  at  this  time  engaged  in,  their 
revolutionary  effort  to  make  themselves  independent  of  Mexico. 
It  was  deemed  necessary  to  authorize  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers  for  the 
defence  of  the  frontiers.  On  a  bill  introduced  for  this  purpose, 
and  which  had  passed  the  House  of  Representatives,  Mr. 
Buchanan,  on  the  4th  of  May,  said : 

He  had  no  doubt  but  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  in  regard 
to  Mexico,  had  pursued,  and  would  pursue,  the  course  which  had  been 
sanctioned  by  all  its  experience  in  relation  to  questions  of  this  kind.  One 
principle  had  been  established  in  the  political  history  of  the  country ;  had 


AFFAIRS    OF   TEXAS.  369 

grown  with  its  growth,  and  strengthened  with  its  strength;  and  without 
knowing  what  the  President  had  done  or  would  do  in  this  matter,  he  had  no 
doubt  but  he  would  strictly  adhere  to  that  established  principle  in  our  institu 
tions,  never  to  interfere  with  the  internal  policy  or  domestic  concerns  of  for 
eign  nations.  The  famous  proclamation  of  neutrality  of  General  Washington 
first  asserted  that  principle,  and  to  it  our  Government  had  always  adhered. 
We  consider,  said  Mr.  B.,  all  nations  "  enemies  in  war,  and  in  peace, 
friends." 

In  regard  to  Mexico,  he  considered  Santa  Anna  as  an  usurper.  The  fed 
eral  constitution,  established  for  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  and  which  Texas,  as 
a  part  of  that  Republic,  had  sworn  to  support,  had  been  trampled  on  by  him, 
and  Texas,  in  his  eyes,  and  in  the  eyes  of  all  mankind,  was  justified  in  rebel 
ling  against  him.  Whether  the  Texans  acted  consistently  with  a  true  policy 
at  the  time,  in  declaring  their  independence,  he  should  not  discuss,  nor  should 
he  decide ;  but  as  a  man  and  an  American,  he  should  be  rejoiced  to  see 
them  successful  in  maintaining  their  liberties,  and  he  trusted  in  God  they 
would  be  so.  He  would,  however,  leave  them  to  rely  on  their  own  bravery, 
with  every  hope  and  prayer  that  the  God  of  battles  would  shield  them  with 
his  protection.  m 

If  Santa  Anna  excited  the  Indians  within  our  territory  to  deeds  of  massa 
cre  and  blood ;  if  he  should  excite  a  spirit  among  them  which  he  cannot 
restrain ;  and  if,  in  consequence,  the  blood  of  our  women  and  children  on  the 
frontier  shall  flow,  he  undoubtedly  ought  to  be  held  responsible.  Mr.  B.  saw 
a  strong  necessity  for  sending  a  force  to  the  frontiers,  not  only  to  restrain  the 
natural  disposition  of  the  Indians  to  deeds  of  violence,  but  because  they 
could  place  no  confidence  in  a  man  who  had  so  little  command  of  his  tem 
per,  who  had  shown  so  cruel  and  sanguinary  a  disposition  as  Santa  Anna  had. 
He  was  for  having  a  force  speedily  sent  to  that  frontier,  and  a  force  of 
mounted  men  or  dragoons,  as  suggested  by  the  Senator  from  Missouri  (Mr. 
Linn),  but  he  was  against  interfering  in  the  war  now  raging  in  Texas,  unless 
an  attack  should  be  made  on  us. 

If  it  were  left  for  him  to  decide  to  which  bill  a  preference  should  be  given 
by  the  Senate,  he  would  first  take  up  the  bill  providing  for  this  additional 
force  for  the  protection  of  the  frontiers ;  but  he  had  been  instructed  by  an 
authority  which  he  was  bound  to  respect  and  obey,  and  he  must,  therefore, 
vote  to  take  up  the  land  bill.  He  should  vote  with  the  warmest  friends  of 
that  bill  in  its  favor  till  it  was  either  carried  through  or  defeated.  To-day  or 
to-morrow,  the  land  bill  would  be  finally  disposed  of;  it  now  stood  in  the  way 
of  everything  else ;  and  he  would  then  be  for  proceeding  with  the  appropri 
ation  bills  as  rapidly  as  possible.  He  should  have  said  nothing  about  instruc 
tions,  had  not  this  question  of  preference  been  brought  up.  After  the  decision 
of  the  land  bill,  he  should  give  his  hearty  support  to  carry  through  the  bills 
necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  country,  with  as  much  expedition  as 
possible. 

1-24 


370  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

IN  SENATE,  MONDAY,  MAY  9,  1836. 

Mr.  Preston  presented  the  petition  of  a  number  of  the  citizens  of  Philadel 
phia,  on  the  subject  of  the  affairs  of  Texas ;  and  praying  Congress  to  acknowl 
edge  the  independence  of  that  country. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  he  had  received  several  memorials  from  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  of  the  same  character  as  those  which  had  been  presented  by  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Preston).  He  had  intended  to  present 
them  this  morning  to  the  Senate,  but  was  prevented  from  doing  so  at  the 
proper  time  by  an  accidental  circumstance.  It  was  also  his  intention  to  have 
accompanied  their  presentation  by  some  remarks.  These  he  thought  best  to 
offer  now,  rather  than  to  wait  until  to-morrow  morning,  and  then  become 
instrumental  in  getting  up  another  debate. 

These  memorials  asked  Congress  "  to  recognize  the  independence  of  Texas, 
and  at  such  time,  and  in  such  manner,  as  may  be  deemed  proper,  interpose 
to  terminate  the  conflict  which  now  rages  in  that  country." 

In  some  remarks,  which  he  had  submitted  to  the  Senate  a  few  days  since, 
and  which,  like  all  other  proceedings  in  this  body,  had  been  much  misrepre 
sented  abroad,  he  had  indulged  the  feelings  of  a  man  and  an  American  citi 
zen.  What  he  then  uttered  were  the  sentiments  of  his  own  heart,  in  relation 
to  the  existing  trouble  in  Texas.  But  when  he  was  called  on  as  a  Senator  to 
recognize  the  independence  of  that  country,  he  thought  it  prudent  to  refer 
back  to  the  conduct  of  our  ancestors,  when  placed  in  similar  circumstances, 
and  to  derive  lessons  of  wisdom  from  their  example.  If  there  was  any 
one  principle  of  our  public  policy  which  had  been  well  settled — one  which 
had  been  acted  upon  by  every  administration,  and  which  had  met  the 
approbation  not  only  of  this  country,  but  of  every  civilized  government  with 
which  we  have  intercourse,  it  was  that  we  should  never  interfere  in  the 
domestic  concerns  of  other  nations.  Kecognizing  in  the  people  of  every 
nation  the  absolute  right  to  adopt  such  forms  of  government  as  they  thought 
proper,  we  had  always  preserved  the  strictest  neutrality  between  the  parties, 
in  every  country,  whilst  engaged  in  civil  war.  We  had  left  all  nations  per 
fectly  free,  so  far  as  we  were  concerned,  to  establish,  to  maintain,  or  to  change 
their  forms  of  government,  according  to  their  own  sovereign  will  and  pleasure. 
It  would  indeed  be  surprising,  and  more  than  that,  it  would  be  unnatural,  if 
the  sympathies  of  the  American  people  should  not  be  deeply,  earnestly  en 
listed  in  favor  of  those  who  drew  the  sword  for  liberty  throughout  the  world, 
no  matter  where  it  was  raised  to  strike.  Beyond  this  we  had  never  pro 
ceeded. 

The  peaceful  influence  of  our  example  upon  other  nations  was  much 
greater — the  cause  of  free  government  was  thus  more  efficiently  promoted 
than  if  we  should  waste  the  blood  and  treasure  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  foreign  wars,  waged  even  to  maintain  the  sacred  cause  of  liberty. 
The  world  must  be  persuaded,  it  could  not  be  conquered.  Besides,  said  Mr. 
B.,  we  can  never,  with  any  proper  regard  for  the  welfare  of  our  constituents, 


AFFAIRS   OF   TEXAS.  371 

devote  their  energies  and  their  resources  to  the  cause  of  planting  and  sus 
taining  free  institutions  among  the  people  of  other  nations. 

Acting  upon  these  principles,  we  had  always  recognized  existing  govern 
ments  de  facto,  whether  they  were  constitutional  or  despotic.  We  had  the 
same  amicable  relations  with  despotisms  as  with  free  governments ;  because 
we  had  no  right  to  quarrel  with  people  of  any  nation  on  account  of  the  form 
of  government  which  they  might  think  proper  to  adopt  or  to  sanction.  It  was 
their  affair,  not  ours.  We  would  not  tolerate  such  interference  from  abroad ; 
and  we  ought  to  demean  ourselves  towards  foreign  nations  as  we  should 
require  them  to  act  towards  ourselves. 

A  very  striking  illustration  of  this  principle  had  been  presented,  during 
the  present  administration,  in  the  case  of  Portugal.  We  recognized  Don 
Miguel's  government,  because  he  was  de  facto  in  possession  of  the  throne, 
apparently  with  the  consent  of  the  Portuguese  people.  In  this  respect,  Mr.  B. 
believed,  we  stood  alone,  or  nearly  alone,  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
When  he  was  expelled  from  that  country,  and  the  present  queen  seemed  to 
be  firmly  seated  upon  the  throne,  we  had  no  difficulty,  pursuing  our  estab 
lished  policy,  in  recognizing  her  government. 

A  still  more  striking  case,  and  one  to  the  very  point  in  question,  had 
occurred  during  Mr.  Monroe's  administration.  The  Spanish  provinces, 
throughout  the  whole  continent  of  America,  had  raised  the  standard  of 
rebellion  against  the  king  of  Spain.  They  were  struggling  for  liberty  against 
oppression.  The  feelings  of  the  American  people  were  devotedly  enlisted  in 
their  favor.  Our  ardent  wishes  and  our  prayers  for  their  success,  continued 
throughout  the  whole  long  and  bloody  conflict.  But  we  took  no  other  part 
in  their  cause ;  and  we  rendered  them  no  assistance,  except  the  strong  moral 
influence  exerted  over  the  world  by  our  well-known  feelings  and  opinions  in 
their  favor.  When,  said  Mr.  B.,  did  we  recognize  their  independence?  Not 
till  after  they  had  achieved  it  by  their  arms ;  not  until  the  contest  was  over, 
and  victory  had  perched  upon  their  banners ;  not  until  the  good  fight  had 
been  fought  and  won.  We  then  led  the  van  in  acknowledging  their  indepen 
dence.  But  until  they  were  independent  in  fact,  we  resisted  every  effort 
and  every  eloquent  appeal  which  was  made  in  their  behalf,  to  induce  us  to 
depart  from  the  settled  policy  of  the  country.  When  the  fact  of  their  actual 
independence  was  established ;  then,  and  not  till  then,  did  we  acknowledge  it. 

He  would  rejoice  should  similar  success  attend  the  arms  of  the  Texans. 
He  trusted  they  would  yet  conquer  their  independence  against  the  myrmi 
dons  of  Santa  Anna.  In  that  event,  there  was  no  man  in  the  country  who 
would  vote  more  cheerfully  to  recognize  it  than  himself.  Until  that  time 
should  arrive,  he  must  continue  to  act  upon  the  firmly  established  principle 
which  had  been  our  guide  for  nearly  half  a  century. 

Mr.  B.  believed  that  no  President  of  the  United  States  had  ever  been 
more  strongly  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  maintaining  this  principle  invio 
late  than  General  Jackson.  His  whole  conduct  towards  foreign  governments 
had  made  this  manifest.  Whilst,  said  Mr.  B.,  he  requires  justice  from  all,  he 


372      •  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

treats  all  with  justice.  In  his  annual  message,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  session,  he  informed  Congress  that  instructions  had  been  given  to  the 
district  attorneys  of  the  United  States,  to  prosecute  all  persons  who  might 
attempt  to  violate  our  neutrality  in  the  civil  war  between  Mexico  and  Texas. 
He  also  stated  that  he  had  apprised  the  government  of  Mexico  that  we  should 
require  the  integrity  of  our  territory  to  be  scrupulously  respected  by  both 
parties.  He  thus  declared  to  the  world,  not  only  that  we  had  determined  to 
be  neutral  between  the  parties,  but  that  our  neutrality  must  be  respected  by 
both.  This  afforded  abundant  evidence  of  his  disposition  neither  to  interfere 
with  the  internal  concerns  of  other  nations,  nor  to  submit  to  any  violation  of 
the  law  of  nations  by  them.  Mr.  B.  entertained  not  a  doubt  that  the  line  of 
conduct  which  he  had  marked  out  for  himself,  in  the  beginning,  he  would 
pursue  until  the  end,  so  far  as  the  executive  Government  was  concerned. 

It  was  obviously  necessary  to  concentrate  a  strong  military  force  on  the 
confines  of  Texas,  not  only  to  enforce  our  neutrality,  but  to  protect  the  lives 
and  property  of  our  fellow-citizens.  This  had  been  done ;  but  the  command 
ing  general  had  been  strictly  prohibited  from  acting,  except  on  the  defensive. 

Such  a  force  was  absolutely  necessary  to  preserve  inviolate  our  treaty  with 
Mexico.  Under  it,  we  were  bound  to  maintain  peace  among  the  Indian 
nations  along  the  frontier  of  the  two  countries,  and  to  restrain  the  Indians 
within  our  territory  by  force,  if  that  should  become  necessary,  from  making 
war  upon  Mexico.  This  obligation  was  reciprocal  and  bound  both  parties. 
If  the  Indians  from  Texas  should  be  let  slip  upon  our  frontier ;  if  they,  or 
Santa  Anna,  or  any  other  power  should  attempt  to  invade  our  territory,  then 
every  American  would  say,  repel  force  by  force,  and  return  blow  for  blow. 
Our  cause  and  our  quarrel  would  be  just. 

But,  said  Mr.  B.,  let  us  not,  by  departing  from  our  settled  policy,  give  rise 
to  the  suspicion  that  we  have  got  up  this  war  for  the  purpose  of  wresting 
Texas  from  those  to  whom,  under  the  faith  of  treaties,  it  justly  belongs. 
Since  the  treaty  with  Spain  of  1819,  there  could  no  longer  be  any  doubt, 
but  that  this  province  was  a  part  of  Mexico.  He  was  sorry  for  it ;  but  such 
was  the  undeniable  fact.  Let  us  then  follow  the  course  which  we  had  pur 
sued,  under  similar  circumstances,  in  all  other  cases. 

x  Mr.  B.  said  his  blood  boiled  whilst  contemplating  the  cruelties  an$  the 
barbarities  which  were  said  to  have  been  committed  by  the  Mexicans  in  this 
contest.  The  heart  sickened  and  revolted  at  such  a  spectacle.  But,  as  an 
American  Senator,  he  could  give  the  Texans  nothing  except  his  prayers  and 
his  good  wishes. 

L\  SENATE,  FRIDAY,  MAY  20,  1836. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  from  the  Committee  of  Conference  appointed  on  the  part  of 
the  Senate,  to  confer  with  a  committee  of  the  House  on  the  disagreeing  votes 
of  the  two  Houses  as  to  the  Senate's  amendment  to  the  bill  authorizing  the 
President  to  accept  the  services  of  ten  thousand  volunteers  for  the  defence 
of  the  western  frontiers,  reported  that  the  committees  of  the  two  Houses  had 


AFFAIRS    OF  TEXAS.  373 

had  a  meeting,  but  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  effect  the  objects  for  which 
they  were  appointed,  having  sat  the  whole  day  without  coming  to  any  agree 
ment  whatever. 

Mr.  King  of  Alabama  (from  the  same  committee)  observed  that  it  was 
true  that  they  had  come  to  no  agreement  on  the  point  at  issue  between  the 
two  Houses,  inasmuch  as  some  gentlemen  seemed  to  think  that  they  had  the 
whole  bill  under  consideration,  and  that  they  had  the  power  to  modify  it  at 
pleasure.  He  hoped  that  when  the'Senate  again  appointed  a  committee  of 
conference,  they  would  appoint  gentlemen  who  would  be  willing  to  confine 
their  deliberations  to  the  subject  of  disagreement,  and  not  think  themselves 
authorized  to  take  the  range  of  the  whole  bill. 

Mr.  Calhoun  replied  that  the  committee  did  confine  themselves  to  the 
subject  of  disagreement,  until  finding  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  coming 
to  an  agreement  on  that  point,  they  entered  into  a  more  enlarged  discussion, 
for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  the  bill  could  not  be  so  framed  as  to 
meet  the  concurrence  of  both  Houses.  His  understanding  was,  that  when  a 
committee  of  conference  came  to  a  proposition  that  could  not  be  agreed  on, 
the  whole  subject  was  open  to  them. 

Mr.  King  recollected  exactly  the  state  of  the  case.  The  proposition 
last  made  was,  that  they  should  extend  the  term  of  service  of  the  militia 
force  of  the  United  States  for  a  year,  instead  of  its  being  a  volunteer  militia 
force.  This  was  the  last  subject  of  conference;  and  after  talking  until 
half-past  five  o'clock,  the  committee  found  that  they  could  come  to  no 
agreement  whatever. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  that  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Con 
ference;  and  if  a  second  committee  should  now  be  appointed,  he  hoped  he 
would  be  excused  from  serving  upon  it.  He  did  not  believe  that  the 
appointment  of  the  same  committee  by  the  Senate  and  the  House  could  result 
in  any  practical  good.  They  had  been  busily  engaged  in  the  Conference 
Chamber  until  a  late  hour  yesterday,  and  when  they  had  separated,  they 
were  further,  if  possible,  from  agreeing,  than  when  they  had  first  met. 

For  his  own  part,  he  could  not  feel  the  force  of  the  constitutional  objections 
which  had  been  made  by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun).  It 
was  true  that  the  amendment  which  had  been  proposed  by  the  Senate  to  the 
bill  of  the  House  was  somewhat  vague  and  ambiguous  in  its  terms.  He  had 
thought,  at  one  time,  during  the  conference,  that  we  should  have  agreed  upon  an 
amendment  to  the  Senate's  amendment,  which  would  have  made  the  bill 
much  more  explicit,  and  would  have  removed  all  the  constitutional  objections 
of  the  gentlemen.  When  it  came  to  the  final  vote,  he  found  that  he  had  been 
mistaken. 

The  amendment  proposed  in  the  Committee  of  Conference  provided  that 
none  of  the  officers  should  be  appointed  by  the  President,  until  the  volunteers 
were  actually  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States.  Until  that 
moment,  the  companies  which  might  be  formed  would  thus  be  considered  as 
mere  voluntary  associations,  under  no  pledge  whatever,  except  that  of  honor, 


374  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

to  enter  the  service  of  their  country.  When  once,  however,  this  pledge  was 
redeemed — when  they  were  mustered  into  the  service — they  became  a  portion 
of  the  army  of  the  United  States  for  the  period  of  six  or  twelve  months; 
and  then  there  could  not  possibly  be  a  constitutional  objection  to  the  appoint 
ment  of  their  officers  by  the  President.  Congress  possessed  the  power  to 
raise  armies  in  any  manner  they  thought  proper.  Whether  they  obtained 
soldiers  by  individual  enlistments,  or  whether  the  patriotic  young  men  of  the 
country  chose  to  associate  together  as  volunteers,  and  come  in  masses,  we 
had  an  equal  right  to  receive  them.  The  one  mode  of  obtaining  soldiers  was 
just  as  constitutional  as  the  other. 

The  amendment  which  had  been  proposed,  whilst  it  practically  insured  to 
the  companies  the  selection  of  their  own  company  officers,  did  not  interfere 
with  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  President.  The  volunteers  themselves 
were  to  designate  such  officers,  and  if  the  President  approved  of  such  desig 
nations,  these  officers  would  be  appointed.  This  would  be  the  best  and 
strongest  recommendation  which  could  be  presented  to  him  ;  and,  no  doubt, 
he  would  always  obey  the  wishes  of  the  companies,  unless  in  cases  where 
powerful  and  satisfactory  reasons  existed  to  render  it  improper. 

Until  these  volunteers  should  actually  enter  the  service,  they  would  con 
tinue  to  be  militia  men  of  the  States,  and  liable  to  perform  militia  duty  in 
the  States.  Their  character  would  not  be  changed.  They  would  not  con 
stitute  a  dormant  standing  army  in  the  States,  with  officers  appointed  by  the 
President,  as  had  been  urged,  but  would  be  mere  associations,  bound  together 
by  no  law  but  that  of  honor.  Such  men  would  always  be  ready  to  obey  the 
call  of  their  country  in  case  of  necessity. 

The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun)  did  argue  that  it  would 
be  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  for  the  President  to  appoint  these  officers 
without  the  previous  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate.  Whatever  doubt 
might  have  rested  upon  this  point  at  the  organization  of  our  Government, 
this  power  had  been  exercised,  over  and  over  again,  ever  since  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  under  all  administrations.  The  precedents  were  numer 
ous.  One  act  had  been  read  which  passed  during  the  late  war,  conferring 
upon  the  President,  in  express  terms,  the  power  of  appointing  all  the  officers 
of  the  military  force  to  be  raised  under  its  provisions,  but  requiring  hjm  to 
submit  these  appointments  to  the  Senate  for  their  approbation  at  the  next 
session.  The  very  same  thing  was  proposed  to  be  done  by  this  act,  in  regard 
to  all  the  officers  above  the  rank  of  captain. 

He  was  afraid  to  trust  his  memory  in  attempting  to  state  the  proceedings 
of  the  Committee  of  Conference.  So  much  had  been  said,  that  he  could  not, 
if  he  would,  undertake  to  report  it  all.  We  did  not  confine  ourselves  to  the 
point  of  disagreement  between  the  two  Houses ;  but  almost  every  question 
relating  to  the  military  defence  of  the  country  had  been  ably  and  eloquently 
discussed.  He  had  derived  much  information  on  this  subject  from  the 
members  of  that  committee. 

There  was  one  fact  which  he  would  mention,  and  which  demanded  the 


AFFAIRS    OF    TEXAS.  375 

serious  consideration  of  the  country  at  the  present  crisis.  A  gallant  and  dis 
tinguished  officer,  who  was  a  member  of  the  committee,  (G-en.  Ripley)  had 
stated,  that,  according  to  his  recollection,  the  history  of  our  Indian  wars  did 
not  present  a  single  case  in  which  a  volunteer  force  had  been  beaten  by  the 
Indians.  Our  disasters  in  this  kind  of  warfare  had  always  been  suffered  by  the 
regular  troops.  Our  recent  experience  was  certainly  in  accordance  with  this 
statement.  This  important  fact,  however,  established  the  necessity  of  raising 
volunteer  corps,  in  some  form  or  olher,  composed  of  the  brave  and  hardy 
youth,  accustomed  to  the  modes  of  Indian  warfare,  and  who  were  able  and 
willing  to  fight  the  Indians,  man  to  man,  according  to  their  own  custom. 
Such  men  would  best  protect  our  citizens  from  the  ravages  of  the  Indians, 
and  would  soon  put  an  end  to  the  Creek  war. 

He  had  said  more  than  he  intended,  as  his  chief  object  in  rising  had  been 
to  request  that  he  might  not  be  appointed  a  member  of  the  new  Committee 
of  Conference. 

Mr.  Buchanan  could  not  now  but  hope,  after  having  heard  the  observations 
of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Calhoun),  that  a  Committee  of  Con 
ference  might  yet  agree  upon  some  compromise  which  would  be  acceptable  to 
both  Houses.  He  now  believed,  from  what  he  had  just  heard  from  several 
members  of  the  other  House,  that  another  committee  ought  to  be  appointed. 

The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  had  not,  he  believed,  denied  any  of  the 
positions  which  he  had  stated.  They  did  not  materially  differ  as  to  their  con 
stitutional  views  on  this  subject.  His  (Mr.  B.'s)  positions  were  these :  that 
any  number  of  individuals  within  the  States  might  associate  together,  either 
in  companies,  battalions,  or  divisions,  for  the  purpose  of  entering  the  army  of 
the  United  States,  for  six  or  for  twelve  months,  upon  any  contingency  which 
might  render  their  services  necessary ;  that  these  associations  would  be  volun 
tary  and  not  compulsory ;  and  would  be  held  together  by  no  tie  but  that  sense 
of  honor  which  binds  a  man  to  enter  the  service  of  his  country,  after  he  has 
declared,  in  the  presence  of  the  world,  that  such  was  his  determination;  and 
that  these  volunteers,  after  having  arrived  at  the  place  of  rendezvous,  and  after 
having  been  mustered  into  service,  but  not  before,  became  a  part  of  the 
regular  army  of  the  United  States ;  and  the  President  could  then,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  appoint  their  officers.  At  one 
period  of  the  conference,  he  had  believed  that  the  committee  would  arrive  at 
these  conclusions. 

One  of  the  objections  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  was,  that  the 
appointment  of  the  captains  of  companies  and  other  inferior  officers  ought, 
like  that  of  the  superior  officers,  to  be  submitted  to  the  Senate.  Mr.  B.  had 
been  perfectly  willing  and  was  still  willing  to  adopt  this  modification.  He 
could  not,  however,  agree,  nor  did  he  understand  the  gentleman  now  to  insist 
upon  it,  that  these  offices  could  not  be  filled  without  the  previous  advice  of 
the  Senate.  Such  a  provision  would  render  the  law  perfectly  nugatory.  We 
might  not,  and  probably  would  not,  be  in  session  when  these  appointments 
must  be  made.  The  same  necessity  which  the  gentleman  alleges  to  have 


376  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

existed  during  the  late  war,  for  authorizing  the  President  to  make  appoint 
ments,  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  will  exist  in  regard  to  the  appoint 
ments  to  be  made  under  this  act. — Besides,  whatever  might  be  our  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  power  of  the  President,  if  the  question  were  now,  for  the  first 
time,  submitted  to  us,  Congress  have  so  often  authorized  him  to  make  appoint 
ments,  during  the  recess,  to  be  submitted  to  the  Senate  at  its  next  session, 
that  this  constitutional  question  must  be  considered  as  settled. 

As  to  the  act  of  1812,  which  had  just  been  cited  by  the  other  Senator  from 
South  Carolina  (Mr.  Preston),  he  thought  it  went  too  far.  He  would  not  say 
that  it  was  unconstitutional,  because  he  had  not  examined  the  subject  suffi 
ciently  to  express  a  positive  opinion.  This  he  would  say,  however,  that  it  did 
authorize  the  existence  of  a  dormant  military  force  within  the  several  States, 
commanded  by  officers  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
liable  to  be  called  into  service  at  any  moment  he  might  think  proper.  The 
individuals  composing  this  force  were  exempted  from  militia  duty  within  the 
States.  Upon  the  principles  contained  in  this  act,  the  militia  of  the  several 
States  might  be  subverted,  and  a  national  militia,  under  the  command  of 
national  officers,  might  be  substituted  in  its  stead.  This  would  certainly  be  at 
war  with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  which  reserves  to  the  States  respect 
ively  the  appointment  of  the  officers  of  the  militia,  and  the  authority  of  train 
ing  them  according  to  the  discipline  prescribed  by  Congress.  The  militia 
emphatically  belongs  to  the  States,  and  not  to  the  General  Government ;  and 
it  might  be  very  dangerous  for  the  States  to  surrender  their  control  over  this 
force  into  the  hands  of  Congress. 

Under  the  act  cited  by  the  gentleman,  a  portion  of  the  militia  was  taken 
from  the  control  of  the  States,  and  relieved  from  the  performance  of  militia 
duty,  whilst  they  remained  in  the  heart  of  the  country,  mixed  up  with  the 
other  citizens.  This  did  seem  to  him  to  interfere  with  the  power  of  the 
States  over  their  militia,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  But 
these  objections  did  not  apply  to  the  bill  before  them,  nor  to  the  amendment 
he  had  suggested.  They  had  drawn  a  broad  line  of  separation  between  the 
force  to  be  raised  and  the  militia  of  the  States.  What  they  proposed  was, 
that  these  volunteers  should  associate  themselves  together  for  the  purpose  of 
offering  their  services  to  their  country,  and  that  when  they  arrived  at  *their 
places  of  rendezvous,  they  should  enrol  themselves,  and  be  mustered  into 
service  as  a  part  of  the  regular  army ;  but  until  then,  that  they  should  remain 
as  they  were,  citizens  of  the  several  States,  liable  to  the  performance  of  the 
militia  duty  of  the  States.  With  these  views,  he  was  confident  that  a  new 
Committee  of  Conference  might  come  to  such  an  agreement  as  would  be  accept 
able  to  both  Houses,  and  he  therefore  hoped  that  one  would  be  appointed. 
He  was  almost  ashamed  to  say  that  he  had  never  acquainted  himself  suffi 
ciently  with  the  rules  which  governed  the  proceedings  of  a  Committee  of 
Conference.  His  common  sense,  however,  had  taught  him  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  such  a  committee  to  confine  itself  to  the  point  of  disagreement 
between  the  two  Houses ;  but  he  had  been  informed  by  gentlemen  of  great 


AFFAIRS    OF    TEXAS.  377 

experience  that  the  whole  subject  of  the  bill  was  open  to  them.  Acting  upon 
this  principle,  they  had  got  into  a  general  discussion  as  to  the  relative  value  of 
volunteer  and  regular  as  well  as  common  militia  forces.  He  believed  now  that 
a  Committee  of  Conference  might  do  some  good,  and  that  by  steering  clear  of 
the  constitutional  scruples  of  gentlemen,  they  might  agree  on  some  amend 
ments  that  would  render  the  bill  acceptable  to  both  Houses,  and  thus  enable 
them  speedily  to  adopt  a  measure  so  urgently  demanded  for  the  protection  of 
the  suffering  inhabitants  of  the  frontiers. 

Mr.  B.  said,  as  he  should  not  be  a  member  of  the  new  Committee  of  Con 
ference,  he  would  read  the  amendment  which  had  been  so  much  discussed  in 
the  old  committee : 

"  Be  it  enacted,  That  the  said  volunteers  shall  form  themselves  into  com 
panies,  and  designate  their  company  officers,  who,  if  he  approve  of  such 
designations,  shall  be  commissioned  by  the  President,  after  they  shall  have 
been  mustered  into  service  ;  and  that  the  President  be,  and  hereby  is,  author 
ized  to  organize  the  volunteers  so  mustered  into  service,  as  aforesaid,  into 
battalions,  squadrons,  regiments,  brigades  and  divisions,  as  soon  as  the  number 
of  volunteers  shall  render  such  organization,  in  his  judgment,  expedient,  and 
shall  then  appoint  the  necessary  officers,  which  appointment  shall  be  sub 
mitted  to  the  Senate  at  its  next  session." 


CHAPTEK    XIV. 

1837—1840. 


BILL  TO  PREVENT  THE  INTERFERENCE  OF  FEDERAL  OFFICERS  WITH 
ELECTIONS  —  DEVOTION  OF  THE  FOLLOWERS  OF  JACKSON  —  THE  WHIG 
PARTY  LESS  COMPACT  IN  CONSEQUENCE  OF  THE  RIVALRY  BETWEEN 
MR.  CLAY  AND  MR.  WEBSTER  -  RETROSPECTIVE  REVIEW  OF  THE 
BANK  QUESTION  —  THE  SPECIE  CIRCULAR  —  GREAT  FINANCIAL  DISAS 
TERS. 


the  close  of  General  Jackson's  administration  a 
bill  was  pending  in  the  Senate  to  prevent  the  interference 
of  certain  federal  officers  with  elections  ;  a  subject  which  has 
not  yet  lost  its  interest.  On  this  bill,  on  the  14th  of  February, 
1839,  Mr.  Buchanan  made  the  following  speech  : 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  question  raised  for  discussion  by  the  bill  now  before 
the  Senate,  is  very  simple  in  its  character.  This  bill  proposes  to  punish,  by  a 
fine  of  five  hundred  dollars  —  the  one  moiety  payable  to  the  informer,  and  the 
other  to  the  United  States  —  and  by  a  perpetual  disability  to  hold  office  under 
the  United  States,  any  officer  of  this  Government,  below  the  rank  of  a  dis 
trict  attorney,  who  "  shall,  by  word,  message,  or  writing,  or  in  any  other 
manner  whatsoever,  endeavor  to  persuade  any  elector  to  give,  or  dissuade 
any  elector  from  giving,  his  vote  for  the  choice  of  any  person  to  be  elector  of 
President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States,"  or  to  be  a  Senator  or 
Eepresentative  in  Congress,  or  to  be  a  governor  or  lieutenant-governor,  or 
senator  or  representative,  within  any  State  of  the  Union,  u  or  for  the  choice 
of  any  person  to  serve  in  any  public  office  established  by  the  law  of  any 
of  the  States."  The  officers  of  the  United  States  against  whom  the  penalties 
of  this  bill  are  denounced,  consist  of  marshals  and  their  deputies,  postmasters 
and  their  deputies,  receivers  and  registers  of  land  offices,  and  their  deputies 
and  clerks;  surveyors  general  of  the  public  lands,  and  their  deputies  and 
assistants  ;  collectors,  surveyors,  naval  officers,  weighers,  gaugers,  appraisers, 
or  other  officers  or  persons  concerned  or  employed  in  the  charging,  collecting, 
levying  or  managing  the  customs,  or  any  branch  thereof;  and  engineers, 
officers,  or  agents,  employed  or  concerned  in  the  execution  or  superintendence 
of  any  of  the  public  works. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Crittenden),  before  he  commenced  his 
remarks,  moved  to  amend  the  bill  by  striking  from  it  the  pecuniary  penalty 


INTERFERENCE  OF  FEDERAL  OFFICERS.  379 

and  perpetual  disability  against  these  officers,  and  substituting,  in  their  stead, 
the  penalty  of  a  removal  from  office  by  the  President,  upon  the  production 
of  evidence  satisfactory  to  him  that  any  of  them  had  been  guilty  of  the 
offence. 

Now,  for  myself  (said  Mr.  B.),  I  shall  not  vote  for  this  amendment.  I 
will  not  take  advantage  of  the  amiable  weakness  of  my  friend  from  Ken 
tucky,  in  yielding  to  the  solicitation  of  others  that  which  his  own  judgment 
approved.  I  will  more  especially  not  give  such  a  vote,  because  the  proposed 
amendment  makes  no  change  in  the  principle  of  the  bill.  There  is  a  beautiful 
harmony  and  consistency  in  its  provisions  as  it  came  fresh  from  its  author 
which  ought  to  be  preserved.  I  shall  not  assist  in  marring  any  of  its  fair 
proportions.  Let  it  remain  in  its  perfect  original  form,  and  let  its  friends 
upon  this  floor  come  up  to  the  baptismal  font,  and  act  as  its  sponsors ;  and  let 
its  avowed  principles  be  recognized  as  the  established  doctrines  of  the  political 
church  to  which  they  are  all  devoted.  No,  sir,  no ;  if  a  village  postmaster 
should  dare  to  exercise  the  freedom  of  speech,  guarantied  to  him  by  an  anti 
quated  instrument,  called  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  have  the 
audacity  "  to  endeavor  to  persuade  any  elector "  to  vote  for  Martin  Van 
Buren,  or  what  would  be  a  much  more  aggravated  offence,  dissuade  any  good 
Whig  from  voting  for  the  other  distinguished  Senator  from  Kentucky,  (Mr. 
Clay),  a  mere  forfeiture  of  his  office  would  bear  no  just  proportion  to  the 
enormity  of  the  crime.  Let  such  a  daring  criminal  be  fined  five  hundred 
dollars;  let  him  be  disqualified  forever  from  holding  any  office  under  the 
Government;  and  let  him  be  pointed  at  as  a  man  of  blasted  reputation  all 
the  days  of  his  life.  With  honest  Dogberry,  in  the  play  of  "  Much  ado 
about  Nothing,"  I  pronounce  the  offence  to  be  "  flat  burglary  as  ever  was 
committed." 

There  is  another  reason  why  I  shall  vote  against  the  amendment.  An 
issue  has  been  fairly  made  between  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  and  my  friend 
from  New  Jersey,  (Mr.  Wall),  who,  from  what  we  have  heard  in  the  course 
of  this  debate,  has  but  a  few  shattered  planks  left  on  which  he  can  escape 
from  a  total  shipwreck  of  his  fair  fame.  In  mercy  to  him  I  would  not  remove 
any  of  them.  Let  him  have  a  chance  for  his  life.  He  has  dared  to  make  a 
report  against  the  bill  in  its  original  form,  as  it  was  referred  to  the  committee 
of  which  he  is  the  chairman;  and  for  this  cause  has  encountered  all  the 
withering  denunciations  of  the  Senators  from  Kentucky  and  Virginia,  (Messrs. 
Crittenden  and  Rives).  In  justice  to  him,  the  aspect  of  the  question  should 
not  now  be  changed.  Let  us,  then,  have  the  bill,  the  whole  bill,  and  nothing 
but  the  bill,  against  which  his  report  was  directed. 

It  would  seem  almost  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  question  whether  this  bill 
be  constitutional  or  not ;  as  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  throughout  the 
whole  course  of  his  argument,  never  once  attempted  to  point  to  any  clause 
of  the  Constitution  on  which  it  could  be  supported.  It  is  true  that  he  did 
cite  some  precedents  in  our  legislation,  which  he  supposes  have  a  bearing  on 
the  subject;  but  which,  I  shall  undertake  to  prove,  hereafter,  are  wholly  inap- 


380  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

plicable.  The  Senator  from  Virginia  (Mr.  Rives)  has  gone  further  into  the 
argument,  and  has  attempted  to  prove  that  this  bill  is  constitutional.  At  the 
proper  time,  I  shall  endeavor  to  furnish  the  proper  answer  to  his  remarks. 
By-the-by,  this  Constitution  is  a  terrible  bugbear.  Whilst  a  member  of  the 
other  House,  I  once  heard  an  old^-gentleman  exclaim,  when  it  was  cited 
against  one  of  his  favorite  measures,  "  what  a  vast  deal  of  good  it  prevents 
us  from  doing !  "  After  this  bill  shall  have  passed,  it  will  be  a  bugbear  no 
longer,  so  far  as  the  freedom  of  speech  or  the  press  is  concerned.  It  will  not 
then  alarm  even  political  children. 

The  gentlemen  have  a  precedent  for  their  bill.  Yes,  sir,  they  have  a  pre 
cedent  in  the  sedition  law ;  but  it  does  not  go  far  enough  for  their  purpose. 
That  law,  which  is  the  only  true  precedent  on  which  this  bill  can  be  founded, 
and  on  which  alone  it  can  be  sustained,  permitted  every  man  to  write  and  to 
publish  what  he  pleased  concerning  public  men  and  public  measures,  and 
only  held  him  responsible  in  case  his  charges  should  prove  to  be  false.  But 
this  bill  is  a  gag  law.  It  goes  to  the  fountain  at  once,  and  prohibits  the  officer 
not  only  from  writing,  but  from  speaking  anything  good,  bad,  or  indifferent, 
whether  true  or  false,  on  any  subject  whatever  which  may  affect  any  pending 
election  from  that  of  a  President  down  to  a  constable.  It  has  a  much  broader 
sweep  than  the  sedition  law,  which  did  not  interfere  with  the  liberty  of 
speech,  however  much  it  may  have  abridged  the  freedom  of  the  press. 
Indeed,  among  the  more  enlightened  despotisms  of  Europe,  I  know  not  one 
which  prohibits  the  freedom  of  speech  on  all  public  subjects ;  it  is  only  in  free 
and  enlightened  America  that  we  propose  actually  to  insert  the  gag.  The 
sedition  law  was  bad  enough,  God  knows ;  but  it  extended  only  to  the  use 
of  the  pen,  not  to  that  of  the  tongue.  There  is,  therefore,  no  parallel 
between  the  two  cases. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  existence  of  the  sedition  law,  I  should  have  sup 
posed  it  to  be  impossible  that  there  could  have  been  two  opinions  in  regard  to 
the  utter  unconstitutionality  of  this  bill.  The  Constitution,  in  language  so 
plain  as  to  leave  no  room  for  misconstruction,  declares  that  <:  Congress  shall 
make  no  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press."  The  rule  is 
universal.  There  is  no  exception.  This  bill  proposes  not  only  to  abridge,  but 
utterly  to  destroy  the  freedom  of  speech,  and  of  the  press ;  to  interdict  their 
use  altogether  to  the  enumerated  officers,  on  all  questions  touching  the  elec 
tion  of  any  officer  of  the  Federal  or  State  Government.  A  plain  man  would 
naturally  suppose  that,  barely  to  state  the  contradiction  between  the  Consti 
tution  and  this  bill  was  to  decide  the  question.  Not  so.  An  ingenious  and 
astute  lawyer,  in  favor  of  a  liberal  construction  of  that  instrument,  can,  by 
inference  and  ingenuity,  confer  powers  upon  Congress  in  direct  violation 
both  of  its  letter  and  its  spirit,  and  of  which  its  framers  never  once  dreamed. 
Such  was  the  power  to  pass  the  sedition  law.  That  law  engrafted  one  limi 
tation  upon  the  freedom  of  the  press.  It,  in  effect,  changed  the  meaning  of 
the  general  terms  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  abridging  the  freedom  of 
speech  or  of  the  press,"  and  excepted  from  their  operation  any  law  which 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  381 

might  be  passed  to  punish  libels  against  the  President,  the  Government,  or 
either  House  of  Congress.  The  present  bill,  in  principle  at  least,  proceeds 
much  further.  It  excepts  from  the  general  prohibition  of  the  Constitution 
the  power  of  punishing  all  persons  holding  offices  under  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  who  shall  dare  either  to  speak  or  to  write  at  all  on  ques 
tions  which  may  affect  the  result  of  any  election.  This  interpolation  must  be 
inserted,  before  gentlemen  can  show  any  power  to  pass  the  present  bill.  They 
cannot  advance  one  step  in  their  argument  without  it.  This  Constitution  can 
never  be  construed  according  to  the  meaning  of  its  framers  but  by  men  of 
plain,  well-informed,  and  practical  judgment.  Common  sense  is  its  best 
expounder.  Ingenious  men,  disposed  to  raise  one  implication  upon  another 
in  favor  of  Federal  power,  and  to  make  each  previous  precedent  the  founda 
tion  on  which  to  proceed  another  step  in  the  march  toward  consolidation, 
may  soon  make  it  mean  anything  or  nothing.  The  liberties  of  this  country 
can  only  be  preserved  by  a  strict  construction  of  the  enumerated  powers 
granted  by  the  States  to  Congress. 

Before  I  proceed  further  in  my  argument  against  the  constitutionality  of 
this  bill,  it  will  be  proper  that  I  should  develop  some  of  its  latent  beauties.  I 
desire  to  delineate  a  little  more  precisely  its  character — to  present  some  of  its 
striking  features,  and  to  show  what  it  is  in  principle,  and  what  it  will  prove 
to  be  in  practice. 

There  are  twenty-six  sovereign  States  in  this  Confederacy,  united  by  a 
Federal  compact,  called  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Each  indi 
vidual  elector  in  this  country  sustains  two  distinct  characters.  He  is  a  citizen 
of  some  one  of  the  States,  and  he  is  also  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Now, 
what  does  this  bill  propose  ?  In  the  older  States  of  this  Confederacy,  all  the 
Federal  officers  which  we  have  in  the  interior  are  postmasters.  It  is  true 
that  at  our  ports  of  entry  there  are  custom-house  officers ;  but  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  for  example,  from  the  Schuylkill  to  the  Ohio  and  to  Lake  Erie,  our 
people  scarcely  feel  their  connection  with  the  General  Government  except 
through  the  medium  of  the  Post  Office  Department.  These  postmasters  are 
very  numerous.  They  are  planted  in  every  village  and  at  every  cross  road. 
They  are  agents  for  disseminating  information  throughout  the  country.  I 
might  probably  say  that  in  nine  instances  out  of  ten  the  office  is  scarcely 
worth  holding  on  account  of  its  pecuniary  emoluments.  In  most  cases,  the 
postmaster  accepts  it  for  the  accommodation  of  his  neighbors. 

Now  this  postmaster  is  generally  a  man  of  property  and  of  character, 
having  a  deep  stake  in  the  community  and  in  the  faithful  administration  and 
execution  of  the  laws.  Two  candidates  are  presented  to  the  people  for  office ; 
say  that  of  a  justice  of  the  peace.  If  one  of  these  village  postmasters  should, 
in  the  exercise  of  his  unquestionable  rights  as  a  citizen  of  Pennsylvania,  advise 
his  neighbor  to  vote  for  one  of  these  candidates,  and  against  the  other,  this 
bill  dooms  him  to  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars,  and  to  a  perpetual  disqualifi 
cation  from  ever  holding  any  office  under  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  No  matter  whether  the  merits  which  he  may  have  ascribed  to  one 


382  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

I 

of  the  candidates  be  true  as  holy  writ,  and  the  delinquencies  which  he  may 
have  charged  against  the  other  may  be  susceptible  of  the  clearest  proof,  this 
will  not  arrest  the  vengeance  of  the  bill.  He  is  doomed  to  remain  mute, 
although  his  dearest  interests  may  be  involved,  or  incur  its  penalties.  A  gag 
is  to  be  put  into  his  mouth,  and  he  is  to  be  punished  if  he  dare  to  express  a 
preference  for  one  candidate  over  the  other.  And  let  me  tell  the  gentleman, 
these  postmasters  hold  all  sorts  of  political  opinions.  In  my  own  State  a  con 
siderable  proportion  of  their  number  are  Whigs  and  Antimasons.  opposed  to 
the  present  Administration.  I  might  cite  other  examples  to  depict  the  enor 
mity  of  this  bill,  but  I  consider  it  wholly  unnecessary.  I  might  ascend  from 
the  justice  of  the  peace  or  the  constable,  through  all  the  gradations  of  elective 
office,  State  and  Federal,  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  show, 
that  at  each  ascending  grade,  the  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  citizen  becomes 
more  and  more  outrageous.  I  might  enumerate  the  weighers  and  the 
gaugers,  and  the  other  proscribed  classes  of  inferior  office  holders,  and  paint 
the  mad  and  wanton  injustice  which  this  bill  would  inflict  upon  them.  But 
enough. 

The  man  who  would  accept  office  upon  such  terms,  must  forfeit  all  self- 
respect,  and  would  become  at  once  a  fit  tool  for  corruption  and  for  despotism. 
He  must  be  degraded  in  his  own  eyes,  and  degraded  in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  below  the  rank  of  a  freeman.  If  you  desire  to  depreciate  the  Govern 
ment  itself  under  which  we  live,  you  cannot  do  it  more  effectually  than  by 
placing  such  a  stigma  on  its  officers. 

Why,  sir,  you  could  not,  by  any  possibility,  carry  such  a  law  into  execu 
tion.  If  it  should  pass  to-morrow,  it  would  fall  a  dead  letter  upon  your 
statute  book.  I  would  not  advocate  a  forcible  resistance  to  any  law,  and  do 
not  believe  that  such  was  the  intention  of  my  friend  from  New  Jersey  (Mr. 
Wall),  when  he  spoke  of  resistance  ;  but  does  not  the  Senator  from  Virginia 
know  that  laws  may  be  passed  of  a  character  so  odious,  that  nobody  could  be 
found  to  carry  them  into  execution  ?  Such  are  all  laws  which  are  entirely 
opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  the  united  and  overwhelming  current 
of  public  opinion.  I  firmly  believe  this  to  be  the  character  of  the  present 
bill. 

But  suppose  me  to  be  mistaken  in  this  opinion,  and  that  the  law  c^uld  be 
carried  into  execution,  what  would  be  the  consequences  ?  The  doomed 
officer,  the  postmaster,  the  weigher  or  the  gauger,  is  placed  in  the  midst  of  a 
thinking,  acting,  busy  population.  Everything  around  him  is  proceeding  with 
the  impetuosity  of  steam.  Public  opinion  is  marching  onward  with  giant 
strides.  The  officer  is  talked  at  and  talked  to,  daily  and  hourly,  by  the  sur 
rounding  multitude,  whilst  the  law  compels  him  to  close  his  lips  in  silence. 
Under  such  circumstances,  it  would  be  impossible  for  human  nature  long  to 
refrain.  What  then  ?  If  he  utters  a  syllable  on  any  of  the  exciting  political 
topics  of  the  day,  and  these  are  all  involved  in  the  perpetual  canvass  which  is 
proceeding  for  offices,  high  and  low,  he  is  at  once  seized  upon  by  some  harpy 
of  an  informer.  This  bill  offers  a  most  tempting  bribe  to  such  eavesdroppers. 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  383 

It  would  soon  call  into  existence  such  a  race,  to  dog  and  surround  each  officer, 
and  to  catch  up  every  incautious  word  which  might  be  construed  into  an 
endeavor  to  persuade  or  to  dissuade  an  elector.  Each  individual  in  society  is 
stimulated  by  this  bill  to  become  a  common  informer,  by  the  tempting  offer 
of  a  bribe  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  each  particular  case.  The  pro 
scribed  officer  thus  becomes  his  prey,  and,  in  most  cases,  will  be  glad  to  com 
promise  with  him  for  the  payment  of  a  great  part,  or  the  whole,  of  the  penalty 
of  five  hundred  dollars,  in  order  to  avoid  the  stigma  of  perpetual  disability  to 
hold  any  office  under  this  Government. 

There  is  another  remark  which  I  desire  to  make  on  this  branch  of  the  sub 
ject.  Whenever  you  attempt  to  violate  the  plain  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Con 
stitution,  a  thousand  evils,  of  which  you  have  never  dreamed,  present  them 
selves  in  the  perspective.  This  law  can  alone  be  executed  by  the  courts  of 
the  United  States.  Where  are  they  situated  ?  In  the  large  States,  such  as 
Pennsylvania  or  Virginia,  they  are  held  at  great  distances  from  each  other. 
A  postmaster  in  either  of  these  States,  the  income  of  whose  office  does  not 
exceed  fifty  dollars  per  annum,  may  be  dragged  from  home,  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  miles,  to  stand  his  trial  under  this  bill 
before  a  federal  court.  The  expense  would  be  enormous,  whilst  he  is  obliged 
to  appear  before  a  tribunal  far  from  the  place  where  his  character,  and  that 
of  his  prosecutor,  are  known  and  appreciated.  Under  such  circumstances, 
he  would  almost  be  certain  to  become  the  victim  of  the  common  informer, 
under  this  most  unjust  and  unconstitutional  law.  He  would  either  be  con 
victed,  or  compelled  to  buy  his  peace  at  almost  any  price. 

In  conferring  the  powers  enumerated  in  the  Constitution  on  the  Federal 
Government,  the  States  expressly  reserved  to  themselves  respectively,  or  to 
their  people,  all  the  powers  not  delegated  by  it  to  the  United  States,  or  pro 
hibited  by  it  to  the  States.  Now,  I  would  ask  the  Senator  from  Kentucky 
when,  or  where,  or  how  has  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  surrendered  to  Con 
gress  the  right  of  depriving  any  of  her  citizens,  who  may  accept  office  under 
the  General  Government,  of  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press?  Where 
is  it  declared  by  the  Constitution,  either  in  express  terms,  or  from  what  clause 
can  it  fairly  be  inferred,  that  Congress  may  make  a  forfeiture  of  the  dearest 
of  all  political  rights,  an  indispensable  condition  of  office?  Each  one  of  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania,  under  her  constitution  and  laws,  is  secured  in  the 
inalienable  right  of  speaking  his  thoughts.  The  State,  as  well  as  each  indi 
vidual  citizen,  has  the  deepest  interest  in  the  preservation  of  this  right.  I  ask 
the  gentleman  to  lay  his  finger  on  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  by  which  it 
has  been  surrendered.  Where  is  it  declared,  or  from  what  can  it  be  inferred, 
that  because  the  States  have  yielded  to  the  Federal  Government  their  citizens 
to  execute  public  trusts  under  the  General  Government,  that,  therefore,  they 
have  yielded  the  rights  of  those  citizens  to  express  their  opinions  freely  con 
cerning  public  men  and  public  measures  ?  The  proposition  appears  to  me  to 
be  full  of  absurdity.  In  regard  to  the  qualifications  of  electors,  the  States 
have  granted  no  power  whatever  to  the  United  States.  This  subject  they 


384  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

have  expressly  reserved  from  federal  control.  The  legislatures  of  the  States, 
and  they  alone,  under  the  Constitution,  possess  the  power  of  prescribing  the 
qualifications  of  the  electors  of  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
Congress.  They  have  reserved  the  same  power  to  themselves  in  regard  to 
voters  for  the  choice  of  electors  of  President  and  Vice  President.  What, 
then,  does  this  bill  attempt  ?  To  separate  two  things  which  reason  and  the 
Almighty  himself  have  united  beyond  all  power  of  separation.  You  might 
as  well  attempt,  by  arbitrary  laws,  to  separate  human  life  from  the  power  of 
breathing  the  vital  air,  as  to  detach  the  elective  franchise  from  freedom  of 
thought,  of  speech,  and  of  the  press.  In  this  atmosphere  alone  can  it  live, 
and  move,  and  have  its  being.  To  speak  his  thoughts  is  every  free  elector's 
inalienable  right.  Freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  are  both  the  sword 
and  shield  of  our  Republican  institutions.  To  declare  that  when  the  citizens 
of  a  State  accept  office  from  the  General  Government,  they  thereby  forfeit 
this  right  to  express  an  opinion  in  relation  to  the  public  concerns  of  their  own 
State  and  of  the  nation,  is  palpable  tyranny.  In  the  language  referred  to  in 
the  report,  "  it  puts  bridles  into  their  mouths  and  saddles  upon  their  backs," 
and  degrades  them  from  the  rank  of  a  reasoning  animal.  The  English  prece 
dent  of  the  Senator  was  wiser,  much  wiser,  in  depriving  these  officers  of  the 
right  of  suffrage  altogether.  It  does  not  attempt  to  separate  by  the  power  of 
man  two  things  which  Heaven  itself  has  indissolubly  united. 

If,  therefore,  the  Constitution  contained  no  express  provision  whatever 
prohibiting  Congress  from  passing  any  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech 
or  of  the  press,  I  think  I  have  shown  conclusively  that  the  power  to  pass  this 
bill  could  not  be  inferred  from  any  of  its  express  grants  of  power.  But  the 
Constitution  is  not  silent  on  the  subject.  Before  its  adoption  by  the  States, 
it  was  dreaded  by  the  jealous  patriots  of  the  day,  that  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  might  usurp  the  liberties  of  the  people  by  attacking  the  liberty  of 
speech  and  of  the  press.  They,  therefore,  insisted  upon  the  insertion  of  an 
express  provision,  as  an  amendment,  which,  in  all  time  to  come,  would  pre 
vent  Congress  from  interfering  with  these  inestimable  rights.  The  amend 
ment  to  which  I  have  often  referred  was  adopted,  and  these  rights  were 
expressly  excepted  from  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government.  And  yet, 
in  the  very  face  of  this  express  negative  of  federal  power,  we  find  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  coming  forward  with  his  bill  declaring  direct  war  against  any 
exercise  of  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  by  those  citizens  of  the 
States  who  happen  to  be  office  holders  under  the  General  Government. 

But,  says  the  Senator  from  Virginia,  Congress  possess,  and  have  exercised, 
the  unquestionable  power  of  creating  offices  under  the  Constitution;  and  they 
may,  therefore,  annex  to  the  holding  of  those  offices  such  a  condition  as  that 
prescribed  by  the  bill,  or  rather  the  amendment  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky. 
Now,  sir,  what  is  this  but  to  say  that  Congress  may  declare  that  any  citizen 
of  Pennsylvania,  who  accepts  a  federal  office,  shall  take  it  upon  condition  that 
it  shall  be  forfeited  the  moment  he  exercises  the  dearest  political  right  guar 
antied  to  him  and  every  other  citizen,  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  385 

States?  Can  Congress  impose  any  such  condition  upon  an  office?  If  they 
can,  they  can  repeal  the  most  solemn  provision  of  the  Constitution,  and  render 
it  a  dead  letter  in  regard  to  every  person  in  the  employment  of  the  General 
Government.  All  mankind  may  then  speak  and  publish  what  they  please, 
except  those  individuals  who  have  been  selected,  I  hope,  generally,  for  their 
integrity  and  ability,  to  execute  the  important  public  trusts  of  the  country. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  has  adduced  several  precedents  to  prove  that 
similar  powers  have  been  already  exercised  by  Congress  in  other  cases.  Let 
us  examine  them  for  a  moment.  Congress,  says  he,  has  declared  that  an 
Indian  agent  who  shall  himself  trade  with  the  Indians,  shall  be  punished  for 
this  act.  But  why  ?  It  is  because  this  agent  is  vested  with  the  power  of 
granting  to  our  citizens  licenses  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  thus  to  take 
care  that  they  shall  not  be  imposed  upon  and  cheated.  To  allow  him,  there 
fore,  to  trade  with  them  himself,  would  be  to  make  him  a  judge  in  his  own 
cause,  and  to  withdraw  from  them  that  protection  which  the  law  intended. 
Besides,  Congress  have  received  from  the  States,  by  the  Constitution,  the 
power  to  regulate  commerce  with  the  Indian  tribes.  The  whole  subject  is 
thus  placed  under  their  control.  What,  then,  is  this  precedent  worth?  Is 
not  the  trading  of  an  Indian  agent  with  the  Indians  an  express  and  palpable 
violation  of  a  duty  necessarily  involved  in  his  office  ?  Can  any  thing  be 
clearer  than  the  power  and  the  duty  of  Congress  to  punish  him  for  this 
offence  ?  But  what  interference  can  there  be  between  the  performance  of  the 
duties  required  by  law  from  a  postmaster,  or  from  any  other  of  the  proscribed 
officers,  and  his  expression  of  an  opinion  to  his  neighbor,  either  for  or  against 
any  candidate  for  public  office  ?  If  the  postmaster,  for  example,  performs  his 
whole  official  duty,  if  he  receives  and  delivers  the  letters  entrusted  to  his  care, 
and  regularly  settles  his  accounts  with  the  department,  what  human  power 
can  arbitrarily  place  a  gag  in  his  mouth,  and  declare  that  he  shall  be  punished 
for  exercising  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  upon  the  pretext  that 
the  exercise  of  these  rights  of  a  freeman  are  inconsistent  with  the  duties  of 
his  office  ?  You  might  just  as  well  punish  him  or  deprive  him  of  his  office 
for  speaking  or  writing  on  natural  philosophy,  or  mathematics,  or  any  other 
scientific  subject.  You  would  have  the  same  power  to  violate  that  clause  in 
the  Constitution  conferring  upon  every  man  the  free  exercise  of  religion,  and 
punish  him  for  expressing  his  opinion  on  religious  subjects,  for  attending 
prayer  meetings  or  bible  societies,  or  for  endeavoring  to  persuade  or  dissuade 
any  member  of  the  religious  society  to  which  he  belongs  in  relation  to  the 
choice  of  its  pastor.  The  principle  is  precisely  the  same  in  both  cases.  Your 
power  hath  this  extent,  no  more.  You  can  punish  the  officer  for  neglecting 
or  for  violating  the  duties  which  appropriately  belong  to  his  office.  You  can 
not  repeal  the  Constitution  by  declaring  it  to  be  an  official  duty  that  he  shall 
abandon  the  constitutional  right  of  speaking  his  thoughts  upon  any  subject 
whatsoever,  whether  religious,  scientific,  or  political.  In  other  words,  you 
have  no  right  to  declare  that  he  shall  become  a  slave  when  he  becomes  an 
officer. 

I.— 25 


386  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

A  similar  answer,  if  it  were  necessary,  might  be  given  to  the  Senator's 
other  precedents.  Officers  of  the  customs  are  prohibited  from  owning  any 
vessel  or  cargo  under  a  pecuniary  penalty.  And  why  ?  Because  they  them 
selves  are  to  direct  and  superintend  the  entry  of  vessels  and  cargoes  belonging 
to  other  persons  and  the  collection  of  duties ;  and  to  allow  them  to  transact 
this  business  for  themselves,  would  be  to  make  them  judges  in  their  own 
cause.  It  would  be  an  evident  violation  of  the  duty  naturally  attached  lo 
their  office.  But  will  any  one  contend  that  their  constitutional  freedom  of 
speech,  in  regard  to  candidates  for  office,  is  incompatible  with  the  proper 
entry  or  unloading  of  vessels  engaged  either  in  foreign  commerce  or  the 
coasting  trade  ? 

So  the  register  of  a  land  office  is  prohibited  from  entering  lands  in  his  own 
name,  or,  in  other  words,  from  selling  lands  to  himself. 

Such  are  the  precedents  which  the  Senator  has  cited  to  justify  himself  in 
depriving  the  officers  embraced  by  his  bill  of  the  right  of  freedom  of  speech 
and  of  the  press. 

But  I  do  not  mean  even  to  rest  the  constitutional  question  here.  From 
the  very  nature  of  the  Constitution  itself,  two  great  political  parties  must  ever 
exist  in  this  country.  You  may  call  them  by  what  names  you  will,  their 
principles  must  ever  continue  to  be  the  same.  The  one,  dreading  federal 
power,  will  ever  be  friendly  to  a  strict  construction  of  the  powers  delegated 
to  the  Federal  Government  and  to  State  rights.  The  other  equally  dreading 
federal  weakness,  will  ever  advocate  such  a  liberal  construction  of  the  Consti 
tution  as  will  confer  upon  the  General  Government  as  much  power  as  possible, 
consistently  with  a  free  interpretation  of  the  terms  of  the  instrument.  The 
one  party  is  alarmed  at  the  danger  of  consolidation ;  the  other  at  that  of  dis 
union.  In  the  days  of  the  elder  Adams  the  party  friendly  to  a  liberal  con 
struction  of  the  Constitution  got  into  power.  And  what  did  they  do  ?  Among 
other  things,  in  the  very  face  of  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  which  pro 
hibited  Congress  from  passing  any  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of 
the  press,  they  passed  the  sedition  law.  What  were  its  provisions?  It 
punished  false,  scandalous,  and  malicious  libels  against  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  either  House  of  Congress,  or  the  President,  by  a  fine  not 
exceeding  two  thousand  dollars  and  imprisonment  not  exceeding  two  y^ars. 

At  the  present  day,  it  would  be  useless  to  waste  the  time  of  the  Senate  in 
proving  that  this  law  was  a  violation  of  the  Constitution.  It  is  now  admitted 
that  Congress,  in  passing  it,  had  transcended  their  powers.  If  any  principle 
has  been  established  beyond  a  doubt  by  the  almost  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  it  is,  that  the  sedition  law  was  unconstitutional. 
Such  is  the  strong  and  universal  feeling  against  it,  that  if  it  could  now  be 
revived,  the  authors  would  probably  meet  a  similar  fate  with  those  deluded 
and  desperate  men  in  France  who  have  themselves  lately  fallen  victims  upon 
the  same  altar  on  which  they  had  determined  to  sacrifice  the  liberty  of  the 
press. 

The  popular  odium  which  followed  this  law  was  not  so  much  excited  by  its 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  387 

particular  provisions,  as  by  the  fact,  that  any  law  upon  the  subject  was  a  viola 
tion  of  the  Constitution,  and  would  establish  a  precedent  for  giving  such  a 
construction  to  it  as  would  swallow  up  the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  their 
people  in  the  gulf  of  federal  power. 

The  Constitution  had  declared  that  "  Congress  shall  pass  no  law  abridging 
the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press."  Its  framers  well  knew  that,  under 
the  laws  of  each  of  the  States  composing  this  Union,  libels  were  punishable. 
They,  therefore,  left  the  character  of  all  officers  created  under  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States  to  be  protected  by  the  laws  of  the  several 
States.  They  were  afraid  to  give  this  Government  any  authority  over  the 
subject  of  libels,  lest  its  colossal  power  might  be  wielded  against  the  liberty  of 
the  press.  Congress  were,  therefore,  prohibited  from  passing  any  law  upon 
the  subject,  whether  good  or  bad.  It  was  not  merely  because  the  law  was 
unjust  in  itself,  though  it  was  bad  enough,  Heaven  knows,  that  the  indignant 
Republicans  of  that  day  rose  against  it ;  but  it  was  because  it  violated  the 
Constitution.  It  expired  by  its  own  limitation  in  March,  1801 ;  but  not  until 
it  had  utterly  prostrated  the  political  party  which  gave  it  birth. 

Now,  sir,  I  shall  say  a  few  words  concerning  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky 
resolutions  of  1798 ;  although  the  Senator  from  Virginia  may  consider  it 
sacrilege  in  me  to  discuss  this  subject.  I  have  at  all  times,  ever  since  I  read 
and  understood  these  resolutions,  held  to  the  political  doctrines  which  they 
inculcate  ;  and  I  can  assure  the  Senator  I  have  studied  them  with  care.  I  will 
read  a  few  extracts  from  the  Virginia  resolutions  : 

The  General  Assembly,  in  the  third  resolution,  "  doth  explicitly  and 
peremptorily  declare,  that  it  views  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government,  as 
resulting  from  the  compact,  to  which  the  States  are  parties,  as  limited  by  the 
plain  sense  and  intention  of  the  instrument  constituting  that  compact — and  as 
no  farther  valid  than  they  are  authorized  by  the  grants  enumerated  in  that 
compact;"  and  in  the  fourth  resolution,  they  express  their  deep  regret,  "that 
a  spirit  has,  in  sundry  instances,  been  manifested  by  the  Federal  Government, 
to  enlarge  its  powers  by  forced  constructions  of  the  constitutional  charter 
which  defines  them."  In  regard  to  the  sedition  law,  they  declare  that  its 
passage  was  the  exercise  of  "  a  power  not  delegated  by  the  Constitution ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  expressly  and  positively  forbidden  by  one  of  the  amend 
ments  thereto ;  a  power,  which,  more  than  any  other,  ought  to  produce 
universal  alarm ;  because  it  is  levelled  against  that  right  of  freely  examining 
public  characters  and  measures,  and  of  free  communication  among  the  people 
thereon,  which  has  ever  been  justly  deemed  the  cnly  effectual  guardian  of 
every  other  right." 

Now,  sir,  what  is  the  essence,  what  is  the  root  of  all  these  resolutions  ?  It 
consists  of  one  plain,  clear,  fundamental  principle,  from  which  all  others  pro 
ceed  as  branches.  It  is  this,  that  patriotism — that  the  permanence  of  our 
institutions — that  all  the  principles  of  correct  construction  require,  that  the 
Federal  Government  shall  be  limited  to  the  express  powers  granted  to  it  by 
the  States,  and  that  no  implied  powers  shall  ever  be  exercised,  except  such  as 


388  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

are  evidently  and  plainly  necessary  to  carry  the  express  powers  into  effect. 
This  is  the  foundation,  the  corner  stone,  the  vital  principle  of  all  the  Virginia 
and  Kentucky  resolutions.  It  was  because  the  sedition  law  violated  this 
principle,  that  the  Republican  statesmen  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky  opposed  it 
with  such  a  determined  spirit.  It  was,  as  Mr.  Madison  says  in  his  report, 
because  such  a  loose  construction  of  the  Constitution  as  would  bring  this  law 
within  its  pale,  would  lay  the  foundation  from  which  the  friends  of  a  strong 
central  government  might  proceed  to  rob  the  States  and  the  people  of  their 
liberties,  and  establish  a  consolidated  government.  It  was  the  first  stride 
towards  a  limited  monarchy. 

The  Federalists  of  that  day  honestly  believed  that  the  Government  should 
be  strengthened  at  the  centre,  and  that  the  pulsations  of  the  heart  were  not 
powerful  enough  to  extend  a  wholesome  circulation  to  the  extremities.  They, 
therefore,  used  every  effort  to  enlarge  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government 
by  construction.  This  was  the  touchstone  which  then  divided  parties,  and 
which  will  continue  to  divide  them  until,  which  God  forbid,  the  Government 
shall  cease  to  exist. 

Now,  sir,  if  I  have  correctly  stated  the  principle  which  runs  through  all  the 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions,  I  would  ask  whether  the  bill  now  before 
the  Senate  is  not  a  more  palpable  violation  of  this  principle  than  the  sedition 
law.  I  shall  now  proceed  to  establish  this  position. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  the  sedition  law  did  not  interfere  with  the  freedom 
of  speech.  The  citizen  might  speak  what  he  thought  and  say  what  he  pleased 
without  subjecting  himself  to  its  penalties.  Under  the  despotisms  of  Europe 
there  is  a  strict  censorship  over  the  press.  Everything  written  for  publication 
must  undergo  the  supervision  and  correction  of  a  Government  censor  before 
it  can  be  published.  In  the  most  despotic  countries,  however,  some  indulgence 
is  granted  to  the  liberty  of  speech  on  political  questions.  The  bill  establishes 
more  than  a  universal  censorship  over  the  freedom  of  speech.  It  compels  the 
officer  to  be  silent  altogether  on  political  questions.  He  dare  not  utter  a  word 
without  incurring  its  penalties.  In  this  country,  every  public  question  con 
nects  itself  with  our  elections.  If  there  be  two  candidates  for  any  State 
Legislature,  and  the  election  should  turn  upon  internal  improvements,  or  the 
division  of  a  county,  the  officer  is  as  much  exposed  to  the  universal  sweep  of 
this  bill,  in  case  he  utters  a  word  in  favor  of  the  one  or  against  the  other,  as 
though  it  were  the  Presidential  election.  He  is  equally  doomed  to  silence 
in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  Such  tyranny  is  unknown  to  the  sedition 
law. 

Whilst  I  was  abroad  some  years  ago,  I  heard  an  anecdote  highly  creditable 
to  the  King  of  Prussia,  who,  although  a  despot,  is,  by  his  subjects,  called  a 
Democratic  King.  The  revolutionary  war  of  Poland  against  Russia  was  then 
raging,  and  the  Polish  subjects  of  the  Prussian  king  were  highly  excited  in 
favor  of  their  brethren  under  the  dominion  of  Russia.  They  talked  very 
freely  in  favor  of  taking  part  in  the  contest ;  of  casting  off  the  Prussian  yoke, 
and  uniting  with  their  brethren  in  re-establishing  the  independence  of  Poland. 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  339 

The  counsellors  of  the  king  advised  him  to  prohibit  and  to  punish  this  freedom 
of  speech.  He  answered  that  he  would  do  no  such  thing ;  that  he  would 
suffer  them  to  express  their  opinions,  and  that  there  was  less  danger  that  they 
would  rise  against  his  government  than  if  they  remained  silent.  This  was  the 
remark  of  a  liberal  and  a  wise  man,  who  had  been  instructed  in  the  school  of 
adversity. 

But,  in  this  favored  land  of  liberty,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  we  are 
about  to  deny  to  our  citizens  the  privilege  of  speaking  their  thoughts.  This 
is  the  first  attempt  which  I  have  ever  known  or  read  of,  either  in  England 
or  in  this  country,  to  punish  the  expression  of  opinions  relative  to  candidates 
for  office  as  a  crime.  If  ever  this  was  done  in  England,  even  in  the  reigns  of 
the  Tudors  or  the  Stuarts,  it  must  have  been  a  Star  Chamber  offence.  In  the 
more  enlightened  despotisms  of  Europe.,  they  will  learn,  with  astonishment, 
that  a  bill  has  been  introduced  into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  propos 
ing  to  punish  a  postmaster  for  expressing  his  opinion  in  favor  of  a  candidate 
for  office,  as  if  this  were  an  enormous  crime,  with  a  fine  of  five  hundred 
dollars,  and  a  perpetual  disability  to  hold  any  other  office  under  the  Govern 
ment.  Even  under  the  common  law  of  England,  oral  slander  is  not  punish 
able  as  a  crime.  The  party  injured  by  it  is  left  to  his  private  remedy. 

In  the  second  place,  the  sedition  law,  although  it  did  abridge,  did  not,  like 
this  bill,  totally  destroy  the  freedom  of  the  press.  The  sedition  law  deprived 
no  man  of  the  right  or  the  power,  in  the  first  instance,  to  write  and  publish 
to  the  world  any  strictures  upon  the  Government  which  he  might  think 
proper.  To  be  sure,  if  in  exercising  this  privilege  he  violated  the  truth,  he 
was  made  responsible  to  its  penalties.  This  bill  reaches  the  very  fountains  of 
thought.  Its  object  is  to  prevent  its  victims  from  speaking  or  writing  at  all. 
No  matter  how  innocent,  or  praiseworthy,  or  true,  may  be  the  conversation  or 
the  publication,  still  if  it  can  be  construed  into  an  endeavor  to  persuade  any 
elector  to  give  his  vote  for  a  particular  candidate,  he  is  doomed  to  a  fine  of 
five  hundred  dollars,  and  a  perpetual  disability  to  hold  office. 

Again :  under  the  sedition  law,  the  accused  was  permitted  to  protect  him 
self  against  its  penalties,  by  giving  the  truth  of  his  charge  in  evidence.  Any 
individual  who  had  accused  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  being  a 
bad  and  dangerous  man,  who  was  aiming  a  blow  at  the  liberties  of  his  coun 
try,  and  desired  to  usurp  the  powers  of  the  Government  by  a  latitudinarian 
construction  of  the  Constitution,  was  protected  by  this  law  from  all  responsi 
bility,  provided  he  could  prove  the  truth  of  these  allegations  to  the  satisfaction 
of  a  court  and  jury  of  his  countrymen.  Not  so  the  present  bill.  If  a  post 
master,  or  a  land  officer,  or  a  weigher,  or  a  gauger,  should  endeavor  to  dis 
suade  any  elector  from  voting  for  a  particular  candidate,  and  should  say  that 
this  candidate  has  been  guilty  of  a  crime,  and  therefore  his  election  would  be 
dangerous  to  the  country,  and  is  brought  before  a  court  and  jury  for  trial 
under  this  bill,  he  must  be  convicted,  although  he  may  be  able  to  prove  the 
truth  of  his  charge  by  evidence  as  clear  as  a  sunbeam.  The  old  English 
maxim,  "  the  greater  the  truth  the  greater  the  libel,"  is  again  revived,  with 


390  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

some  show  of  reason;  because  the  language  of  truth  would  be  more  power 
ful  in  persuading  or  dissuading  an  elector  than  that  of  falsehood.  Although 
every  member  of  the  court  and  the  jury  might  personally  know  that  what 
the  accused  had  uttered  was  the  truth,  yet,  under  the  provisions  of  this  bill, 
they  would  be  bound  to  convict  and  sentence  him  to  suffer  its  penalties. 

I  think  I  have  thus  established  my  position  that  this  bill  is  worse,  and  more 
glaringly  unconstitutional,  than  the  sedition  law. 

I  now  approach  the  argument  of  the  Senator  from  Virginia  in  favor  of  the 
constitutionality  of  this  bill.  The  old  argument  in  favor  of  the  sedition  law, 
as  stated  by  Mr.  Madison  in  his  report,  was  that  the  general  phrases  in  the 
preamble  and  one  clause  of  the  Constitution  were  sufficiently  powerful  to 
extend  the  limited  grants  of  power  contained  in  the  body  of  the  instrument, 
and  to  confer  upon  Congress  the  authority  to  enact  any  law  they  might  think 
proper  for  the  common  defence  and  the  general  welfare.  This  doctrine  has 
long  since  been  exploded,  and  was  not  adverted  to  by  the  Senator  from  Vir 
ginia.  We  are  informed  by  the  same  authority,  that  another  argument  used, 
was,  that  all  the  State  Legislatures  had  passed  laws  for  the  punishment  of 
libels;  and  that,  therefore,  the  same  power  belonged  to  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  A  similar  argument  could  not  be  urged  by  the  Senator 
in  support  of  this  bill ;  because  no  State  Legislature  ever  has,  and  I  will 
venture  to  say  no  State  Legislature  ever  will  pass  such  a  bill  as  that  now 
before  the  Senate.  To  what  argument  then  did  the  Senator  resort?  I  shall 
endeavor  to  state  it  fairly.  He  asks  if  a  judge  were  to  use  the  freedom  of 
speech  or  of  the  press,  in  canvassing  the  merits  of  a  cause  before  the  people, 
which  it  would  become  his  duty  afterwards  to  decide,  would  it  be  an  abridg 
ment  of  this  freedom  to  punish  him  for  such  conduct?  I  answer,  certainly 
not.  But  does  not  the  gentleman  perceive  that  the  offence  in  this  case  is  sub 
stantive  and  independent,  and  amounts  to  a  total  violation  of  his  official  duty, 
for  which  he  ought  to  be  impeached  ?  The  language,  oral  or  printed,  which 
he  has  used,  is  the  mere  agent  which  he  has  employed  in  the  commission  of 
the  offence.  This  argument  is  a  begging  of  the  question;  for  it  assumes 
that,  under  the  Constitution,  Congress  possess  the  power  to  punish  one  citizen 
for  persuading  another,  by  fair  argument,  to  give  his  vote  for  or  against  any 
candidate  for  office.  This  is  the  very  principle  to  be  established.  Again  he 
asks,  suppose  one  of  the  officers  embraced  by  the  bill  were  to  use  the  freedom 
of  speech  or  of  the  press,  in  saying  to  an  elector,  if  you  will  give  your  vote 
for  such  a  candidate,  I  will  procure  you  an  office,  would  not  such  an  officer  be 
punishable  ?  I  answer,  certainly  he  would  under  the  State  laws ;  because 
this  would  be  an  attempt  to  procure  a  vote  by  corrupt  and  improper  means. 
It  is  a  distinct  offence,  the  punishment  of  which  in  no  manner  interferes  with 
the  liberty  of  speech  or  the  press  when  exercised  to  accomplish  constitutional 
purposes.  A  similar  answer  might  be  given  to  his  interrogatory  in  regard  to 
giving  a  challenge,  by  word  or  by  writing,  to  fight  a  duel.  The  last  question, 
which  capped  the  climax  of  his  argument,  was,  if  a  man  be  guilty  of  a  false 
and  malicious  libel  against  an  innocent  person,  may  you  not  punish  him,  under 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  391 

the  Constitution,  without  invading  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press — 
because  it  is  not  the  words  he  may  use  which  you  punish,  but  the  falsehood 
of  the  charge,  the  evil  intention,  and  the  injury  inflicted?  I  ask  the  Senator 
if  this  argument  is  not  a  justification  of  the  sedition  law  to  the  fullest  extent  ? 
I  have  taken  down  the  Senator's  words,  and  cannot  be  mistaken  in  their 
meaning.  What  did  the  sedition  law  declare  ?  That  the  authors  of  "  false, 
scandalous  and  malicious  "  libels,  with  the  evil  intentions  enumerated  in  the 
act,  should  incur  its  penalties.  It  was  not  the  mere  words  published  that 
were  punished,  but  it  was  their  falsehood,  their  malice,  and  their  evil  inten 
tions.  The  constitutionality  of  the  sedition  law  is,  therefore,  embraced  not 
only  within  the  spirit,  but  within  the  very  words,  of  the  Senator's  argument. 
Has  he  not,  however  unconsciously,  defended  the  sedition  law  ?  This  argu 
ment,  to  my  knowledge,  never  occurred  to  those  who  passed  that  law;  but 
it  is  one  which,  if  well  founded,  would  give  us  the  power  to-morrow  to  pass 
another  sedition  law. 

Do  not  Senators  perceive  that  the  passage  of  this  bill  would  utterly  dis 
franchise  a  large  and  respectable  class  of  our  people  ?  Under  it,  what  would 
be  the  condition  of  all  the  editors  of  your  political  journals,  whose  business 
and  whose  duty  it  is  to  enlighten  public  opinion  in  regard  to  the  merits  or 
demerits  of  candidates  for  office  ?  Pass  this  law,  and  you  declare  that  no  edi 
tor  of  a  public  paper,  of  either  party,  is  capable  or  worthy  of  holding  any  of 
the  proscribed  offices.  He  must  at  once  either  abandon  his  paper,  and  with 
it  the  means  of  supporting  himself  and  his  family,  or  he  must  surrender  any 
little  office  which  he  may  hold  under  the  Government. 

And  yet  this  bill  is  supported  by  my  friend  from  Virginia,  who,  to  use  his 
own  language,  "  has  been  imbued  with  the  principles  of  Democracy,  and  a 
regard  for  State  rights,  from  his  earliest  youth."  If  such  a  charge  should  ever 
be  made  against  him  hereafter,  his  speech  and  his  vote  in  favor  of  this  bill, 
will  acquit  him  before  any  court  in  Christendom,  where  the  truth  may  be 
given  in  evidence.  I  yet  trust  that  he  may  never  vote  for  its  passage. 

Every  measure  of  this  kind  betrays  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  intelligence 
and  patriotism  of  the  American  people.  It  is  founded  on  a  distrust  of  their 
judgment  and  integrity.  Do  you  suppose  that  when  a  man  is  appointed  a 
collector  or  a  postmaster,  he  acquires  any  more  influence  over  the  people  than 
he  had  before  ?  No,  sir !  On  the  contrary,  his  influence  is  often  diminished, 
instead  of  being  increased.  The  people  of  this  country  are  abundantly  capa 
ble  of  judging  whether  he  is  more  influenced  by  love  of  country  or  love  of 
office.  If  they  should  determine  that  his  motives  are  purely  mercenary  for 
supporting  a  political  party,  this  will  destroy  his  influence.  If  he  be  a  noisy, 
violent,  and  meddling  politician,  he  will  do  the  administration  under  which 
he  has  been  appointed,  much  more  harm  than  good.  Let  me  assure  gentle 
men  that  the  people  are  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  They  do  not 
require  the  interposition  of  Congress  to  prevent  them  from  being  deceived 
and  led  astray  by  the  influence  of  office  holders.  Whilst  this  is  my  fixed 
opinion,  I  think  the  number  of  federal  officers  ought  to  be  strictly  limited  to 


392  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

the  actual  necessities  of  the  Government.  Pursue  this  course,  and,  my  life 
for  it,  all  the  land  officers,  and  postmasters,  and  weighers,  and  gangers,  which 
you  shall  send  abroad  over  the  country,  can  never  influence  the  people  to 
betray  their  own  cause.  For  my  own  part,  I  entertain  the  most  perfect 
confidence  in  their  intelligence  as  well  as  integrity. 

That  office  holders  possess  comparatively  but  little  influence  over  the  peo 
ple,  will  conclusively  appear  from  the  brief  history  of  the  last  two  years,  the 
period  during  which  this  dreaded  man,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  has  been  in  office. 
What  has  all  this  alarming  influence  of  the  office  holders  effected  at  the  only 
points  where  they  are  to  be  found  in  any  considerable  number  ?  In  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  notwithstanding  all  the  influence  of  the  custom-house,  the 
post-office,  and  the  mint,  the  majority  at  the  last  election  against  the  admin 
istration  was  tremendous,  being,  I  believe,  upwards  of  four  thousand.  The 
Praetorian  guards,  as  they  have  been  called,  performed  but  little  service  on 
that  day  in  that  city.  On  the  other  hand,  look  at  the  interior  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  There  the  governor,  whose  patronage  within  the  limits  of  the  State 
was  as  great,  under  the  old  Constitution,  as  that  of  the  King  of  England,  had 
filled  every  office  with  enemies  of  the  present  administration.  Of  this  I  do 
not  complain ;  for,  whether  right  or  wrong,  it  has  been  the  long  established 
practice  of  both  parties.  It  is  true  that  many  of  the  postmasters  were  friendly 
to  the  administration ;  but  it  is  equally  certain,  that  a  large  proportion  of 
them  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  opposition.  What  was  the  result? 
Those  wielding  the  vast  patronage  were  entirely  routed,  notwithstanding  the 
exertions  of  the  office  holders.  Gentlemen  may  quiet  their  alarms,  and  be 
assured  that  the  people  cannot  be  persuaded  to  abandon  their  principles  by  the 
influence  of  men  in  office. 

Again :  let  us  look  at  the  State  of  New  York  for  another  example.  There 
the  Albany  regency  were  seated  in  power.  The  Democratic  party  was  well 
drilled.  All  the  office  holders  of  the  State  and  of  the  city  were  friendly  to 
the  administration.  Besides,  in  my  opinion,  they  fought  in  the  righteous 
cause;  and  this  same  abused  Albany  regency  who  were  their  leaders,  was 
composed  of  as  able  and  as  honest  men  as  were  ever  at  the  head  of  any  State 
government.  What  was  the  result  there  ?  With  all  this  official  power  and 
patronage,  both  of  the  State  and  Federal  Governments,  we  were  beaten, 
horse,  foot  and  dragoons.  There  is  not  the  least  necessity  for  passing  an 
unconstitutional  law,  to  save  the  people  from  the  influence  of  the  office 
holders. 

Have  we  not  been  beaten  in  all  the  large  cities  of  the  Union,  where  only 
there  are  federal  officers  in  any  considerable  number  ?  What  has  been  our 
fate  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Baltimore,  and  New  Orleans?  We 
have  been  vanquished  in  all  of  them.  The  hobgoblins  and  chimeras  dire  re 
specting  the  influence  of  office  holders,  which  terrify  gentlemen,  exist  only 
in  their  own  imagination.  The  people  of  this  country  are  not  the  tame  and 
servile  creatures  who  can  be  seduced  from  their  purpose  by  the  persuasion 
of  the  office  holders.  It  is  true  that  in  1828  I  did  say  that  the  office  holders 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  393 

were  the  enlisted  soldiers  of  that  administration  by  which  they  were  sus 
tained.  This  was  too  strong  an  expression.  But  admit  them  to  be  enlisted 
soldiers ;  and  whilst  I  do  not  deny  them  some  influence,  there  is  no  danger 
to  be  apprehended  from  it,  as  long  as  there  is  virtue  and  intelligence  among 
our  people. 

And  here  I  hope  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  will  pardon  me  for  suggest 
ing  to  him  an  amendment  to  his  bill.  He  has,  I  think,  made  one  or  two  mis 
takes  in  the  classification  of  his  officers ;  though,  in  the  general,  it  is  sufficiently 
perfect.  The  principle  would  seem  to  have  been  to  separate  what  may  be 
called  the  aristocracy  of  office  holders  from  the  plebeians.  Those  of  the  ele 
vated  class  are  still  permitted  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press, 
whilst  the  hard-working  operatives  among  them  are  denied  this  privilege. 
The  heads  of  departments  and  bureaus,  the  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  the 
superintendents  and  officers  of  our  mints,  and  our  district  attorneys  are  not 
affected  by  this  bill.  These  gentlemen  are  privileged  by  their  elevation. 
They  are  too  high  to  be  reached  by  its  provisions.  Who,  then,  ought  to  care 
whether  weighers  and  gaugers,  and  village  postmasters,  and  hard-handed 
draymen,  and  such  inferior  people  shall  be  permitted  to  express  their  thoughts 
on  public  affairs  ?  I  would  suggest,  however,  that  the  collectors  of  our  prin 
cipal  seaports,  the  marshals  of  our  extensive  judicial  districts,  and  the  post 
masters  in  our  principal  cities  receive  compensation  sufficient  to  enable  them 
to  figure  in  "  good  society."  They  ought  to  rank  with  the  district  attorneys, 
and  should  be  elevated  from  the  plebeian  to  the  patrician  rank  of  office 
holders.  They  ought  to  be  allowed  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press. 
As  to  the  subordinate  officers,  they  are  not  worth  the  trouble  of  a  thought. 

To  be  sure  there  is  one  palpable  absurdity  on  the  face  of  the  bill.  Its 
avowed  purpose  is  to  prevent  office  holders  from  exercising  an  influence  in 
elections.  Why,  then,  except  from  its  operation  all  those  office  holders,  who, 
from  their  station  in  society,  can  exercise  the  most  extensive  influence,  and 
confine  its  provisions  to  the  humbler,  but  not  less  meritorious  class,  whose 
opinions  can  have  but  a  limited  influence  over  their  fellow-men?  The  dis 
trict  attorney,  for  example,  is  excepted — the  very  man  of  all  others,  who, 
from  his  position  and  talents,  has  the  best  opportunity  of  exerting  an  exten 
sive  influence.  He  may  ride  over  his  district,  and  make  political  speeches  to 
secure  the  election  of  his  favorite  candidate.  He  is  too  high  a  mark  for  the 
gentleman's  bill.  But  if  the  subordinates  of  the  custom-house,  or  the  petty 
postmaster  at  the  cross-roads  with  an  income  of  fifty  dollars  per  annum,  shall 
dare,  even  in  private  conversation,  to  persuade  an  elector  to  vote  for  or 
against  any  candidate,  he  is  to  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars, 
and  a  perpetual  disability  to  hold  any  office  under  the  Government.  Was 
there  ever  a  bill  more  unequal  or  more  unjust  ? 

Now,  sir,  I  might  here,  with  great  propriety,  and  very  much  to  the  relief 
both  of  my  audience  and  myself,  leave  this  subject ;  but  there  are  still  some 
other  observations  which  I  conceive  it  to  be  my  duty  to  add  to  what  I  have 
already  said.  Most  of  them  will  be  elicited  by  the  very  strong  remarks  of 


394  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

my  friend  from  Virginia;  for  I  trust  that  I  may  still  be  permitted  to  call  him 
by  that  name. 

He  and  I  entered  the  House  of  Representatives  almost  together.  I  believe 
he  came  into  it  but  two  years  after  myself.  We  soon  formed  a  mutual 
friendship,  which  has  ever  since,  I  may  say,  on  my  part,  with  great  sincerity, 
continued  to  exist.  We  fought  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  his  great  powers 
were  united  with  my  feeble  efforts  in  prostrating  the  administration  of  the 
younger  Adams.  G-eneral  Jackson  came  into  power ;  and  during  the  whole 
period  of  that  administration  he  was  the  steady,  unwavering  supporter  of  all 
its  leading  measures,  except  the  Specie  Circular  and  his  advocacy  of  the  cur 
rency  bill ;  and,  on  that  bill,  I  stood  by  him,  in  opposition  to  the  administra 
tion.  Whilst  this  man  of  destiny  was  in  power — this  man  of  the  lion  heart, 
whose  will  the  Whigs  declared  was  law,  and  whose  roaring  terrified  all  the 
other  beasts  of  the  forest,  and  subdued  them  into  silence — where  was  then 
the  Senator  from  Virginia?  He  was  our  chosen  champion  in  the  fight. 
Whilst  General  Jackson  was  exerting  all  this  tremendous  influence,  and  mar 
shalling  all  his  trained  bands  of  office  holders  to  do  his  bidding,  according  to 
the  language  of  the  opposition,  these  denunciations  had  no  terror  for  the 
Senator  from  Virginia.  Never  in  my  life  did  I  perform  a  duty  of  friendship 
with  greater  ardor  than  when,  on  one  occasion,  I  came  to  his  rescue  from 
an  unjust  attack  made  against  him  by  the  Whigs  in  relation  to  a  part  of  his 
conduct  whilst  minister  in  France.  After  holding  out  so  long  together,  ought 
he  not,  at  least,  to  have  parted  from  us  in  peace,  and  bade  us  a  kind  adieu  ? 
In  abandoning  our  camp,  why  did  he  shoot  Parthian  arrows  behind  him? 
In  taking  leave  of  us,  I  hope  not  forever,  is  it  not  too  hard  for  us  to  hear 
ourselves  denounced  by  the  gentleman  in  the  language  which  he  has  used  ? 
"  He  is  amazed  and  bewildered  with  the  scenes  passing  before  him.  Whither, 
he  asks,  will  the  mad  dominion  of  party  carry  us  ?  His  mind  is  filled  with 
despondency  as  to  the  fate  of  his  country.  Shall  we  emulate  the  servility  of 
the  senate  and  people  of  Rome  ?  You  already  have  your  Praetorian  bands 
in  this  city."  I  might  quote  from  his  speech  other  phrases  of  a  similar  char 
acter  ;  but  these  are  sufficient.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  of  these  expressions 
were  aimed  at  me  personally;  yet  they  strike  me  with  the  mass  of  my  political 
friends,  and  I  feel  bound  to  give  them  a  passing  notice. 

And  why,  let  me  ask  the  Senator,  why  did  he  not  sooner  make  the  dis 
covery  of  the  appalling  danger  of  executive  influence  ?  Is  there  more  to  be 
dreaded  from  that  cause,  under  the  present  administration,  than  under  that 
which  is  past  ?  Is  Martin  Van  Buren  more  formidable  than  General  Jackson 
was?  Let  his  favorite  author,  De  Tocqueville,  answer  this  question.  He 
says,  "  the  power  of  General  Jackson  perpetually  increases,  but  that  of  the 
President  declines ;  in  his  hands  the  Federal  Government  is  strong,  but  it  will 
pass  enfeebled  into  the  hands  of  his  successor."  Do  not  all  now  know  this  to 
be  the  truth  ?  Has  not  the  Government  passed  enfeebled  into  the  hands  of 
his  successor  ?  We  see  it,  and  feel  it,  and  know  it,  from  every  thing  which 
is  passing  around  us.  The  civilian  has  succeeded  the  conqueror ;  and,  I  must 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  395 

be  permitted  to  say,  has  exercised  his  high  powers  with  great  moderation  and 
purity  of  purpose.  In  what  manner  has  he  ever  abused  his  patronage  ?  In 
this  particular,  of  what  can  the  gentleman  complain  ? 

In  February,  1828,  I  did  say  that  the  office  holders  were  the  enlisted  sol 
diers  of  the  administration.  But  did  I  then  propose  to  gag  them  ?  Did  I 
propose  to  deprive  them  of  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  ?  No,  sir, 
no  !  Notwithstanding  the  number  of  them  scattered  over  the  country,  I  was 
not  afraid  of  their  influence.  On  the  contrary,  I  commended  the  administra 
tion  for  adhering  to  its  friends.  I  then  used  the  following  language : 

"In  my  humble  judgment,  the  present  administration  could  not  have 
proceeded  a  single  year,  with  the  least  hope  of  re-election,  but  for  their 
patronage.  This  patronage  may  have  been  used  unwisely,  as  my  friend  from 
Kentucky  [Mr.  Letcher]  (and  I  am  still  proud  to  call  him  my  friend,  not 
withstanding  our  political  opposition)  has  insinuated.  I  have  never  blamed 
them,  I  shall  never  blame  them,  for  adhering  to  their  friends.  Be  true  to 
your  friends  and  they  will  be  true  to  you,  is  the  dictate  both  of  justice  and 
of  sound  policy.  I  shall  never  participate  in  abusing  the  administration  for 
remembering  their  friends.  If  you  go  too  much  abroad  with  this  patronage, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  new  friends,  you  will  offend  your  old  ones,  and 
make  but  very  insincere  converts." 

What  was  my  opinion  in  1828,  when  I  was  in  the  opposition,  is  still  my 
opinion  in  1839,  when  I  am  in  the  majority.  I  say  now,  that  the  adminis 
tration  which  goes  abroad  with  its  patronage  to  make  converts  of  its  enemies, 
at  the  expense  of  its  friends,  acts  both  with  ingratitude  and  injustice.  Such 
an  administration  deserves  to  be  prostrated.  Although  neither  from  principle 
nor  from  feeling  am  I  a  root  and  branch  man,  yet,  in  this  respect,  I  adopt  the 
opinion  of  General  Washington,  the  first,  the  greatest,  the  wisest,  and  the 
best  of  our  Presidents.  I  prefer  him  either  to  General  Jackson  or  to  the  great 
apostle  of  American  liberty.  This  opinion,  however,  may  proceed  from  the 
relics  of  old  Federalism.  On  this  subject  General  Washington  says :  "  I  shall 
not,  whilst  I  have  the  honor  to  administer  the  Government,  bring  a  man  into 
any  office  of  consequence,  knowingly,  whose  political  tenets  are  adverse  to 
the  measures  which  the  General  Government  is  pursuing ;  for  this,  in  my 
opinion,  would  be  a  sort  of  political  suicide.  That  it  would  embarrass  its 
movements  is  certain." 

Now,  sir,  if  any  freak  of  destiny  should  ever  place  me  in  one  of  these 
executive  departments,  and  I  feel  very  certain  that  it  never  will,  I  shall  tell 
you  the  course  I  would  pursue.  I  should  not  become  an  inquisitor  of  the 
political  opinions  of  the  subordinate  office  holders,  who  are  receiving  salaries 
of  some  eight  hundred  or  a  thousand  dollars  a  year.  For  the  higher  and 
more  responsible  offices,  however,  I  would  select  able,  faithful,  and  well-tried 
political  friends  who  felt  a  deep  and  devoted  interest  in  the  success  of  my 
measures.  And  this  not  for  the  purpose  of  concealment,  for  no  public  officer 
ought  to  be  afraid  of  the  scrutiny  of  the  world ;  but  that  they  might  cheer 
fully  co-operate  with  me  in  promoting  what  I  believed  to  be  the  public 


396  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

interest.  I  would  have  no  person  around  me,  either  to  hold  back  in  the  traces, 
or  to  thwart  and  defeat  my  purposes.  With  General  Washington  I  believe 
that  any  other  course  "  would  be  a  sort  of  political  suicide. " 

In  executing  the  duties  of  a  public  office,  I  should  act  upon  the  same 
principles  that  would  govern  my  conduct  in  regard  to  a  private  trust.  If  the 
Senator  from  Virginia  were  to  constitute  me  his  attorney,  to  transact  any  im 
portant  business,  I  should  never  employ  assistants  whom  I  believed  to  be 
openly  and  avowedly  hostile  to  his  interests. 

But  says  the  Senator,  you  already  have  your  Praetorian  bands  in  this  city. 
He  doubtless  alludes  to  the  officeholders  in  the  different  departments  of  the 
Government;  and,  I  ask,  is  Mr.  Van  Buren's  influence  over  them  greatly  to 
be  dreaded  ?  If,  sir,  the  President  relies  upon  such  troops  he  will  most  cer 
tainly  be  defeated.  These  Praetorian  bands  are,  to  a  great  extent,  on  the  side 
of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  and  his  political  friends.  I  would  now  do 
them  great  injustice  if  I  were  to  call  them  the  enlisted  soldiers  of  the  admin 
istration.  Whilst  General  Jackson  was  here  they  did  keep  tolerably  quiet,  but 
now  I  understand  that  many  of  these  heads  of  bureaus  and  clerks  use  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  without  reserve  against  the  measures  of 
bis  successor.  Of  course  I  speak  from  common  report,  God  forbid  that  I 
should  become  an  inquisitor  as  to  any  man's  politics.  It  is  generally  under 
stood  that  about  one-half  of  them  are  open  enemies  of  the  present  adminis 
tration.  I  have  some  acquaintance  with  a  few  of  those  who  are  called  its 
friends ;  and  among  this  few  I  know  several,  who,  although  they  declare  they 
are  in  favor  of  the  re-election  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  yet  they  are  decidedly 
opposed  to  all  his  prominent  measures.  Surrounded  by  such  Praetorian  bands, 
what  has  this  tyrant  done  ?  Nothing,  literally  nothing.  I  believe  he  is  the 
very  last  man  in  the  country  who  can  justly  be  charged  with  using  his  official 
patronage  to  control  the  freedom  of  elections.  His  forbearance  towards  his 
political  enemies  in  office  will  unquestionably  injure  him  to  some  extent,  and 
especially  in  those  States  where,  under  the  common  party  law,  no  person 
dreams  of  being  permitted  to  hold  office  from  his  political  enemies.  His 
liberality  in  this  respect  has  been  condemned  by  many  of  his  friends,  whilst 
he  is  accused  by  his  enemies  of  using  his  official  patronage  for  corrupt  political 
purposes.  This  is  a  hard  fate.  The  Senator  must,  therefore,  pardon  me,  after 
having  his  own  high  authority  in  favor  of  General  Jackson's  administration, 
if,  under  that  of  his  successor,  I  cannot  now  see  the  dangers  of  executive 
patronage  in  a  formidable  light. 

There  was  one  charge  made  by  the  Senator  from  Virginia  against  the 
present  administration,  which  I  should  have  been  the  first  man  to  sustain,  had 
I  believed  it  to  be  well  founded.  Had  the  President  evinced  a  determination, 
in  the  face  of  all  his  principles  and  professions,  to  form  a  permanent  connection 
in  violation  of  law,  between  the  Government  and  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  other  State  bank,  he  should,  in  this  particular,  have  encountered 
my  unqualified  opposition.  In  such  an  event,  I  should  have  been  willing  to 
serve  under  the  command  of  the  Senator  against  the  administration ;  and 


INTERFERENCE    OF    FEDERAL    OFFICERS.  397 

hundreds  and  thousands  of  the  unbought  and  incorruptible  Democracy  would 
have  rallied  to  our  standard.  I  am  convinced,  however,  from  the  reports  of 
the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury  and  of  War,  and  from  the  other  lights  which 
have  been  shed  upon  the  subject,  that  "  their  poverty  and  not  their  will  con 
sented  "  to  the  partial  and  limited  connection  which  resulted  from  the  sale  of 
the  bond  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  Such  seems  to  have  been  the 
general  opinion  on  this  floor,  because  no  Senator  came  to  the  aid  of  the  gen 
tleman  from  Virginia  in  sustaining  this  charge.  u  Where  was  Roderick  then  ?  " 
Why  did  not  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  come  to  the  rescue  and  sustain  his 
friend  from  Virginia  in  the  accusation  against  the  administration  of  having 
again  connected  itself  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  ? 

The  Senator  from  Virginia  has  informed  us,  that  in  his  State,  a  law  exists, 
prohibiting  any  man  who  holds  office  under  the  Federal  Government  from 
holding,  at  the  same  time,  a  State  office.  This  law  prevents  the  same  indi 
vidual  from  serving  two  masters.  A  similar  law,  I  believe,  exists  in  every 
State  of  this  Union.  If  there  is  not,  there  ought  to  be.  The  Federal  and 
State  Governments  ought  to  be  kept  as  distinct  and  independent  of  each 
other  as  possible.  The  General  Government  ought  never  to  be  permitted  to 
insinuate  itself  into  the  concerns  of  the  States,  by  using  their  officers  as  its 
officers.  These  incompatible  laws  proceed  from  a  wise  and  wholesome 
jealousy  of  federal  power,  and  a  proper  regard  for  State  rights.  I  heartily 
approve  them.  Then,  sir,  if  there  be  danger  in  trusting  a  postmaster  of  the 
General  Government  with  the  commission  of  a  magistrate  under  State 
authority,  how  infinitely  more  dangerous  would  it  be  to  suffer  the  administra 
tion  to  connect  itself  with  all  the  State  banks  of  the  country  ?  What  immense 
influence  over  the  people  of  the  States  could  the  Federal  Government  thus 
acquire !  Suffer  it  to  deposit  the  public  money  at  pleasure  with  these  banks, 
and  permit  them  to  loan  it  out  for  their  own  benefit,  and  you  establish  a  vast 
federal  influence,  not  over  weighers  and  gangers  and  postmasters,  but  over  the 
presidents,  and  directors,  and  cashiers,  and  debtors,  and  creditors  of  these 
institutions.  You  bind  them  to  you  by  the  strongest  of  all  ties,  that  of  self- 
interest  ;  and  they  are  men  who,  from  their  position,  cannot  fail  to  exercise 
an  extensive  influence  over  the  people  of  the  States.  I  am  a  State  rights 
man,  and  am  therefore  opposed  to  any  connection  between  this  Government 
and  the  State  banks  ;  and  last  of  all  to  such  a  connection  with  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  which  is  the  most  powerful  of  them  all.  This  is  one  of  the 
chief  reasons  why  I  am  in  favor  of  an  independent  Treasury.  And  yet, 
friendly  to  State  rights  as  the  Senator  professes  to  be,  he  complains  of  the 
President  for  opposing  such  a  connection  with  the  State  banks,  and  thereby 
voluntarily  depriving  himself  of  the  power  and  influence  which  must  ever 
result  from  such  an  union. 

There  are  other  reasons  why  I  am  friendly  to  an  independent  Treasury ; 
but  this  is  not  the  proper  occasion  to  discuss  them.  I  shall  merely  advert  to 
one  which,  in  my  opinion,  renders  an  immediate  separation  from  the  banks 
indispensable  to  the  public  interest.  The  importation  of  foreign  goods  into 


398  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

New  York,  since  the  commencement  of  the  present  year,  very  far  exceeds, 
according  to  our  information,  the  corresponding  importations  during  the  year 
1836,  although  they  were  greater  in  that  year  than  they  had  ever  been  since 
the  origin  of  our  Government.  This  must  at  once  create  a  large  debt  against 
us  in  England.  Meanwhile,  what  is  our  condition  at  home  ?  New  York  has 
established  what  is  called  a  free  banking  law,  under  whose  provisions  more 
than  fifty  banks  had  been  established  in  the  beginning  of  January  last,  and  I 
know  not  how  many  since,  with  permission  to  increase  their  capital  to  four 
hundred  and  eighty-seven  millions  of  dollars.  These  banks  do  not  even  pro 
fess  to  proceed  upon  the  ancient,  safe  and  well  established  principle  of  making 
the  specie  in  their  vaults  bear  some  just  and  reasonable  proportion  to  their 
circulation  and  deposits.  Another  and  a  novel  principle  is  adopted.  State 
loans  and  mortgages  upon  real  estate  are  made  to  take  the  place  of  gold  and 
silver ;  and  an  amount  of  bank  notes  may  be  issued  equal  to  the  amount  of 
these  securities  deposited  with  the  comptroller.  There  is  no  restriction  what 
ever  imposed  on  these  banks  in  regard  to  specie,  except  that  they  are  required 
to  hold  eleven  pence  in  the  dollar,  not  of  their  circulation  and  deposits  united, 
but  of  their  circulation  alone.  Well  may  that  able  officer  have  declared,  in 
his  report  to  the  legislature,  that  "  it  is  now  evident  that  the  point  of  danger 
is  not  an  exclusive  metallic  currency,  but  an  exclusive  paper  currency,  so 
redundant  and  universal  as  to  excite  apprehensions  for  its  stability."  The 
amount  of  paper  issues  of  these  banks,  and  the  amount  of  bank  credits,  must 
rapidly  expand  the  paper  circulation,  and  again  produce  extravagant  specula 
tion.  The  example  of  New  York  will  have  a  powerful  influence  on  the 
other  States  of  the  Union.  Already  has  Georgia  established  a  free  banking 
law ;  and  a  bill  for  the  same  purpose  is  now  before  the  legislature  of  Penn 
sylvania.  If  the  signs  of  the  times  do  not  deceive  me,  we  shall  have  another 
explosion  sooner,  much  sooner  than  I  had  anticipated.  The  Senator  from 
Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster)  nods  his  assent.  [Here  Mr.  Webster  said,  "  I 
think  so  also."]  This  paper  bubble  must,  from  its  nature,  go  on  rapidly 
expanding,  until  it  reaches  the  bursting  point.  The  recent  suspension  of 
specie  payments  by  the  Branch  Bank  of  Mobile,  in  the  State  of  my  friend 
from  Alabama,  (Mr.  King),  may  be  the  remote  and  distant  thunder  premoni 
tory  of  the  approaching  storm.  This  is  all  foreign,  however,  to  the  subject 
before  the  Senate.  I  desire  now  to  declare  solemnly  in  advance,  that  if  this 
explosion  should  come,  and  the  money  of  the  people  in  the  Treasury  should 
again  be  converted  into  irredeemable  bank  paper  and  bank  credits,  the  admin 
istration  will  be  guiltless  of  the  deed.  We  have  tried,  but  tried  in  vain,  to 
establish  an  independent  Treasury,  where  this  money  would  be  safe,  in  the 
custody  of  officers  responsible  to  the  people. 

There  is  one  incident  in  relation  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  which 
my  friend  from  Virginia  may  be  curious  to  know.  Under  the  Pennsylvania 
charter  it  was  prohibited  from  issuing  notes  under  ten  dollars.  I  had  fondly 
hoped  that  this  example  might  be  gradually  followed  by  our  legislature  in 
regard  to  the  other  banks,  until  the  time  should  arrive  when  our  whole  circu- 


ELEMENTS  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY.  399 

lation  under  ten  dollars  should  consist  of  gold  and  silver.  The  free  banking 
law  of  New  York  has  enabled  the  bank  to  nullify  this  restriction.  Under 
this  law  it  has  established  a  bank  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  capital  of 
which  may  be  increased  to  $50,000,000,  and  has  transferred  to  the  comptrol 
ler  of  that  State  Michigan  State  loan  to  the  amount  of  $200,000.  And  what 
notes,  Mr.  President,  do  you  suppose  it  has  taken  in  lieu  of  this  amount  of 
loan  ?  Not  an  assortment  of  different  denominations,  as  the  other  banks  have 
done,  but  forty  thousand  five  dollar  notes.  These  five  dollar  notes  will  be 
paid  out  and  circulated  by  the  bank  at  Philadelphia ;  and  thus  the  wise  ten 
dollar  restriction  contained  in  its  Pennsylvania  charter  is  completely  annulled. 
If,  therefore,  I  could  believe  for  a  moment  that  this  Government  intended 
to  form  a  permanent  connection  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
again  make  it  the  general  depository  and  fiscal  agent  of  the  Treasury,  even 
if  no  other  principle  were  involved  than  that  of  the  enormous  increase  of 
executive  patronage  which  must  necessarily  follow,  I  should  at  once  stand 
with  my  friend  from  Virginia  in  opposition  to  the  administration.  But  I 
would  not  go  over  with  him  to  the  enemy's  camp.  I  have  somewhere  read 
a  eulogy  on  the  wisdom  of  the  Catholic  church,  for  tolerating  much  freedom 
of  opinion  in  non-essentials  among  its  members.  A  pious,  an  enthusiastic, 
and  an  ardent  spirit,  which,  if  it  belonged  to  any  Protestant  church,  might 
produce  a  schism,  is  permitted  to  establish  a  new  order,  and  thus  to  benefit, 
instead  of  injuring,  the  ancient  establishment.  I  might  point  to  a  St.  Domi- 
nick  and  a  Loyola  for  examples.  Now,  sir,  I  admit  that  the  Whig  party  is 
very  Catholic  in  this  respect.  It  tolerates  great  difference  of  opinion.  Its 
unity  almost  consists  in  diversity.  In  that  party  we  recognize  "  the  Demo 
cratic  Antimasonic  "  branch.  Yes,  sir,  this  is  the  approved  name.  I  need 
not  mention  the  names  of  its  two  distinguished  leaders.  The  peculiar  tenet 
of  this  respectable  portion  of  the  universal  political  Whig  church  is  a  horrible 
dread  of  the  murderers  of  Morgan,  whose  ghost,  like  that  of  Hamlet's  father, 
walks  abroad,  and  revisits  the  pale  glimpses  of  the  moon,  seeking  vengeance 
on  his  murderers.  I  wish  they  could  be  found,  and  punished  as  they  deserve. 
Though  not  abolitionists  in  the  mass,  they  do  not  absolutely  reject,  though 
they  may  receive  with  an  awkward  grace,  the  overtures  and  aid  of  the  aboli 
tionists.  In  my  portion  of  the  country,  at  least,  the  abolitionists  are  either 
incorporated  with  this  branch  of  the  party,  or  hang  upon  its  outskirts.  The 
Senator  from  Virginia  and  myself  could  not,  I  think,  go  over  to  this  section 
of  the  party,  nor  would  we  be  received  by  it  into  full  communion.  The 
Senator  from  Kentucky  (Mr.  Clay)  will,  I  think,  find  to  his  cost  that  he  has 
done  himself  great  injury  with  this  branch  of  the  opposition,  by  the  manly 
and  patriotic  sentiments  which  he  expressed  a  few  days  ago  on  the  subject 
of  abolition. 

Then  comes  the  Whig  party  proper,  in  which  the  Senator  from  Kentucky 
stands  pre-eminent.  I  need  not  detail  its  principles.  Now,  I  humbly  appre 
hend,  that  even  if  the  President  of  the  United  States  should  determine  to 
ally  himself  with  the  bank,  and  force  us  to  abandon  him  on  that  account, 


400  LIFE    OF,  JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

neither  the  Senator  from  Virginia  nor  myself  could  find  refuge  in  tho  bosom  of 
this  party.  We  have  both  sinned  against  it  beyond  forgiveness.  "We  were 
both  in  favor  of  the  removal  of  the  deposits — an  offence  which,  with  them, 
like  original  sin,  "brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  woe."  For  this, 
no  penitence  can  atone. 

Again:  we  both  voted  for  the  expunging  resolution,  which,  in  their  opin 
ion,  was  an  act  of  base  subserviency  and  man  worship,  and,  withal,  a  palpable 
violation  of  the  Constitution.  So  dreadful  was  this  offence,  that  my  friend 
from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard]  will  never  get  over  it.  He  has  solemnly  pledged 
himself  to  cry  aloud  and  spare  not,  until  this  foul  blot  shall  be  removed  from 
the  journals  of  the  Senate.  I  should  be  glad  to  know  why  he  has  not  yet 
introduced  his  annual  resolution  to  efface  this  unsightly  stain  from  the  record 
of  our  proceedings. 

In  short,  we  should  be  compelled  to  form  a  separate  branch  of  the  Whig 
party.  We  should  be  the  deposit-removing,  expunging,  force  bill,  anti-bank 
Jackson  Whigs.  We  should  carry  with  us  enough  of  locofocoism  and  other 
combustible  materials  to  blow  them  all  up.  They  had  better  have  a  care 
of  us. 

I  hope  the  Senator  may  yet  remain  with  us,  and  be  persuaded  that  his  old 
friends  upon  this  floor  do  not  resemble  either  the  servile  band  in  the  Roman 
Senate  under  the  first  Caesar,  or  that  which  afterwards  degraded  themselves 
so  low  as  to  make  the  favorite  horse  of  one  of  his  successors  high  priest  and 
consul.  He  can  never  be  fully  received  into  the  communion  of  the  faithful 
Whigs.  Although  the  fathers  of  the  church  here  may  grant  him  absolution, 
yet  the  rank  and  file  of  the  party  throughout  the  country  will  never  ratify  the 
deed. 

I  was  pleased  to  hear  the  Senator  from  Virginia,  on  yesterday,  make  the 
explanation  which  he  did  to  the  Senator  from  North  Carolina,  [Mr.  Strange] 
in  regard  to  what  he  had  said  in  favor  of  the  British  government.  I  cheer 
fully  take  the  explanation.  I  did  suppose  he  had  pronounced  a  high-wrought 
eulogy  upon  that  government;  but  it  would  not  be  fair  to  hold  him,  or  any 
other  Senator,  to  the  exact  meaning  of  words  uttered  in  the  heat  and  ardor 
of  debate. 

I  agree  with  him  that  we  are  indebted  for  several  of  our  most  valuable 
institutions  to  our  British  ancestors.  We  have  derived  from  them  the  princi 
ples  of  liberty  established  and  consecrated  by  magna  charta,  the  trial  by  jury, 
the  petition  of  right,  the  habeus  corpus  act,  and  the  revolution  of  1688.  And 
yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  I  should  be  very  unwilling  to  make  the  British 
government  a  model  for  our  legislation  in  Republican  America.  Look  at  its 
effects  in  practice.  Is  it  a  government  which  sheds  its  benign  influence,  like 
the  dews  of  Heaven,  upon  all  its  subjects?  Or  is  it  not  a  government  where 
the  rights  of  the  many  are  sacrificed  to  promote  the  interest  of  the  few  ?  The 
landed  aristocracy  have  controlled  the  election  of  a  majority  of  the  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons;  and  they,  themselves,  compose  the  House  of 
Lords.  The  main  scope  and  principal  object  of  their  legislation  was  to  pro- 


FEDERAL  AND  STATE  GOVERNMENTS.       401 

mote  the  great  landed  interest,  that  of  the  large  manufacturers,  and  of  the  fund 
holders  of  a  national  debt,  amounting  to  more  than  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
millions  sterling.  In  order  to  accomplish  these  purposes,  it  became  necessary 
to  oppress  the  poor.  Where  is  the  country  beneath  the  sun  in  which  pauper 
ism  prevails  to  such  a  fearful  extent  ?  Is  it  not  known  to  the  whole  world 
that  the  wages  both  of  agricultural  and  manufacturing  labor  are  reduced  to 
the  very  lowest  point  necessary  to  sustain  human  existence  ?  Look  at  Ireland, 
— the  fairest  land  I  have  ever  seen.  Her  laboring  population  is  confined  to 
the  potatoe.  Rarely,  indeed,  do  they  enjoy  either  the  wheat  or  the  beef 
which  their  country  produces  in  such  plentiful  abundance.  It  is  chiefly  sent 
abroad  for  foreign  consumption. 

The  people  of  England  are  now  struggling  to  make  their  institutions  more 
free ;  and  I  trust  in  God  they  may  succeed ;  yet  their  whole  system  is  arti 
ficial,  and  without  breaking  it  down  altogether,  I  do  not  perceive  how  the 
condition  of  the  mass  of  the  people  can  be  much  ameliorated.  In  the  present 
state  of  the  world,  no  friend  of  the  human  race  ought  probably  to  desire  its 
immediate  destruction.  We  ought  to  regard  it  rather  as  a  beacon  to  warn  us 
than  as  a  model  for  our  imitation.  We  ought  never,  like  England,  to  raise  up 
by  legislation  any  great  interests  or  monopolies  to  oppress  the  people,  which 
we  cannot  put  down  without  crushing  the  Government  itself.  Such  is  now 
the  condition  of  that  country.  I  am  no  admirer  of  the  British  constitution, 
either  in  church  or  state,  as  it  at  present  exists.  I  desire  not  a  splendid  gov 
ernment  for  this  country. 

The  Senator  from  Virginia  has  quoted  with  approbation,  and  sustained 
by  argument,  a  sentiment  from  De  Tocqueville  to  which  I  can  never  subscribe. 
It  is  this :  That  there  is  greater  danger,  under  a  Government  like  ours,  that 
the  Chief  Magistrate  may  abuse  his  power,  than  under  a  limited  monarchy ; 
because,  being  elected  by  the  people,  and  their  sympathies  being  strongly 
enlisted  in  his  favor,  he  may  go  on  to  usurp  the  liberties  of  the  country  with 
their  approbation. 

[Here  Mr.  Rives  rose  and  explained.] 

Mr.  Buchanan.  From  the  gentleman's  explaination,  I  find  that  I  did  not 
misquote  either  his  proposition  or  his  argument.  I  am  sorry  he  speaks  under 
the  dominion  of  so  much  feeling.  I  have  none  at  all  on  the  present 
occasion.  I  shall  proceed,  and,  at  the  proper  time,  and,  I  trust,  in  the  proper 
manner,  give  my  answer  to  this  proposition. 

The  Senator  has  introduced  De  Tocqueville  as  authority  on  this  question; 
and,  in  order  to  give  greater  weight  and  lustre  to  this  authority,  has  pro 
nounced  him  superior  to  Montesquieu.  Montesquieu  was  a  profound  thinker, 
and  almost  every  sentence  of  his  is  an  apothegm  of  wisdom.  He  has  stood, 
and  ever  will  stand,  the  test  of  time.  I  cannot  compare  De  Tocqueville  with 
Montesquieu.  I  think  he  himself  would  blush  at  such  a  comparison. 

I  may  truly  say  that  I  have  never  met  any  Frenchman  or  Englishman  who 
could  understand  the  complicated  relations  existing  between  our  Federal  and 
State  Governments.  In  this  respect,  De  Tocqueville  has  not  succeeded  much 
I.— 26 


402  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

better  than  the  rest.  I  am  disposed  to  quarrel  with  him  for  one  thing,  and 
that  is,  that  he  is  opposed  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky 
resolutions.  He  is  one  of  those  old  Federalists,  in  the  true  acceptation  of  that 
term,  who  believe  that  the  powers  of  the  General  Government  are  not 
sufficiently  strong  to  protect  it  from  the  encroachment  of  the  States.  Hence 
one  great  object  of  his  book  is  to  prove  that  this  Government  is  becom 
ing  weaker  and  weaker,  whilst  that  of  the  States  is  growing  stronger  and 
stronger ;  and  although  he  does  not  think  the  time  near,  yet  the  final  catastrophe 
must  be,  that  it  will  be  dissolved  by  its  own  weakness,  and  the  people  at 
length,  tired  of  the  perpetual  struggles  of  liberty,  will  finally  seek  repose  in 
the  arms  of  despotism.  This  result,  in  his  opinion,  is  not  to  be  brought  about 
by  the  strength,  but  by  the  weakness,  of  the  Federal  Government.  I  might 
adduce  many  quotations  to  this  effect  from  his  book,  but  I  shall  trouble  the 
Senate  with  but  a  few.  He  says,  in  summing  up  a  long  chapter  on  this  sub 
ject,  "I  am  strangely  mistaken  if  the  Federal  Government  of  the  United 
States  be  not  constantly  losing  strength,  retiring  gradually  from  public  affairs, 
and  narrowing  its  circle  of  action  more  and  more.  It  is  naturally  feeble,  but 
it  now  abandons  even  its  pretensions  to  strength.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
thought  that  I  remarked  a  more  lively  sense  of  independence,  and  a  more 
decided  attachment  to  provincial  government,  in  the  States.  The  Union  is  to 
subsist,  but  to  subsist  as  a  shadow ;  it  is  to  be  strong  in  certain  cases,  and 
weak  in  all  others ;  in  time  of  warfare  it  is  to  be  able  to  concentrate  all  the 
forces  of  the  nation,  and  all  the  resources  of  the  country  in  its  hands ;  and  in 
time  of  peace  its  existence  is  to  be  scarcely  perceptible,  as  if  this  alternate 
debility  and  vigor  were  natural  or  possible." 

"  I  do  not  foresee  anything  for  the  present  which  may  be  able  to  check 
this  general  impulse  of  public  opinion ;  the  causes  in  which  it  originated  do 
not  cease  to  operate  with  the  same  effect.  The  change  will  therefore  go  on, 
and  it  may  be  predicted  that,  unless  some  extraordinary  event  occurs,  the 
Government  of  the  Union  will  grow  weaker  and  weaker. every  day."  Again: 
"  So  far  is  the  Federal  Government  from  acquiring  strength  and  from  threat 
ening  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  as  it  grows  older,  that  I  maintain  it  to  be 
growing  weaker  and  weaker,  and  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union  alone  is 
;n  danger."  And  again:  "It  may,  however,  be  foreseen  even  now,  that  when 
the  Americans  lose  their  Republican  institutions,  they  will  speedily  arrive  at 
a  despotic  government,  without  a  long  interval  of  limited  monarchy." 

Speaking  of  the  power  of  the  President,  he  says :  "  Hitherto  no  citizen 
has  shown  any  disposition  to  expose  his  honor  and  his  life,  in  order  to  become 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  because  the  power  of  that  office  is  tem 
porary,  limited  and  subordinate.  The  prize  of  fortune  must  be  great  to  encour 
age  adventurers  in  so  desperate  a  game.  No  candidate  has  as  yet  been  able 
to  arouse  the  dangerous  enthusiasm  or  the  passionate  sympathies  of  the  peo 
ple  in  his  favor,  for  the  very  simple  reason,  that  when  he  is  at  the  head  of  _the 
Government  he  has  but  little  power,  but  little  wealth,  and  but  little  glory  to 
share  amongst  his  friends ;  and  his  influence  in  the  State  is  too  small  for  the 


FEDERAL  AND  STATE  GOVERNMENTS.       403 

success  or  the  ruin  of  a  faction  to  depend  upon  the  elevation  of  an  individual 
to  power." 

Now,  if  this  greater  than  Montesquieu  is  to  be  believed,  and  his  authority 
is  to  be  relied  on  by  the  Senator  from  Virginia,  whence  his  terror  and  alarm 
lest  the  power  of  the  President  might  be  strengthened  by  the  influence  of  the 
lower  class  of  federal  office  holders  at  elections?  Why  should  they  be 
deprived  of  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  upon  the  principle  that 
the  power  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  is  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  his  country  ? 
The  gentleman's  lauded  authority  is  entirely  against  his  own  position.  Now, 
for  my  own  part,  I  differ  altogether  from  De  Tocqueville.  Although  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  power  and  patronage  of  the  President  can  with  any,  even  the 
least,  justice  be  compared  with  that  of  the  King  of  England,  yet  from  the 
very  nature  of  things,  from  the  rapid  increase  of  our  population,  from  the 
number  of  new  States,  from  our  growing  revenue  and  expenditures,  from  the 
additional  number  of  officers  necessary  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  from  many  other  causes  which  I  might  enumerate,  I  am  convinced 
that  the  Federal  Executive  is  becoming  stronger  and  stronger.  Rest  assured 
he  is  not  that  feeble  thing  which  De  Tocqueville  represents  him  to  be.  Fed 
eral  power  ought  always  to  be  watched  with  vigilant  jealousy,  not  with  unjust 
suspicion.  It  ought  never  to  be  extended  by  the  creation  of  new  offices, 
except  they  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  transaction  of  the  public  business. 

The  Whigs  will  be  astonished  to  learn  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  author, 
General  Jackson  has  greatly  contributed,  not  to  strengthen,  but  to  weaken 
federal  power.  "Far  from  wishing  to  extend  it,"  says  he;  "the  President 
belongs  to  the  party  which  is  desirous  of  limiting  that  power  to  the  bare  and 
precise  letter  of  the  Constitution,  and  which  never  puts  a  construction  upon 
that  act  favorable  to  the  Government  of  the  Union ;  far  from  standing  forth 
as  the  champion  of  centralization,  General  Jackson  is  the  agent  of  all  the 
jealousies  of  the  States  ;  and  he  was  placed  in  the  lofty  situation  he  occupies 
by  the  passions  of  the  people  which  are  most  opposed  to  the  central  Govern 
ment."  He  states  the  means  adopted  by  this  illustrious  man  for  destroying 
his  own  power.  They  are :  1.  Putting  down  internal  improvements. 
2.  Abandoning  the  Indians  to  the  legislative  tyranny  of  the  States.  3.  De 
stroying  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  4.  Yielding  up  the  tariff  as  a  sacri 
fice  to  appease  South  Carolina.  In  this  list,  he  mentions  the  abandonment  by 
Congress  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  land  to  the  new  States  to 
satisfy  their  importunity.  These  States  will  be  astonished  to  learn  that  Mr. 
Clay's  land  bill,  to  which  they  were  so  violently  opposed,  gave  them  the 
greatest  part  of  the  revenue  derived  from  this  source ;  and  my  friend  from 
Missouri  [Mr.  Benton]  will  doubtless  be  much  disappointed  to  hear  that  Pres 
ident  Jackson  had  completely  adopted  the  principles  of  this  bill.  De  Tocque 
ville  has  communicated  this  information  to  us,  and  he  is  high  authority.  Hear 
him :  "  Congress,"  says  he,  "  has  gone  on  to  sell,  for  the  profit  of  the  nation 
at  large,  the  uncultivated  lands  which  those  new  States  contained.  But  the 
latter  at  length  asserted  that,  as  they  were  now  fully  constituted,  they  ought 


404  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

to  enjoy  the  exclusive  right  of  converting  the  produce  of  these  sales  to  their 
own  use.  As  their  remonstrances  became  more  and  more  threatening,  Con 
gress  thought  fit  to  deprive  the  Union  of  a  portion  of  the  privileges  which  it 
bad  hitherto  enjoyed;  and,  at  the  end  of  1832,  it  passed  a  law  by  which 
the  greatest  part  of  the  revenue  derived  from  the  sale  of  lands  was  made  over 
to  the  new  western  republics,  although  the  lands  themselves  were  not  ceded 
to  them."  And,  in  a  note  to  this  passage,  the  author  says :  "  It  is  true  that 
the  President  refused  his  assent  to  this  law ;  but  he  completely  adopted  it 
in  principle.  See  message  of  8th  December,  1833." 

Here,  sir,  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  information  which  passes  current  in 
Europe  in  regard  to  us  and  our  institutions,  and  this  proceeds  from  the  modern 
Montesquieu !  Had  he  been  a  genuine  Montesquieu,  I  think  he  would  have 
said,  General  Jackson  has  strengthened  the  Federal  Government  by  arresting 
it  in  its  career  of  usurpation,  and  bringing  it  back  to  its  ancient  constitutional 
course.  Thus  all  danger  of  collision,  or  even  of  jealousy,  between  it  and  the 
States  has  been  avoided ;  and  within  its  appropriate  sphere,  every  clog  has 
been  removed  from  its  vigorous  action.  It  has  thus  become  more  powerful. 
Love  of  the  Union  is  a  sentiment  deeply  seated  in  the  heart  of  every  Ameri 
can.  It  grows  with  his  growth,  and  strengthens  with  his  strength;  and 
never  was  it  stronger  than  at  the  present  moment.  One  great  cause  of  this 
is,  that  General  Jackson  has  denied  himself  every  power  not  clearly  granted 
by  the  Constitution ;  whilst  he  has,  with  a  firmness  and  energy  peculiar  to 
himself,  exerted  all  those  which  have  been  clearly  conferred  upon  the  General 
Government.  But  enough  of  this. 

Now,  sir,  I  cannot  agree  with  the  Senator  from  Virginia,  according  to  the 
explanation  which  he  has  given,  that  there  is  greater  danger  of  usurpation  by 
an  elective  President,  than  by  a  limited  hereditary  monarch.  His  was  an 
argument  to  prove  that,  in  this  respect,  a  limited  monarchy  has  the  advantage 
over  our  Republican  form  of  Government.  If  this  be  true,  then  our  Govern 
ment,  in  one  particular  at  least,  is  worse  than  that  of  England.  Now,  sir, 
upon  what  argument  does  the  gentleman  predicate  this  conclusion  ?  Does  he 
not  perceive  that  it  is  upon  an  entire  want  of  confidence  in  the  people  of  the 
United  States  ?  He  fears  their  feelings  may  become  so  enlisted  in  favor  of 
some  popular  Chief  Magistrate  who  has  been  elected  by  their  suffrages— their 
passions  may  become  so  excited — that  he  may  ride  upon  their  backs  into 
despotic  power.  Now,  I  do  not  believe  any  such  thing.  I  feel  the  utmost 
confidence  in  the  people.  As  long  as  they  remain  intelligent  and  virtuous, 
they  will  both  be  able  and  willing  to  defend  their  own  cause,  and  protect 
their  own  liberties  from  the  assaults  of  an  -asurper,  whether  they  be  open  or 
disguised.  Their  passions  will  never  drive  them  to  commit  suicide  upon 
themselves.  It  is  true  the  people  may  go  wrong  upon  some  questions.  In 
my  opinion,  they  have  recently  gone  wrong  in  some  of  the  States ;  but  I 
rely  upon  their  sober  second  thought  to  correct  the  evil.  On  a  question, 
however,  between  liberty  and  slavery,  until  they  are  fit  to  be  slaves,  there 
can  be  no  danger. 


POWER   OF    THE    FEDERAL    EXECUTIVE.  4C5 

The  Senator  has  expressed  the  opinion,  with  great  confidence,  that  ours  is 
a  far  stronger  Executive  Government  than  that  of  England ;  and  has  sustained 
this  opinion  by  an  enumeration  of  office  holders,  and  an  argument  to  which 
I  shall  not  specially  refer.  Let  any  man  institute  a  comparison  between  the 
two,  and  he  will  find  that  this  is  but  the  creation  of  a  brilliant  imagination. 
I  got  a  friend  in  the  library  last  evening  to  collect  some  statistical  information 
for  me  on  this  subject.  Even  now,  in  the  time  of  peace,  the  British  army 
exceeds  101,000  men,  including  officers;  and  their  vessels  of  war  in  commis 
sion  are  one  hundred  and  ninety-one.  How  will  our  army  of  12,000  men, 
and  our  navy  consisting  of  twenty-six  vessels  in  commission,  compare  with 
this  array  of  force,  and  this  source  of  patronage  ?  The  officers  of  the  British 
army  and  navy,  appointed  by  the  crown,  hold  seats  in  Parliament,  and  engage 
actively  in  the  business  of  electioneering.  No  law  prohibits  them  from  exert 
ing  their  influence  at  elections ;  and  the  bill  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky, 
in  this  respect,  bears  a  close  resemblance  to  the  act  of  Parliament.  No 
jealousy  is  manifested  in  either  towards  the  higher  officers.  It  is  only  those 
of  the  humble  class  who  are  deprived  of  their  rights. 

On  the  5th  January,  1836,  the  public  debt  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
amounted  to  £760,294,554  7s.  2|d.  sterling,  say,  in  round  numbers,  to  thirty- 
six  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  The  interest  of  every  man  who  owns  any 
portion  of  this  vast  national  debt  is  involved  in  and  identified  with  the  power 
of  the  British  government.  It  is  by  the  exertion  of  this  power  alone,  that 
the  annual  interest  upon  his  money  can  be  collected  from  the  people.  In 
order  to  pay  this  interest  and  sustain  the  government,  there  was  collected 
from  the  British  people,  in  the  form  of  customs  and  internal  taxes,  during  the 
year  ending  on  the  5th  January,  1836,  the  sum  of  £52,589,992  4s.  6£d.  ster 
ling;  say,  in  round  numbers,  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  millions  of  dollars. 
What  a  vast  field  for  patronage  is  here  presented !  How  does  our  revenue, 
of  some  twenty  or  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars,  compare  with  this  aggre 
gate  ?  Then  there  is  the  patronage  attached  to  the  East  and  West  Indies,  to 
the  Canadas,  and  to  British  possessions  scattered  all  over  the  earth.  The 
government  of  England  is  a  consolidated  government.  It  is  not  like  ours, 
composed  of  sovereign  States,  all  whose  domestic  officers  are  appointed  by 
State  authority.  The  king  is  the  exclusive  fountain  of  office  and  of  honors 
and  of  nobility  throughout  his  vast  dominions.  What  is  the  fact  in  regard  to 
the  General  Government  ?  With  the  exception  of  post  officers,  its  patronage 
is  almost  exclusively  confined  to  the  appointment  of  custom-house  officers 
along  our  maritime  frontier,  and  land  officers  near  our  western  limits. 
Throughout  the  vast  intermediate  space,  a  man  may  grow  old  without  ever 
seeing  a  federal  civil  officer,  unless  it  be  a  postmaster.  I  adduce  these  facts 
for  the  purpose,  not  of  proving  that  we  ought  not  to  exercise  a  wholesome 
jealousy  towards  the  Federal  Government,  but  for  that  of  showing  how 
unjust  it  is  to  compare  the  power  and  patronage  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  with  that  of  the  king  of  England.  You  might  as  well  com- 


406  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

pare  the  twinkling  of  the  most  distant  star  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  with 
the  blaze  of  the  meridian  sun.  May  this  ever  continue  to  be  the  case ! 

I  will  tell  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  how  far  I  am  willing  to  proceed  with 
him  in  punishing  public  officers.  If  a  postmaster  will  abuse  his  franking 
privilege,  as  I  know  to  my  sorrow  has  been  done  in  some  instances,  by  con 
verting  it  into  the  means  of  flooding  the  surrounding  country,  with  base  libels 
in  the  form  of  electioneering  pamphlets  and  handbills,  let  such  an  officer  be 
instantly  dismissed  and  punished.  If  any  district  attorney  should  either  favor 
or  oppress  debtors  to  Government,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  interest 
of  his  party,  he  ought  to  share  a  similar  fate.  So  if  a  collector  will  grant 
privileges  in  the  execution  of  his  office  to  one  importer,  which  he  denies  to 
another,  in  order  to  subserve  the  views  of  his  party,  he  ought  to  be  dismissed 
from  office  and  punished  for  his  offence.  I  would  not  tolerate  any  such  official 
misconduct.  But  whilst  a  man  faithfully  and  impartially  discharges  all  the 
duties  of  his  office,  let  him  not  be  punished  for  expressing  his  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  merits  or  demerits  of  any  candidate.  Above  all,  let  us  not 
violate  the  Constitution,  in  order  to  punish  an  officer. 

The  Senator  from  Virginia  has  of  late  appealed  to  us  often  to  rise  above 
mere  party,  and  to  go  for  our  country.  Such  appeals  are  not  calculated  to 
produce  any  deep  impression  on  my  mind ;  because,  in  supporting  my  party, 
I  honestly  believe  I  am,  in  the  best  manner,  promoting  the  interest  of  my 
country.  I  am,  but  I  trust  not  servilely,  a  party  man.  I  support  the  present 
President,  not  because  I  think  him  the  wisest  or  best  man  alive,  but  because 
he  is  the  faithful  and  able  representative  of  my  principles.  As  long  as  he 
shall  continue  to  maintain  these  principles,  he  shall  receive  my  cordial  support ; 
but  not  one  moment  longer.  I  do  not  oppose  my  friends  on  this  side  of  the 
House  because  I  entertain  unkind  feelings  towards  them  personally.  On  the 
contrary,  I  esteem  and  respect  many  of  them  highly.  It  is  against  the  politi 
cal  principles  of  which  they  are  the  exponents,  that  I  make  war. 

I  support  the  President,  because  he  is  in  favor  of  a  strict  and  limited  con 
struction  of  the  Constitution,  according  to  the  true  spirit  of  the  Virginia  and 
Kentucky  resolutions.  I  firmly  believe  that  if  this  Government  is  to  remain 
powerful  and  permanent,  it  can  only  be  by  never  assuming  doubtful  powers, 
which  must  necessarily  bring  it  into  collision  with  the  States.  It  is  not  diffi 
cult  to  foresee  what  would  be  the  termination  of  such  a  career  of  usurpation 
on  the  rights  of  the  States. 

I  oppose  the  Whig  party,  because,  according  to  their  reading  of  the  Con 
stitution,  Congress  possess,  and  they  think  ought  to  exercise,  powers  which 
would  endanger  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Such 
a  free  construction  of  the  Constitution  as  can  derive  from  the  simple  power 
"  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,"  that  of  creating  a  National  Bank,  appears  to  me  to 
be  fraught  with  imminent  danger  to  the  country.  I  am  opposed  to  the  party 
so  liberal  in  their  construction  of  the  Constitution,  as  to  infer  the  existence  of 
a  power  in  the  Federal  Government  to  create  and  circulate  a  paper  currency 
for  the  whole  Union,  from  the  clause  which  merely  authorizes  Congress  "  to 


DEVOTION    OF    THE    FOLLOWERS    OF   JACKSON.          407 

regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States,  and 
with  the  Indian  tribes."  Such  constructions  would  establish  precedents  which 
might  call  into  existence  other  alien  and  sedition  laws ;  and  it  is  such  a  con 
struction  which  has  given  birth  to  the  bill  now  before  the  Senate,  denying  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press  to  a  respectable  portion  of  our  citizens. 

Should  the  time  ever  arrive  when  these  principles  shall  be  carried  into 
practice,  and  when  the  Federal  Government  shall  control  the  whole  paper 
system  of  the  country,  either  by  the  agency  of  a  National  Bank,  or  an  imme 
diate  issue  of  its  own  paper,  our  liberties  will  then  be  in  the  greatest  danger. 
In  addition  to  the  constitutional  patronage  of  the  President,  confer  upon  him 
the  influence  which  would  result  from  the  establishment  of  a  National  Bank, 
and  you  may  make  him  too  powerful  for  the  people.  Such  a  bank,  spreading 
its  branches  into  every  State,  controlling  all  the  State  institutions,  and  able  to 
destroy  any  of  them  at  pleasure,  would  be  a  fearful  engine  of  executive  power. 
It  would  indissolubly  connect  the  money  power  with  the  power  of  the  Federal 
Government ;  and  such  an  union  might,  I  fear,  prove  irresistible.  The  people 
of  the  States  might  still  continue  to  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage ;  all  the 
forms  of  the  Constitution  might  be  preserved,  and  they  might  delude  them 
selves  with  the  idea  that  they  were  yet  free,  whilst  the  moneyed  influence  had 
insinuated  itself  into  the  very  vitals  of  the  State,  and  was  covertly  controlling 
every  election. 

The  personal  attachment  which  bound  to  General  Jackson 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  own  party  was  compounded 
of  something  better  than  a  sordid  love  of  office.  To  them  he 
was  always  "the  old  hero."  He  was  their  political  chief,  and 
to  follow  him  was  of  the  essence  of  patriotism.  They  might 
sometimes  doubt  the  wisdom  of  his  measures;  but  they  sur 
rendered  their  own  judgments  to  his,  not,  as  their  political 
adversaries  charged,  from  a  slavish  fear,  but  because  they  re 
garded  him  as  a  great  man,  honestly  and  resolutely  bent  on 
serving  his  country.  They  knew,  as  well  as  his  opponents,  that 
he  had  an  imperious  will.  But  they  knew  him  better  than 
opponents  who  never  approached  him,  who  held  themselves 
aloof  from  all  contact  with  his  mind,  and  who  formed  their 
ideas  of  his  character  from  the  stories  that  told  how  illiterate 
he  was ;  how  he  never  wrote  his  State  papers ;  how  ignorant 
he  was  of  constitutional  law  ;  how  he  gave  way  to  his  passions, 
and  swore  "by  the  Eternal."  In  nothing  was  the  devotion  of 
the  leading  men  of  his  party  to  Jackson  more  fervid,  more 
constant,  and  more  true  to  their  sense  of  public  duty  than  it 
was  in  his  warfare  against  the  bank.  In  the  whole  of  that 


408  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

conflict,  in  its  progress  and  in  its  close,  a  band  of  men,  who 
numbered  among  them  the  strongest  intellects  of  the  party, 
stood  by  him  without  the  smallest  sign  of  flinching.  Some 
defections  there  were,  but  the  seceders  were  not  persons  of 
much  importance.  The  great  body  of  his  strongest  supporters 
shared  in  his  triumphs  over  the  bank,  and  to  the  end  of  their 
lives  it  was  to  them  a  victory  over  a  monster,  as  worthy  of 
everlasting  commemoration  as  the  victory  of  St.  Michael  over 
the  dragon. 

In  the  opposite  party  convictions  were  not  less  strong,  and 
in  that  party  were  some  of  the  foremost  minds  of  the  age.  As 
a  parliamentary  leader,  Mr.  Clay  has  been  equalled  by  no  man 
in  our  political  history.  With  a  personal  fascination  and  a 
persuasive  eloquence,  he  united  a  temper  as  dictatorial  as  Jack 
son's  ;  and  if  he  had  ever  become  President,  he  would,  proba 
bly,  have  been  as  tyrannical  as  he  was  accustomed  to  say  and 
as  many  believed  that  Jackson  was.  The  massive  logic  of 
Webster ;  his  profound  knowledge  of  our  constitutional  system 
and  of  political  history ;  his  full  equipment  in  the  accomplish 
ments  of  a  statesman  ;  his  careful  and  comprehensive  study  of 
every  public  question  on  which  he  had  to  act ;  his  vast  reputa 
tion  and  his  majestic  presence  made  him  a  far  more  formidable 
adversary  of  the  administration  than  Mr.  Clay  ever  was.  Clay 
had  never  rendered  a  service  comparable  to  Webster's  defence 
of  the  Constitution  against  the  Nullifiers  and  his  patriotic  sup 
port  of  General  Jackson's  measures  in  assertion  of  its  authority. 
In  all  the  political  tactics  of  Mr.  Clay — even  in  his  "  compro 
mise  tariff,"  by  which  he  saved  Mr.  Calhoun  and  his  followers 
from  a  great  personal  humiliation,  and  from  a  serious  peril 
which  they  brought  upon  themselves — the  public  suspected,  or 
believed  that  there  might  be  reason  to  suspect,  some  personal 
motive.  Webster,  although  as  anxious  to  be  President  as  Clay, 
although,  like  his  great  rival,  ambitious  in  that  lofty  sense  of 
ambition  which  consists  in  the  desire  to  render  eminent  services 
to  one's  country  in  the  highest  attainable  position,  had  more 
than  once  in  the  course  of  his  public  life  given  proof  that  he 
could  rise  above  party  or  personal  objects,  and  could  support 
the  measures  of  an  administration  when  he  approved  of  them, 
and  yet  refrain  from  going  over  to  a  party  against  whose  course 


RIVALRY   IN  THE  WHIG  PARTY.  409 

in  other  respects  he  was  bound  by  his  convictions  to  exert  his 
utmost  resistance. 

Around  each  of  these  two  prominent  leaders  of  the  Whig 
party  was  gathered  a  body  of  able  men,  who  were  so  far  united 
as  the  bond  of  thinking  alike  concerning  the  Republic  can 
unite  a  political  party,  but  who,  in  consequence  of  the  rivalry 
between  their  respective  chiefs,  were  never  held  together 
so  compactly  as  their  opponents,  the  followers  of  Jackson. 
Perhaps  Mr.  Clay  was  more  fortunate  in  securing  and  holding 
the  personal  attachment  of  a  larger  number  of  political  friends 
than  Mr.  Webster.  Twice  was  Clay  made  the  candidate  of  his 
party  ;  twice  was  he  magnanimously  and  vigorously  supported 
by  Webster's  powerful  aid  ;  and  twice  he  was  defeated,  the  first 
time  by  Jackson,  in  1832,  and  the  second  time  by  Polk,  in 
1844.  In  the  interim  between  these  two  elections,  namely,  in 
1836  and  1840,  the  Whig  party,  mainly  in  consequence  of  the  un 
reconciled  claims  of  its  two  greatest  statesmen,  resorted  to  a  can 
didate  wrho  was  personally  and  politically  insignificant,  but  whom 
they  succeeded  in  electing  in  1840  through  the  circumstances  of  the 
time.  But  at  the  period  of  General  Jackson's  second  Presi 
dency,  the  great  Whig  opposition  was  firmly  united  against  all 
his  measures  respecting  the  bank  and  the  currency.  It  was  a 
period  when  the  leading  men  on  all  sides  were  governed  by 
convictions  to  a  very  remarkable  degree,  notwithstanding  the 
influence  which  the  love  of  office  or  the  desire  for  it  exerted 
throughout  the  inferior  ranks  of  politicians  in  both  parties ; 
and  among  the  Whigs  the  opinion  wrhich  held  the  financial 
measures  of  General  Jackson  to  be  most  injurious  to  the 
country,  was  not  less  strong  and  sincere  than  was  the  belief  of 
his  supporters,  that  the  destruction  of  the  bank  was  necessary 
to  the  public  welfare. 

After  Mr.  Buchanan  entered  the  Senate,  he  became  conspic 
uous  among  the  defenders  of  Jackson's  financial  measures.  His 
tory,  however  fairly  written,  must  leave  it  an  undecided  question, 
whether  the  evils  and  sufferings  produced  by  Jackson's  hostility 
to  the  bank  were,  in  the  long  run,  compensated  by  its  destruc 
tion,  and  by  the  establishment  of  the  doctrine  that  such  an 
institution  must  not  be  allowed  to  exist.  To  one  generation  at 
least  they  were  not  compensated.  It  was  impossible  that  the 


410  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

connection  between  the  Government  and  the  bank  should  be 
severed,  as  it  was  severed  by  Jackson,  and  be  followed  by  the 
measures  to  which  he  resorted,  without  causing  a  wide-spread 
financial  disaster,  the  bankruptcy  and  ruin  of  thousands,  and 
inextricable  embarrassment  to  the  Government  itself.  But  it  is 
sufficient  for  the  present  purpose  to  describe  the  situation  in 
which  Jackson  left  the  affairs  of  the  country  to  his  successor, 
and  the  troubles  through  which  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his  politi 
cal  friends  had  to  grope  their  way  towards  a  definite  solution  of 
the  true  relation  between  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
and  the  currency.  A  short  retrospect  into  the  history  of  the 
bank  will  develop  the  principal  grounds  of  General  Jackson's 
hostility  to  it. 

There  would  seem  to  have  been  no  reason,  a  priori,  why 
the  United  States,  if  regarded  simply  as  a  nation,  should  not 
have  a  National  Bank,  to  perform  the  same  kind  of  functions 
that  have  been  performed  by  similar  institutions  in  other 
countries.  In  the  luminous  report  made  by  Alexander  Hamil 
ton  in  December,  1790,  on  a  National  Bank,  he  set  forth,  with 
his  accustomed  ability,  the  advantage  of  having  one  fiscal  cor 
poration,  which  could  act  as  the  depositary  of  the  public  funds, 
transfer  them  from  place  to  place  as  they  are  wanted  at  far 
distant  points,  enable  the  Government  to  borrow  money,  and 
furnish,  under  proper  safeguards,  a  paper  circulation  of  equally 
recognized  value  and  security  throughout  the  Union,  thus 
increasing  the  amount  of  money  available  for  the  uses  of  legiti 
mate  business,  and  the  means  of  effecting  exchanges.*  That 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  chartered  by  Congress  in  1816, 
had  down  to  the  year  1833  well  fulfilled  these  functions,  there 

*  There  is,  perhaps,  no  other  of  the  writings  of  Hamilton  which  more  strikingly  exhibits 
his  marvellous  powers,  the  perspicuity  of  his  style,  and  his  faculty  of  illustrating  an  intricate 
subject,  than  this  report.  When  he  made  it  he  was  at  the  age  of  thirty-three.  It  reads  as  if 
he  had  passed  a  long  life  in  some  country  where  banks  had  been  established  for  centuries, 
and  in  some  official  connection  with  them,  or  in  mercantile  pursuits  that  had  brought  him 
into  daily  experience  of  their  operations ;  yet  he  had  never  been  out  of  the  United  States 
since  he  came  from  the  Island  of  St.  Christopher,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  ;  there  had  been  but 
three  banks  in  this  country  when  he  wrote  this  report ;  and  every  part  of  his  life  that  had 
not  been  passed  in  the  army,  in  Congress,  or  in  the  proceedings  to  form  and  establish  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  had  been  employed  in  the  practice  of  the  law.  This 
master-piece  of  exposition  may  be  read  with  delight  by  any  person  of  taste,  such  are  the 
grace,  precision,  force  and  completeness  with  which  he  handles  his  subject.  We  need  not 
wonder  that  it  carried  conviction  among  the  members  of  the  body  to  which  it  was 
addressed. 


RETROSPECTIVE    REVIEW  OF  THE  BANK  QUESTION.     4H 

could  be  little  doubt.  But  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  which  had  established  a  government  of  enumerated  and 
limited  powers,  there  had  always  been  a  question  whether  Con 
gress  possessed  authority  to  create  such  a  fiscal  corporation. 

This  question  involved  the  fundamental  rule  of  interpreta 
tion  that  ought  to  be  applied  to  the  powers  of  the  Constitution  : 
— a  rule  on  which  statesmen  had  differed  from  the  day  of  its 
inauguration,  and  which  came  to  be  the  most  important  divid 
ing  line  between  political  parties,  as  soon  as  parties  were  formed. 
The  chief  canon  of  interpretation  that  was  acted  upon  by  those 
who  shaped  the  measures  of  Washington's  administration,  and 
to  which  the  sanction  of  his  great  name  was  given  by  his  sig 
nature  of  the  first  charter  of  a  national  bank,  was  that  the 
express  and  enumerated  powers  of  the  Constitution  wrere  de 
scribed  in  general  terms,  for  the  accomplishment  of  certain 
great  objects  of  national  concern ;  and  that  whatever  particular 
powers  are  necessary  as  means  to  the  full  execution  of  the  gen 
eral  powers  described  in  the  instrument,  are  to  be  rightfully 
regarded  as  having  been  granted  to  Congress,  because  they  were 
included  by  an  implication,  without  which  the  principal  powers 
would  be  nugatory.  This,  it  was  contended,  would  have  been 
a  necessary  and  logical  deduction,  even  if  the  Constitution  itself 
had  not  contained  a  clause  defining  the  scope  of  the  legislative 
power  of  Congress,  applicable  to  all  the  general  powers  enu 
merated  in  the  previous  recitals.  But  with  this  clause,  granting 
to  Congress  authority  "  to  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  neces 
sary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing 
powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  Department  or  of 
ficer  thereof,"  it  was  claimed  that  Congress  had  ample  scope  for 
a  choice  of  means  in  the  execution  of  every  enumerated  power 
granted  by  the  Constitution.  Hence  arose  the  doctrine  of  what 
have  been  called  "  implied  powers,"  namely,  those  powers  of 
government  which  result  by  implication  from  the  grant  of 
authority  over  certain  subjects,  and  which,  from  the  nature  of 
political  sovereignty,  may  be  employed  in  the  accomplishment 
of  any  object  over  which  that  sovereignty  extends.  It  was  not 
denied  that  the  means  resorted  to  in  the  exercise  of  an  implied 
power  must  have  a  relation,  as  a  means,  to  one  or  more  of  the 


412  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

express  powers  of  the  Constitution  as  its  end.  By  the  "  strict 
construction! sts,"  however,  it  was  claimed,  first,  that  the  doc 
trine  of  implied  powers  was  too  broad  to  be  allowed  to  a  gov 
ernment  of  a  special  and  limited  character ;  secondly,  that  the 
Constitution  itself  did  not  grant  an  unlimited  choice  of  means 
or  instruments  for  the  execution  of  its  enumerated  powers,  but 
confined  the  choice  to  such  as  are  "  necessary  and  proper,"  terms 
that  imported  a  restriction  to  those  means  which  are  indispens 
able  in  fact  to  the  attainment  of  the  end.  In  reply,  it  was  con 
tended  by  the  advocates  of  the  doctrine  of  implied  powers  that 
the  terms  "  necessary  and  proper  "  did  not  import  that  the  par 
ticular  means  employed  should  be  so  indispensable  to  the  exe 
cution  of  some  granted  authority  that  the  authority  could  not 
be  exercised  without  resorting  to  that  means;  but  that  any 
means  could  be  resorted  to,  which,  in  the  exercise  of  a  sound 
legislative  discretion,  might  be  found  to  be  appropriate,  con 
venient  and  conducive  to  the  end.  Such,  it  was  argued,  was 
the  relation  between  a  bank  and  certain  of  the  express  powers 
of  the  Constitution. 

Satisfied  by  the  powerful  intellect  and  luminous  pen  of 
Hamilton  that  this  was  a  correct  construction  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  Washington,  on  the  25th  of  February,  1791,  approved  the 
bill  which  chartered  the  first  Bank  of  the  United  States.  The 
paper  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  same  occasion,  con 
troverted  the  doctrine  of  implied  powers  with  singular  acute- 
ness,  and  embodied  those  stricter  principles  of  constitutional 
interpretation  for  which  the  party  that  he  afterwards  founded, 
and  that  which  claimed  to  be  its  political  successors,  have  gen 
erally  contended.* 

The  charter  of  the  first  Bank  of  the  United  States  expired  in 
the  year  1811,  and  those  who  had  originally  opposed  it  then 
defeated  a  bill  for  its  renewal.  In  1814-15,  during  the  admin 
istration  of  Mr.  Madison,  while  we  were  engaged  in  the  war 
with  England,  it  was  supposed  that  the  exigencies  of  the  coun 
try  required  a  national  bank.  A  bill  to  create  one  wras  passed 
by  the  two  houses,  in  January,  1815,  but  it  was  "  vetoed  "  by 
Mr.  Madison,  and  was  not  passed  over  his  veto.  His  objections 

*  Works  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 


RETROSPECTIVE  REVIEW  OF  THE  BANK  QUESTION.     413 

related  to  the  details  of  the  charter.  As  to  the  constitutional 
power  to  create  a  national  bank,  he  considered  that  the  repeated 
acts  of  all  branches  of  the  Government  and  a  concurrence  of 
the  general  will  of  the  nation,  had  settled  the  question,  although 
his  personal  opinion  was  adverse  to  the  power.  But  in  1816,  a 
new  charter,  which  incorporated  the  last  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  was  passed  by  both  houses  and  received  the  signature  of 
Mr.  Madison.  This  charter  was  limited  to  twenty  years,  and 
was  consequently  to  expire  in  1836.*  In  1819  the  question  of 
its  constitutional  validity  came  before  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  great  mind  of  Chief  Justice  Mar 
shall  formulated  in  a  judicial  decision  the  doctrine  of  implied 
powers,  and  the  bank  was  declared  to  be  an  instrument  to 
which  Congress  could  legitimately  resort  for  the  execution  of 
certain  of  the  powers  enumerated  in  the  Constitution. f 

When  President  Jackson,  in  1832,  vetoed  a  bill  for  renewing 
the  charter  of  the  bank,  it  might,  perhaps,  have  been  wiser  for 
him  to  have  acquiesced,  a3  Mr.  Madison  did,  in  the  weight  of 
authority  and  precedent  on  the  question  of  constitutional 
power,  especially  since  that  weight  had  been  greatly  augmented 
by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  It  was  doubtless  then, 
as  it  always  must  be,  a  delicate  question  whether  a  President  is 
officially  bound,  in  approving  laws,  by  the  opinion  of  the  Judi 
cial  Department  that  such  laws  are  constitutional.  General 
Jackson  considered  that  in  his  legislative  capacity  he  was  not 
so  bound,  but  that  while  it  was  his  duty  to  give  due  considera 
tion  to  the  reasoning  on  which  the  judicial  decision  rested,  it 
was  equally  his  duty  to  exercise  his  own  judgment,  upon  a 
question  of  constitutional  power,  when  asked  to  approve  of  a 
law.  All  his  personal  convictions,  and  the  convictions  of  his 
official  advisers,  were  adverse  to  the  construction  on  which  the 
constitutional  validity  of  the  bank  charter  depended ;  and  per 
haps  he  and  they,  believing  that  the  bank,  with  a  large  capital 
and  with  certain  practical  powers  over  the  whole  paper  circula 
tion  of  the  country,  had  entered  the  political  field  in  hostility  to 
his  administration,  did  not  choose  to  forego  the  use  of  any 

*  See  the  history  of  the  various  bills  for  creating  a  national  bank  stated  more  in  detail 
in  the  Life  of  Mr.  Webster,  by  the  present  writer,  vol.  I. 

t  McCullough  vs.  the  State  of  Maryland,  4  Wheaton's  K.  316. 


414  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

weapon  that  could  be  wielded  against  it.  Aside  from  his  per 
sonal  interests  as  a  candidate  for  re-election,  it  is  but  justice  to 
believe  that  he  honestly  regarded  the  bank  as  a  dangerous 
institution,  and  that  he  discerned,  or  thought  he  discerned,  that 
the  constitutional  objection  was  the  strongest  club  with  which 
the  Hydra  could  be  assailed.  In  choosing  this  weapon,  how 
ever,  as  his  principal  reliance,  he  enabled  his  opponents  to  rep 
resent  him  as  a  man  who  chose  to  set  up  his  own  arbitrary  will 
against  the  judgment  of  two  Congresses,  two  Presidents  of  great 
authority,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and  the  gen 
eral  acquiescence  of  the  nation  for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  on 
a  question  of  constitutional  construction.  Had  he  placed  his 
veto  upon  the  renewal  of  its  charter  on  grounds  of  expediency 
alone,  the  bank  might  have  been  compelled  to  wind  up  its  con 
cerns  in  a  manner  that  would  have  produced  less  mischievous 
consequences  to  the  country  than  those  which  ensued. 

His  next  step,  the  removal  from  the  bank  of  the  public 
deposits,  in  the  summer  of  1833,  followed  by  his  selection  of 
certain  State  banks  as  the  keepers  of  the  public  money,  and,  to 
a  certain  extent,  as  the  fiscal  agents  of  the  Government,  led  to  a 
singular  train  of  evils.  Doubtless  an  institution,  whose  legal 
existence  was  to  expire  in  three  years,  and  which  could  not 
obtain  from  Congress  a  prolongation  of  its  charter  without 
using  its  power  as  a  moneyed  corporation  to  affect  the  politics 
of  the  country,  had  by  this  time  become  an  unfit  custodian  of 
the  public  funds.  Still,  there  was  no  sufficient  warrant  of  law 
for  placing  the  public  funds  in  the  custody  of  State  banks,  at 
the  time  when  they  were  so  transferred,  nor  had  any  system 
been  matured  by  the  executive  for  the  consideration  of  Con 
gress,  which  might  furnish  a  substitute  for  that  which,  had  been 
in  operation  so  long.  The  selection  of  certain  State  banks  as 
the  depositaries  of  the  public  money,  was  a  tentative  experi 
ment,  through  wilich  the  country  had  to  pass,  with  various 
disasters,  before  any  safe  and  efficient  substitute  could  be 
found. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Government 
funds  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  was  a  diminution  of 
its  loans  and  a  consequent  contraction  of  the  currency.  The 
immediate  effect  of  placing  those  funds  in  a  few  selected  State 


RETROSPECTIVE  REVIEW  OF  THE  BANK  QUESTION.      415 

banks,  was  a  wild  speculation  by  their  managers  and  other 
favored  individuals,  leading  to  their  ruin.  The  assembling  of 
Congress  in  December,  1833,  was  followed  by  Mr.  Clay's  attack 
upon  the  President,  and  a  session  through  which  the  Senate 
wras  constantly  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  questions  growing 
out  of  the  situation  in  which  the  Government,  the  country,  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  and  the  State  banks  had  been 
placed  by  the  executive.  At  length  the  Whigs  forced  from  the 
friends  of  the  administration  a  disclosure  of  the  President's 
purpose  to  keep  the  public  moneys  in  the  State  banks,  to  collect 
the  public  revenues  through  their  agency,  not  to  have  any 
present  legislation  on  the  subject,  and  not  to  allow  another 
national  bank  of  any  kind  to  be  created.  The  adoption  of  Mr. 
Clay's  resolutions  censuring  the  President  was  followed,  on  the 
17th  of  April,  1834,  by  the  President's  Protest,  a  document  of 
singular  ability  and  dignity,  setting  forth  his  views  of  the 
executive  authority  over  all  public  officers,  including  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  in  relation  to  the  custody  of  the  public 
funds.  The  Whig  majority  of  the  Senate  recorded  their  rejec 
tion  of  these  doctrines ;  but  as  the  administration  held  a 
majority  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  session  termi 
nated  without  any  legislation  to  control  in  any  way  the  finan 
cial  experiment  which  the  President  had  determined  should  be 
tried. 

In  the  session  which  began  in  December,  1834,  when  Mr. 
Buchanan  entered  the  Senate,  the  Whig  majority  was  still 
unchanged,  but  it  was  destined  to  be  overthrown  by  the  effect 
of  General  Jackson's  constantly  increasing  popularity  and 
influence,  which  his  conduct  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
country  greatly  tended  to  strengthen,  while  in  domestic  affairs  a 
majority  of  the  people,  although  beginning  to  suffer  from  his 
measures,  still  approved  of  his  course  in  regard  to  the  national 
bank.  Nothing  was  done,  however,  at  this  session,  to  develope 
a  more  definite  relation  of  the  Government  to  the  currency ;  it 
was  a  session  in  which  both  parties  were  much  occupied  with 
the  selection  of  candidates  for  the  Presidency.  The  result  was, 
that  with  the  aid  of  General  Jackson's  powerful  influence, 
Mr.  Yan  Buren  became  the  Democratic  candidate.  In  the 
autumn  of  1836,  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  forty-six 


416  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

electoral  votes,  against  General  Harrison,  the  candidate  of  the 
Whigs.* 

The  last  of  the  executive  measures  of  General  Jackson,  in 
relation  to  the  finances  and  monetary  affairs  of  the  country, 
ivas  the  so-called  "  Specie  Circular,"  issued  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  on  the  llth  of  July,  1836.  It  directed  that 
after  a  certain  period,  nothing  but  gold  and  silver  should  be 
received  at  the  land  offices  in  payment  for  the  public  lands. 
The  purpose  of  this  measure  was  to  prevent  payment  for  the 
public  lands  in  the  depreciated  paper  of  the  State  banks.  But  in 
the  actual  condition  of  things,  its  effect  was  to  draw  the  specie 
of  the  country  into  the  vaults  of  the  deposit  banks,  through  the 
land  offices ;  and  as  there  was  then  no  efficient  means  by  which 
the  Government  could  transfer  its  funds  from  place  to  place,  as 
they  were  wanted,  by  any  paper  representative  of  money  of 
equal  credit  through  the  Union,  specie  had  to  be  moved  to  and 
fro  in  masses.  The  State  banks  which  were  not  depositaries  of 
the  Government  funds  were  thus  weakened  by  the  want  of 
specie ;  they  had  to  curtail  their  loans,  and  a  great  scarcity  of 
money  ensued  in  many  quarters.  Before  Congress  assembled 
in  December  the  internal  exchanges  of  the  country  were  entirely 
deranged,  and  a  general  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the 
banks  was  not  unlikely  to  take  place  in  the  not  distant  future. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  at  this  juncture  the  disasters  which 
ensued  in  the  next  year  might  have  been  averted,  if  the  politi 
cal  opponents  of  the  administration  on  the  one  hand  and  its 
friends  on  the  other  could,  by  mutual  concessions,  have  found 
a  common  ground  of  action.  To  remove  the  obnoxious  Specie 

*  At  the  time  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  the  whole  number  of  electoral  votes 
was  294,  a  majority  being  148.  There  was  no  choice  of  a  Vice  President  by  the  electoral 
colleges.  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  received  147  votes,  and  was  afterwards  elected 
Vice  President  by  the  Senate.  General  Harrison,  the  leading  Whig  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency,  received  the  electoral  votes  of  Vermont,  New  Jersey,  Delav/are,  Maryland,  Kentucky, 
Ohio  and  Indiana,  seventy-three  in  all.  The  fourteen  votes  of  Massachusetts  were  given 
to  Mr.  Webster.  Hugh  L.  White,  of  Tennessee,  received  the  votes  of  Tennessee  and  of 
Georgia,  twenty-six  in  all.  The  votes  of  South  Carolina,  eleven,  were  given  to  W.  P.  Man- 
gum,  of  North  Carolina.  It  is  apparent,  therefore,  that  at  this  time  the  Whigs,  if  we  com 
prehend  in  that  term  all  the  opponents  of  the  Democratic  party,  were  in  a  decided  minority 
in  the  country  at  large.  This  was  partly  because  their  leading  candidate  was  far  inferior  to 
the  important  men  of  the  opposition  ;  but  it  was  chiefly  because  the  great  States  of  New 
York,  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  still  adhered  to  the  financial  and  other  measures  of  General 
Jackson,  and  because  so  many  of  the  smaller  States  were  still  indisposed  to  return  to  the 
policy  of  a  national  bank. 


GREAT    FINANCIAL    DISASTERS.  417 

Circular  was  evidently  necessary.  A  bill  was  passed  for  this 
purpose  by  the  two  houses,  before  the  end  of  the  session,  but  at 
so  late  a  period  that  the  President  did  not  return  it,  and  it 
failed  to  become  a  law.  The  two  opposing  parties  might  have 
agreed  on  some  provision  for  the  necessities  of  the  Government 
and  the  wants  of  the  people, — some  mode  of  providing  a  regu 
lator  of  the  paper  currency, — but  for  two  great  obstacles  which 
kept  them  apart,  the  one  of  which  was  to  a  great  extent  the 
consequence  of  the  other.  In  the  large  commercial  cities,  the 
principal  merchants  and  bankers  were  still  in  favor  of  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  national  bank,  as  the  true  remedy  for  existing 
disorders,  and  thence  these  classes  almost  universally  acted  with 
the  Whigs.  General  Jackson  had  resolutely  determined  that 
no  such  institution  should  ever  again  be  allowed  to  exist.  Al 
though,  by  the  first  use  which  he  made  of  banking  corporations 
in  the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  Government,  he  seemed  to  admit 
the  power  of  the  Government  to  create  such  corporations,  his 
hostility  to  a  national  bank  led  him  and  his  political  friends  to 
seek  for  the  means  of  divorcing  the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  Gov 
ernment  from  all  connection  with  banks  of  any  kind,  and  to 
deny  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  had  any  duty 
to  perform  towards  the  paper  currency,  or  to  provide  any  cur 
rency  but  gold  and  silver.  Had  not  the  question  of  a  national 
bank,  in  consequence  of  the  attitude  of  so  many  of  the  Whigs, 
entered  largely  into  the  issues  of  the  approaching  Presidential 
election,  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  two  parties,  in  the  session 
of  1836-7,  might  have  discovered  and  carried  out  some  means  of 
averting  the  catastrophe  which  followed  the  election.  But  the 
result  was  that  General  Jackson  turned  over  the  Government 
to  his  successor  on  the  4th  of  March,  1837,  without  anything 
having  been  done  for  the  remedy  of  existing  disorders,  and  with 
an  imperative  necessity  for  an  extra  session  of  Congress.  It 
was  summoned  by  Mr.  Yan  Buren  for  the  4th  of  September, 
1837.  Before  that  day  arrived,  every  bank  in  the  country  had 
ceased  to  pay  specie. 
I— 27 


CHAPTER    XV. 

1837—1841. 

MK.  VAN  BUREN'S  PRESIDENCY — THE  FINANCIAL  TROUBLES  ACCUMULAT 
ING REMEDY  OP  THE  INDEPENDENT  TREASURY — BUCHANAN    ON  THE 

CAUSES  OF  SPECIE  SUSPENSION,  AND  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  BANK  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES  —  GREAT  POLITICAL  REVOLUTION  OF  1840 — 
BUCHANAN  DECLINES  A  SEAT  IN  MR.  VAN  BUREN'S  CABINET. 

IN  the  condition  of  things  existing  when  the  extra  session 
of  Congress,  summoned  by  Mr.  Van  Buren,  commenced 
(September,  1837),  the  immediate  relief  of  the  Government 
was  the  first  necessity.  The  temporary  expedient  contemplated 
by  the  new  administration,  for  this  purpose,  was  to  issue  Treas 
ury  notes,  to  be  used  in  paying  the  public  creditors.  For  the 
permanent  management  of  the  public  finances,  it  was  proposed 
to  make  no  further  use  of  banks,  but  that  the  revenues  of  the 
Government  should  be  deposited  with  certain  officers  of  the 
Treasury,  and  be  paid  out  to  the  public  creditors  on  Treasury 
orders.  This  was  the  scheme  which  became  afterwards  ex 
panded  into  the  "  Sub-Treasury."  It  was  examined  and 
opposed  by  Mr.  Webster,  in  an  elaborate  speech,  delivered  on 
the  28th  of  September,  and  on  the  29th  he  was  followed  by 
Mr.  Buchanan,  in  an  equally  extended  and  forcible  discussion 
of  the  causes  of  the  present  distress,  and  the  remedy  that  should 
be  applied.  These  two  speeches  may  be  said  to  have  exhausted 
the  two  sides  of  the  main  controversy  between  the  opposite 
parties,  in  regard  to  the  duty  of  the  General  Government  to 
regulate  the  paper  currency  of  the  country,  which  then  consisted 
of  the  notes  of  about  eight  hundred  State  banks.  Such  a  dis 
cussion  of  course  involved  the  disputed  topics  of  those  clauses 
of  the  Constitution  from  which  the  Whigs  derived  the  power 
and  deduced  the  duty  of  a  general  supervision  over  the  paper 
circulation.  Of  Mr.  Buchanan's  reasoning  on  these  subjects, 


MR.   VAN  BUREN'S  MESSAGE.  419 

it  may  be  said  with  justice  that,  entering  into  direct  controversy 
with  Mr.  Webster,  he  combated  that  eminent  person's  constitu 
tional  views  with  singular  ability,  and  energetically  defended 
what  was  derisively  called  "the  new  experiment,"  and  was 
considered  by  the  party  of  the  administration  as  a  divorce  of 
the  Government  from  all  connection  with  banks.  In  conclusion 
he  said : 

Mr.  Van  Buren  is  not  only  correct  in  his  statements  of  facts,  but  by  his 
message  he  has  for  ever  put  to  flight  the  charge  of  non-committalism — of 
want  of  decision  and  energy.  He  has  assumed  an  attitude  of  moral  grandeur 
before  the  American  people,  and  has  shown  himself  worthy  to  succeed  Gen 
eral  Jackson.  He  has  elevated  himself  much  in  my  own  esteem.  He  has 
proved  equal  to  the  trying  occasion.  Even  his  political  enemies,  who  cannot 
approve  the  doctrines  of  the  message,  admire  its  decided  tone,  and  the  ability 
with  which  it  sustains  what  has  been  called  the  new  experiment.  And  why 
should  the  sound  of  new  experiments  in  Government  grate  so  harshly  upon 
the  ears  of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  ?  Was  not  our  Government 
itself,  at  its  origin,  a  new  and  glorious  experiment  ?  Is  it  not  now  upon  its 
trial  ?  If  it  should  continue  to  work  as  it  has  heretofore  done,  it  will  at  least 
secure  liberty  to  the  human  race,  and  rescue  the  rights  of  man,  in  every  clime, 
from  the  grasp  of  tyrants.  Still,  it  is,  as  yet,  but  an  experiment.  For  its 
future  success,  it  must  depend  upon  the  patriotism  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
American  people,  and  the  Government  of  their  choice.  I  sincerely  believe 
that  the  establishment  of  the  agencies  which  the  bill  proposes,  will  exert  a 
most  happy  influence  upon  the  success  of  our  grand  experiment,  and  that  it 
will  contribute,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  prosperous  working  of  our  institu 
tions  generally.  The  message  will  constitute  the  touchstone  of  political  parties 
in  this  country  for  years  to  come ;  and  I  shall  always  be  found  ready  to  do 
battle  in  support  of  its  doctrines,  because  their  direct  tendency  is  to  keep  the 
Federal  Government  within  its  proper  limits,  and  to  maintain  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  States.  To  take  care  of  our  own  money,  through  the  agency 
of  our  own  officers,  without  the  employment  of  any  banks,  whether  State  or 
National,  will,  in  my  opinion,  greatly  contribute  to  these  happy  results;  and 
in  sustaining  this  policy,  I  feel  confident  I  am  advocating  the  true  interest  and 
the  dearest  rights  of  the  people. 

This  allusion  to  the  decision  and  energy  which  Mr.  Van 
Buren  had  displayed  in  his  message  at  the  opening  of  the  extra 
session,  and  which  had  raised  him  in  Mr.  Buchanan's  esteem, 
implies  that  Mr.  Buchanan  had  previously  doubted  about  the 
course  of  the  new  President.  The  following  letters  from  Gen 
eral  Jackson  show  that  he  did  not  share  those  doubts. 


420  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[GENERAL  JACKSON  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

HERMITAGE.  August  24,  1837. 
MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

Your  much-esteemed  favor  of  date  July  28th  last,  has  been  too  long 
neglected  by  me.  It  reached  me  in  due  course  of  mail  and  I  intended  replying 
to  it  immediately,  but  checkered  health  and  a  crowd  of  company  interposed 
and  prevented  me  that  pleasure  until  now. 

For  your  kind  wishes,  I  tender  you  my  sincere  thanks — as  to  my  fame,  I 
rest  it  with  my  fellow-citizens — in  their  hands  it  is  safe — posterity  will  do  me 
justice. 

The  vile  slanders  that  are  heaped  upon  me  by  the  calumniators  of  the  day 
pass  unheeded  by  me,  and  I  trust  will  fall  harmless  at  my  feet. 

What  pleasure  it  affords  to  learn  from  you  that  the  Keystone  State  of  the 
Union  are  firmly  united  in  the  great  Republican  cause  which  now  agitates  the 
whole  Union.  This  will  give  impulse  throughout  the  Union  to  the  Demo 
cratic  cause,  and  the  conflict  now  raging  between  the  aristocracy  of  the  few, 
aided  by  the  banks  and  the  paper-money  credit  system,  against  the  democracy 
of  numbers,  will  give  a  glorious  triumph  to  Republican  principles  throughout 
our  Union,  and  good  old  Republican  Pennsylvania  will  be  again  hailed,  as  she 
deserves,  the  Keystone  to  our  Republican  arch  and  preserver  of  our  glorious 
Union.  I  feel  proud  of  her  attitude,  and  my  fervent  prayers  are  that  nothing 
may  again  occur  to  separate  the  Republican  ranks,  so  as  to  give  to  the  opposi 
tion  or  shinplaster  party  the  ascendency.  I  feel  to  that  State  a  debt  of  grati 
tude  which  I  will  cherish  to  my  grave,  and  I  shall  ever  delight  in  her  pros 
perity. 

I  have  no  fears  of  the  firmness  of  Mr.  Van  Buren ;  his  message  you  will 
find,  or  my  disappointment  will  be  great,  will  meet  the  views  and  wishes  of 
the  great  Democratic  family  of  Pennsylvania ;  at  present  a  temporizing  policy 
would  destroy  him ;  I  never  knew  it  fail  in  destroying  all  who  have  adopted 
it.  My  motto  is,  to  take  principle  for  my  guide  to  the  public  good.  I  have 
full  confidence  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  will  adopt  the  same  rule  for  his  guide  and 
all  will  be  safe. 

I  have  always  opposed  a  union  between  Church  and  State.  From  the  late 
combined  treachery  of  the  banks,  in  suspending  specie  payments  in  open 
violation  of  their  charters  and  every  honest  and  moral  principle,  and  for  the 
corrupt  objects  they  must,  from  their  acts,  have  had  in  view,  I  now  think  a 
union  between  banks  and  the  Government  is  as  dangerous  as  a  union  with 
the  Church,  and  what  condition  would  we  now  be  in  if  engaged  in  a  war  with 
England?  I  trust  Congress  will  keep  this  in  view,  and  never  permit  the 
revenue  of  our  country  to  be  deposited  with  any  but  their  own  agents  ;  it  is 
collected  by  the  agents  of  the  Government,  and  why  can  it  not  be  as  safely 
kept  and  disbursed  by  her  own  agents  under  proper  rules  and  restrictions  by 
law  ?  I  can  see  none,  nor  can  it  add  one  grain  of  power  to  the  executive 
branch  more  than  it  possesses  at  present ;  the  agent  can  have  as  secure  a 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GENERAL  JACKSON.  421 

deposit  as  any  bank,  and  always  at  command  by  the  Government  to  meet  the 
appropriations  by  law ;  the  revenue  reduced  to  the  wants  of  the  Government 
never  can  be  hoarded  up,  for  as  it  comes  in  to-day,  it  will  be  disbursed  to 
morrow  ;  and  if  all  cash,  no  credits,  will  be  more  in  favor  of  our  home  indus 
try  than  all  tariffs.  This  I  hope  will  be  recommended  by  the  President  and 
adopted  by  Congress,  and  then  I  will  hail  our  Republic  safe,  and  our  Repub 
lican  institutions  permanent. 

You  will  please  pardon  these  hasty  "and  crude  hints.     My  family  join  me 
in  kind  salutations,  and  believe  me  your  friend, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 

P.  S. — Please  let  me  occasionally  hear  from  you.  A.  J. 


[JACKSON  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  HERMITAGE,  December  26,  1837. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  to  offer  you  an  apology  for  my  neglect  of  not  acknowledging  sooner 
your  kind  and  interesting  letter  of  the  26th  of  October  last,  accompanied 
with  yours  and  Mr.  Wright's  speeches  on  the  subject  of  the  divorce  bill  or 
sub-treasury  system. 

I  have  read  these  speeches  with  great  attention  and  much  pleasure ;  they 
give  conclusive  evidence  of  thorough  knowledge  of  our  Republican  system 
and  constitutional  law,  and  must  remain  a  lasting  monument  of  the  talents 
that  made  them,  and  they  will  become  the  text-book  of  the  Republicans  for 
all  time  to  come.  I  regret  very  much  that  these  speeches  have  not  been  more 
generally  circulated  through  the  South  and  West ;  they  would  have  produced 
much  good  by  enlightening  the  public  mind. 

I  never  for  one  moment  distrusted  the  firmness  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  and  I 
rejoice  to  see  this  confidence  confirmed  by  his  undeviating  course.  I  have  no 
fears  of  the  Republic.  The  political  tornado  that  has  lately  spread  over  the 
State  of  New  York  must  have  a  vivifying  effect  upon  the  Republican  cause. 
It  will  open  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  the  apostacy  of  the  Conservatives,  and 
prevent  them  from  having  the  power  to  deceive  hereafter,  and  will  unite  the 
Republicans  from  Maine  to  New  Orleans.* 

It  has  (with  the  exultations  of  the  Whigs  here  and  Mr.  Bell's  speech  at 
Fanueil  Hall)  had  a  healing  effect  in  Tennessee.  The  deluded  White  men  are 
just  awakening  from  their  delusion,  and  now  say,  although  they  supported 
White,  they  can  neither  go  for  Webster  nor  Clay ;  that  they  have  always  been 
Republicans.  The  election  of  Mr.  Foster  instead  of  Bell  to  the  Senate  shows 
that  Bell's  popularity  with  the  legislature  is  gone ;  and  I  am  informed  that  the 
majority  of  the  legislature  regret  the  premature  election  of  the  Senator.  I  have 

*  The  persons  here  referred  to  as  "  Conservatives,"  were  a  class  of  Democrats  or  Repub 
licans,  who  stood  aloof  for  a  time  from  their  party. 


LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

no  doubt  but  our  next  legislature  will  reverse  the  election  of  Senator,  upon 
constitutional  grounds ;  that  there  was  no  vacancy  to  fill,  and  none  that  could 
'happen  within  the  time  for  which  the  present  legislature  was  elected  to  serve. 
I  hope  the  whole  of  the  Republicans  in  Congress  will  rally  with  energy  and 
firmness,  and  pass  the  divorce  or  sub-treasury  bill  into  a  law ;  there  is  no  doubt 
of  the  fact  that  in  the  Senate  the  Eepublicans  have  a  vast  superiority  in  the 
argument;  would  to  God  we  had  equal  talent  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
The  great  body  of  the  people  will  support  this  measure,  and  the  Conservatives 
will  have  to  return  to  the  Republican  fold,  or  join  the  opposition;  if  they  join 
the  opposition,  they  then  become  harmless,  and  can  no  longer  delude  the 
people  by  their  hypocrisy  and  apostacy.  I  am  informed  by  a  gentleman  from 
Western  Virginia,  that  Mr.  Rives  has,  by  his  attitude,  lost  his  political 
standing  there,  and  Mr.  Ritchie  has  lost  his.  I  sincerely  regret  the  attitude 
these  two  gentlemen  have  placed  themselves  in  ;  common  sense  plainly  proves 
that  if  the  revenue  is  again  placed  in  irresponsible  State  banks,  after  their  late 
treachery  and  faithlessness  to  the  Government,  it  will  inevitably  lead  at  last  to 
the  incorporation  of  a  national  bank.  Can  any  patriot  again  place  our  revenue, 
on  which  depends  our  independence  and  safety  in  time  of  war,  in  the  keeping 
of  State  or  any  other  banks,  over  whom  the  Government  have  no  control,  and 
when  the  revenue  might  be  most  wanted  to  provide  for  defence,  the  banks 
might  suspend,  and  compel  the  Government  to  make  a  dishonorable  peace  ?  I 
answer,  no  true  patriot  can  advocate  such  a  system,  whatever  might  be  his 
professions. 

I  am  proud  to  see  that  the  Keystone  State  is  preparing  for  the  struggle 
next  October.  I  hope  nothing  may  occur  in  the  least  to  divide  the  Repub 
lican  party  ;  the  opposition  and  some  professed  friends,  but  real  apostates  and 
hirelings  of  banks,  will  endeavor  to  divide  the  party,  but  I  hope  and  trust 
union  and  harmony  will  prevail. 

My  health  is  improved,  but  my  vision  has  failed  me  much ;  I  hope  it  may 
improve.  I  write  with  great  difficulty.  My  whole  household  joins  me  in  kind 
regards  and  good  wishes  for  your  happiness.  I  will  be  happy  to  hear  from 
you  the  prospects  of  the  divorce  passing  in  the  Court  House. 

Your  friend  sincerely, 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 
p.S. — We  all  present  you  with  the  joys  of  the  season. 

The  bill  to  authorize  the  issue  of  treasury  notes  was  passed 
at  the  extra  session  of  Congress  in  1836.  The  bill  to  establish 
the  sub-treasury  was  passed  in  the  Senate  but  failed  in  the 
House.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States,  unable  to  obtain  from 
Congress  a  prolongation  of  its  charter,  had  procured  a  charter 
of  incorporation  from  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania.  This 
new  corporation  became  the  assignee  of  the  assets  of  the  old 
one.  It  was  now,  therefore,  in  a  singular  and  unprecedented 


SPEECH  ON  THE  BANK    QUESTION.  433 

attitude.  As  a  Pennsylvania  corporation,  it  had  power  to  issue 
its  own  notes.  As  a  trustee  for  winding  up  the  affairs  of  the 
old  corporation,  it  had  in  its  possession  the  notes  of  the  old 
bank.  It  re-issued  these  notes,  without  any  authority  to  do  so, 
used  them  in  the  Southern  States,  in  exchange  for  the  depre 
ciated  local  currency,  with  which  it  bought  cotton  for  exportation, 
or  to  pay  its  debts  abroad,  or  purchased  specie  to  replenish  its 
vaults  at  home.  It  had  thus  created  an  obstacle  to  the  resump 
tion  of  specie  payments.  On  the  23d  of  April,  1838,  Mr. 
Buchanan  made  a  very  able  speech  in  the  Senate,  in  support 
of  a  bill  to  prevent  the  Pennsylvania  Bank  from  re-issuing  and 
circulating  the  notes  of  the  old  bank,  giving  the  causes  which 
produced  the  suspension  of  specie  payments,  and  those  which 
might  affect  a  resumption. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  there  was  but  one  consideration  which  could  induce 
him,  at  the  present  moment,  to  take  any  part  in  the  discussion  of  the  bill  now 
before  the  Senate.  He  felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  defend  the  legislature  of  the 
State  which  he  had,  in  part,  the  honor  to  represent,  from  the  charge  which 
had  been  made  against  them  by  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey  [Mr.  Wall]  and 
other  Senators,  and  by  many  of  the  public  presses  throughout  the  country, 
that,  in  rechartering  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  they  had  conferred  upon 
it  the  powers  of  a  great  trading  company.  This  charge  was  wholly  unfounded 
in  point  of  fact.  The  charter  had  not  constituted  it  a  trading  company ;  and 
he  felt  himself  bound  to  make  the  most  solemn  and  public  denial  of  that 
charge.  If  this  bank  had  become  the  great  cotton  merchant  which  was  rep 
resented,  and  he  did  not  doubt  the  fact,  it  had  acted  in  express  violation  of  its 
charter.  He  therefore  rose,  not  to  criminate,  but  to  defend  the  legislature 
of  his  native  State. 

The  Democratic  party  of  Pennsylvania  had  been,  unfortunately,  divided  in 
1835 ;  and  the  consequence  was  the  recharter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  Of  the  wisdom  or  policy  of  this  measure  (said  Mr.  B.)  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  are  not  constituted  the  judges.  I  shall  never  discuss  that 
question  here.  This  is  not  the  proper  forum.  I  shall  leave  it  to  the  sover 
eign  people  of  the  State.  To  them,  and  to  them  alone,  are  their  representa 
tives  directly  responsible  for  this  recharter  of  the  bank.  As  a  citizen  of  the 
State,  I  have  on  all  suitable  occasions,  both  in  public  and  in  private,  expressed 
my  opinion  boldly  and  freely  upon  the  subject.  In  a  letter  from,  this  city, 
dated  on  the  30th  June,  1836,  which  was  published  throughout  the  State,  I 
have  presented  my  views  in  detail  upon  this  question  ;  and  I  feel  no  disposi 
tion  to  retract  or  recant  a  single  sentiment  which  I  then  expressed.  On  the 
contrary,  experience  has  only  served  to  confirm  my  first  convictions. 

My  task  is  now  much  more  agreeable.     It  is  that  of  defending  the  very 


424  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

legislature  who  renewed  the  charter  of  the  bank,  from  the  charge  which  has 
been  made  and  reiterated  over  and  over  again,  here  and  throughout  the 
country,  of  having  created  a  vast  corporation,  with  power  to  deal  in  cotton, 
or  any  other  article  of  merchandise.  A  mere  reference  to  the  charter,  will, 
of  itself,  establish  my  position.  It  leaves  no  room  for  argument  or  doubt. 
The  rule  of  common  reason,  as  well  as  of  common  law,  is,  that  a  corporation 
can  exercise  no  power,  except  what  has  been  expressly  granted  by  its  char 
ter.  The  exercise  of  any  other  power  is  a  mere  naked  usurpation.  On  the 
present  occasion,  however,  I  need  not  resort  to  this  rule.  The  charter  not 
only  confers  no  such  power  of  trading,  but  it  contains  an  express  prohibition 
against  it.  It  was  approved  by  the  Governor  on  the  18th  day  of  February, 
1836,  and  the  fifth  fundamental  article  contains  the  following  provision : 
"  Tlie  said  corporation  shall  not,  directly  or  indirectly,  deal  or  trade  in  any 
thing  except  bills  of  exchange,  gold  and  silver  bullion,  or  in  the  sale  of  goods 
really  and  truly  pledged  for  money  lent  and  not  redeemed  in  due  time,  or  goods 
which  shall  be  the  proceeds  of  its  lands. "  In  this  particular,  it  is  but  a  mere 
transcript  from  the  charter  granted  to  the  late  bank  by  Congress  on  the  10th 
of  April,  1816,  which  was  itself  copied  from  the  charter  of  the  first  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  established  in  the  year  1791.  I  have  not  recently  had  an 
opportunity  of  examining  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  England,  but  I  believe 
it  contains  a  similar  provision.  The  Senate  will,  therefore,  at  once  perceive 
there  is  as  little  foundation  for  charging  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania  with 
conferring  upon  the  existing  bank  the  enormous  powers  of  a  great  trading 
company,  as  there  would  have  been  for  making  a  similar  charge  against  the 
first  or  the  last  Congress  which  chartered  a  Bank  of  the  United  States.  It  is 
true  that  the  bank,  under  its  existing  charter,  can  deal  much  more  extensively 
in  stocks  than  it  could  have  done  formerly ;  but  this  power  does  not  touch  the 
present  question. 

The  bank,  by  becoming  a  merchant  and  dealing  in  cotton,  has  clearly  vio 
lated  its  charter,  and  that,  too,  in  a  most  essential  particular.  Either  the  leg 
islature  or  the  Governor  may  direct  a  scire  facias  to  issue  against  it  for  this 
cause ;  and,  if  the  fact  be  found  by  a  jury,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State 
can  exercise  no  discretion  on  the  subject,  but  must,  under  the  express  terms 
of  the  act  creating  it,  adjudge  its  charter  to  be  forfeited  and  annulled. 
Whether  the  legislature  or  the  Governor  shall  pursue  this  course,  is  for  them, 
not  for  me,  to  decide.  This  bank  has  already  so  completely  entwined  itself 
around  our  system  of  internal  improvements  and  common  school  education, 
that  it  doubtless  believes  it  may  violate  its  charter  with  impunity.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  the  sin  of  speculating  in  cotton  lies  at  the  door  of  the  bank,  and  not 
at  that  of  the  legislature. 

Heaven  knows  the  legislature  have  been  sufficiently  liberal  in  conferring 
powers  upon  this  institution;  but  I  doubt  whether  a  single  member  of 
that  body  would  have  voted  to  create  a  trading  company,  with  a  capital  of 
$35,000,000,  in  union  with  banking  privileges.  Let  us  pause  and  reflect  for 
a  moment  upon  the  nature  and  consequences  of  these  combined  powers.  A 


SPEECH    OX    THE   BANK    QUESTION".  425 

bank  of  discount  and  circulation,  with  such  an  enormous  capital,  and  a  trading 
company  united !  By  expanding  or  contracting  its  discounts  and  circulation, 
as  a  bank,  it  can  render  money  plenty  or  money  scarce,  at  its  pleasure.  It 
can  thus  raise  or  depress  the  price  of  cotton,  or  any  other  article,  and  make 
the  market  to  suit  its  speculating  purposes.  The  more  derangement  that 
exists  in  the  domestic  exchanges  of  the  country,  the  larger  will  be  its  profits. 
The  period  of  a  suspension  of  specie  payments  is  its  best  harvest,  during 
which  it  can  amass  millions.  It  is  clearly  the  interest  of  this  bank,  whatever 
may  be  its  inclination,  that  specie  payments  should  continue  suspended,  and 
the  domestic  exchanges  should  continue  deranged  as  long  as  possible.  The 
ruin  of  the  country  thus  becomes  its  most  abundant  source  of  profit.  Accord 
ingly,  what  do  we  find  to  have  been  its  course  of  policy  ?  I  have  heard  it 
described  by  several  gentleman  from  the  South  and  Southwest,  some  of 
whom  are  members  of  this  body.  It  has  gone  into  that  region  of  the  Union 
with  these  resurrection  notes  of  the  old  bank,  the  reissue  of  which  this  bill 
proposes  to  prohibit ;  and,  in  some  States,  it  has  exchanged  them,  the  one- 
half  for  the  depreciated  local  currency,  and  the  other  half  for  specie.  With 
this  local  currency  it  has  purchased  cotton,  and  sent  it  to  England  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  its  debts  there,  whilst  with  the  specie  it  has  replenished  its 
vaults  at  home.  In  other  States  it  has  exchanged  these  dead  notes  of  the  old 
bank  for  the  notes  of  the  local  banks,  receiving  a  large  premium  on  the  trans 
action,  and  with  the  latter  has  purchased  cotton  on  speculation.  A  general 
resumption  of  specie  payments  would  at  once  put  an  end  to  this  profitable 
traffic.  It  has,  then,  first  violated  the  charter  from  Congress  by  reissuing  the 
notes  of  the  old  bank,  and  then  violating  the  charter  from  Pennsylvania  by 
speculating  in  cotton.  During  the  suspension  of  specie  payments,  these  notes 
have  been  the  only  universal  paper  circulation  throughout  the  country ;  and 
thus,  by  reissuing  them,  in  defiance  of  the  law,  the  present  bank  has  been 
enabled  to  accumulate  extravagant  profits. 

This  charge  against  the  bank  of  speculating  in  cotton  has  never,  to  my 
knowledge,  been  contradicted.  We  have  heard  it  from  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  as  well  as  from  the  South  and  Southwest.  The  Whig  press  of  our 
country  has  commended,  nay,  almost  glorified  the  bank  for  going  into  the 
cotton  market,  when  that  article  was  depressed,  and  making  large  purchases, 
and  its  friends  in  England  have  echoed  these  notes  of  praise.  Its  example 
has  produced  a  new  era  in  banking.  We  find  that  the  Southern  and  South 
western  banks  have  also  become  cotton  merchants  ;  and,  from  present  appear 
ances,  the  trade  in  this  great  staple  of  our  country  is  no  longer  to  be  con 
ducted  by  private  merchants,  but  by  banking  corporations. 

Under  this  system,  what  will  be  the  fate  of  your  private  merchants  ?  This 
practice  must  be  arrested,  or  they  must  all  be  ruined.  The  one  or  the  other 
alternative  is  inevitable.  What  private  individual  can  enter  the  cotton  mar 
ket  in  competition  with  the  banks  of  the  country  ?  Individual  enterprise  can 
accomplish  nothing  in  such  a  struggle.  It  would  be  the  spear  hurled  by  the 
feeble  hand  of  the  aged  Priam,  which  scarce  reached  the  buckler  of  the  son  of 


426  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Achilles.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States  which,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  its  president,  might  have  destroyed,  by  an  exertion  of  its  power,  almost 
every  bank  in  the  country,  could,  with  much  greater  ease,  destroy  any  private 
merchant  who  might  dare  to  interfere  with  its  speculations.  Such  a  contest 
would  be  that  of  Hercules  contending  against  an  infant.  It  can  acquire  a 
monopoly  against  individual  merchants  in  any  branch  of  mercantile  business  in 
which  it  may  engage ;  and,  after  having  prostrated  all  competition,  it  can 
then  regulate  the  price  of  any  article  of  commerce  according  to  its  pleasure. 
I  do  not  say  that  such  is  either  its  wish  or  its  intention ;  but  I  mean  thus  to 
illustrate  the  vast  and  dangerous  power  which  it  may  exercise  as  a  merchant. 
The  East  India  company  monopolized  the  trade  of  Asia,  but  it  possessed  no 
banking  powers.  It  could  not,  therefore,  by  curtailing  or  expanding  its 
issues,  make  money  scarce  or  make  money  plenty  at  pleasure,  and  thereby 
raise  or  depress  the  price  of  the  articles  in  which  it  traded.  In  this  respect 
its  power  as  a  merchant  was  inferior  to  that  now  exercised  by  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States. 

How  vain,  then,  I  might  almost  say  how  ridiculous,  is  it  for  people  of  the 
South  to  make  the  attempt  to  establish  merchants  in  the  southern  seaports 
for  the  purpose  of  conducting  a  direct  trade  with  Europe  in  cotton  and  other 
articles  of  their  production,  in  opposition  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and 
their  own  local  banks.  This  effort  must  fail,  or  the  banks  must  cease  to  be 
merchants.  I  am  glad  to  learn  that,  at  the  late  Southern  convention,  this 
alarming  usurpation  by  the  banks  of  the  appropriate  business  of  the  merchant 
has  been  viewed  in  its  proper  light.  The  time,  I  trust,  is  not  far  distant 
when  they  will  be  confined,  by  public  opinion,  to  their  appropriate  sphere. 
What  a  fatal  error  it  is  for  any  free  people,  tempted  by  present  and  partial 
gain,  to  encourage  and  foster  such  institutions  in  a  course  which  must,  if  pur 
sued,  inevitably  crush  the  merchants  of  the  country  who  conduct  its  foreign 
trade  1  As  a  class,  these  merchants  are  highly  meritorious,  and  entitled  to 
our  support  and  protection  against  a  power  which,  if  suffered  to  be  exerted, 
must  inevitably  destroy  them. 

Philadelphia  is  a  city  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  bank ;  but  even  in 
that  city,  if  it  should  undertake  to  speculate  in  flour,  in  coal,  or  in  any  other 
article  which  is  poured  into  her  market  from  the  rich  abundance  of  the  State, 
such  conduct  would  not  be  submitted  to  for  a  moment.  The  legislature  of 
the  State  would  at  once  interpose  to  protect  our  merchants.  Such  an  attempt 
would  at  once  break  the  spell  of  bank  influence.  And  yet  it  possesses  no  more 
power  to  deal  in  southern  cotton  than  it  does  in  Pennsylvania  flour.  It  will 
remain  a  banker  at  home ;  whilst  its  mercantile  speculations  will  be  confined 
to  the  southern  and  southwestern  provinces  of  its  empire. 

The  reason  will  now,  I  think,  appear  manifest  why  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  have  so  strictly  prohibited  their  banking  institutions  from  dealing  in  any 
thing  except  bills  of  exchange  and  gold  and  silver  bullion.  If  the  Bank  of 
England  should  dare  to  invade  the  province  of  the  merchants  and  manufactu- 


SPEECH   ON  THE    BANK    QUESTION.  427 

rers  of  that  country  in  a  similar  manner,  the  attempt  would  instantly  be  put 
down.  Every  man  acquainted  with  the  history  and  character  of  the  people 
of  England,  knows  that  such  would  be  the  inevitable  consequence.  And  yet 
this  violation  of  law,  on  the  part  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  has  been 
lauded  in  our  free  Republic. 

As  I  am  upon  the  floor,  I  shall  proceed  briefly  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the 
bill  now  before  the  Senate.  It  proposes  to  inflict  a  fine  not  exceeding  ten 
thousand  dollars,  or  imprisonment  not  less  than  one  nor  more  than  five  years, 
or  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  upon  those 
who  shall  be  convicted  under  its  provisions.  Against  whom  does  it  denounce 
these  penalties  ?  Against  directors,  officers,  trustees,  or  agents  of  any  cor 
poration  created  by  Congress,  who,  after  its  term  of  existence  is  ended,  shall 
reissue  the  dead  notes  of  the  defunct  corporation,  and  push  them  into  the 
circulation  of  the  country,  in  violation  of  its  original  charter.  The  bill 
embraces  no  person,  acts  upon  no  person,  interferes  with  no  person,  except 
those  whose  duty  it  is,  under  the  charter  of  the  old  bank,  to  redeem  and 
cancel  the  old  notes  as  they  are  presented  for  payment,  and  who,  in  violation 
of  this  duty,  send  them  again  into  circulation. 

This  bill  inflicts  severe  penalties,  and,  before  we  pass  it,  we  ought  to  be 
entirely  satisfied,  first,  that  the  guilt  of  the  individuals  who  shall  violate  its 
provisions  is  sufficiently  aggravated  to  justify  the  punishment;  second,  that 
the  law  will  be  politic  in  itself;  and,  third,  that  we  possess  the  constitutional 
power  to  enact  it. 

First,  then,  as  to  the  nature  and  aggravation  of  the  offence.  The  charter 
of  the  late  Bank  of  the  United  States  expired,  by  its  own  limitation,  on  the 
3d  of  March,  1836.  After  that  day,  it  could  issue  no  notes,  discount  no  new 
paper,  and  exercise  none  of  the  usual  functions  of  a  bank.  For  two  years 
thereafter,  until  the  3d  of  March,  1838,  it  was  merely  permitted  to  use  its 
corporate  name  and  capacity  "  for  the  purpose  of  suits  for  the  final  settlement 
and  liquidation  of  the  affairs  and  accounts  of  the  corporation,  and  for  the  sale 
and  disposition  of  their  estate,  real,  personal,  and  mixed ;  but  not  for  any 
other  purpose,  or  in  any  other  manner,  whatsoever"  Congress  had  granted 
the  bank  no  power  to  make  a  voluntary  assignment  of  its  property  to  any 
corporation  or  any  individual.  On  the  contrary,  the  plain  meaning  of  the 
charter  was,  that  all  the  affairs  of  the  institution  should  be  wound  up  by  its 
own  president  and  directors.  It  received  no  authority  to  delegate  this  impor 
tant  trust  to  others ;  and  yet  what  has  it  done  ?  On  the  2d  day  of  March, 
1836,  one  day  before  the  charter  had  expired,  this  very  president  and  these 
directors  assigned  all  the  property  and  effects  of  the  old  corporation  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Bank  of  the  United  States.  On  this  same  day,  this  latter  bank 
accepted  the  assignment,  and  agreed  to  "  pay,  satisfy  and  discharge  all  debts, 
contracts,  and  engagements,  owing,  entered  into,  or  made  by  this  [the  old] 
bank,  as  the  same  shall  become  due  and  payable,  and  fulfil  and  execute  all 
trusts  and  obligations  whatsoever  arising  from  its  transactions,  or  from  any  of 
them,  so  that  every  creditor  or  rightful  claimant  shall  be  fully  satisfied."  By 


428  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

its  own  agreement,  it  has  thus  expressly  created  itself  a  trustee  of  the  old 
bank.  But  this  was  not  necessary  to  confer  upon  it  that  character.  By  the 
bare  act  of  accepting  the  assignment,  it  became  responsible,  under  the  laws  of 
the  land,  for  the  performance  of  all  the  duties  and  trusts  required  by  the  old 
charter.  Under  the  circumstances,  it  cannot  make  the  slightest  pretence  of 
want  of  notice. 

Having  assumed  this  responsibility,  the  duty  of  the  new  bank  was  so  plain 
that  it  could  not  have  been  mistaken.  It  had  a  double  character  to  sustain. 
Under  the  charter  from  Pennsylvania,  it  became  a  new  banking  corpora 
tion  ;  whilst,  under  the  assignment  from  the  old  bank,  it  became  a  trustee  to 
wind  up  the  concerns  of  that  institution.  These  two  characters  were  in  their 
nature  separate  and  distinct,  and  never  ought  to  have  been  blended.  For 
each  of  these  purposes  it  ought  to  have  kept  a  separate  set  of  books.  Above 
all,  as  the  privilege  of  circulating  bank  notes,  and  thus  creating  a  paper  cur 
rency,  is  that  function  of  a  bank  which  most  deeply  and  vitally  affects  the 
community,  the  new  bank  ought  to  have  canceled  or  destroyed  all  the  notes 
of  the  old  bank  which  it  found  in  its  possession  on  the  4th  of  March,  1836, 
and  ought  to  have  redeemed  the  remainder,  at  its  counter,  as  they  were 
demanded  by  the  holders,  and  then  destroyed  them.  This  obligation  no  Sen 
ator  has  attempted  to  doubt,  or  to  deny.  But  what  was  the  course  of  the 
bank  ?  It  has  grossly  violated  both  the  old  and  the  new  charter.  It  at  once 
declared  independence  of  both,  and  appropriated  to  itself  all  the  notes  of  the 
old  bank,  not  only  those  which  were  then  still  in  circulation,  but  those  which 
had  been  redeemed  before  it  accepted  the  assignment,  and  were  then  lying 
dead  in  its  vaults.  I  have  now  before  me  the  first  monthly  statement  which 
was  ever  made  by  the  bank  to  the  auditor  general  of  Pennsylvania.  It  is 
dated  on  the  2d  of  April,  1836,  and  signed  J.  Cowperthwaite,  acting  cashier. 
In  this  statement  the  bank  charges  itself  with  "  notes  issued,"  $36,620,420.16; 
whilst  in  its  cash  account,  along  with  its  specie  and  the  notes  of  State  banks, 
it  credits  itself  with  "  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  offices,"  on 
hand,  $16,794,713.71.  It  thus  seized  these  dead  notes  to  the  amount  of 
$16,794,713.71,  and  transferred  them  into  cash;  whilst  the  difference  between 
those  on  hand  and  those  issued,  equal  to  $19,854,706.45,  was  the  circulation 
which  the  new  bank  boasted  it  had  inherited  from  the  old.  It  thus,  in  an 
instant,  appropriated  to  itself,  and  adopted  as  its  own  circulation,  all  the  notes 
and  all  the  illegal  branch  drafts  of  the  old  bank  which  were  then  in  existence. 
Its  boldness  was  equal  to  its  utter  disregard  of  law.  In  this  first  return,  it 
not  only  proclaimed  to  the  legislature  and  people  of  Pennsylvania  that  it  had 
disregarded  its  trust  as  assignee  of  the  old  bank,  by  seizing  upon  the  whole 
of  the  old  circulation  and  converting  it  to  its  own  use,  but  that  it  had  violated 
one  of  the  fundamental  provisions  of  its  new  charter. 

In  Pennsylvania  we  have,  for  many  years  past,  deemed  it  wise  to  increase 
the  specie  basis  of  our  paper  circulation.  We  know  that,  under  the  universal 
law  of  currency,  small  notes  and  gold  and  silver  coin  of  the  same  denomina 
tion  cannot  circulate  together.  The  one  will  expel  the  other.  Accordingly, 


SPEECH   ON    THE    BANK  QUESTION.  439 

it  is  now  long  since  we  prohibited  our  banks  from  issuing  notes  of  a  less  de 
nomination  than  five  dollars.  The  legislature  which  rechartered  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  deemed  it  wise  to  proceed  one  step  further  in  regard  to 
this  mammoth  institution  •  and  in  that  opinion  I  entirely  concur.  Accord 
ingly,  by  the  sixth  fundamental  article  of  its  charter,  they  declare  that  "  the 
notes  and  bills  which  shall  be  issued  by  order  of  said  corporation,  or  under  its 
authority,  shall  be  binding  upon  it ;  and  those  made  payable  to  order  shall  be 
assignable  by  endorsement,  but  none  shaltbe  issued  of  a  denomination  less  than 
ten  dollars" 

Now,  it  is  well  known  to  every  Senator  within  the  sound  of  my  voice, 
that  a  large  proportion  of  these  resurrection  notes,  as  they  have  been  aptly 
called,  which  have  been  issued  and  reissued  by  order  of  the  new  bank,  are  of 
the  denomination  of  five  dollars.  Here,  then,  is  a  plain,  palpable  violation, 
not  only  of  the  spirit,  but  of  the  very  letter  of  its  charter.  The  Senate 
will  perceive  that  the  bank,  as  if  to  meet  the  very  case,  is  not  merely  pro 
hibited  from  issuing  its  own  notes,  signed  by  its  own  president  and  cashier,  of 
a  denomination  less  than  ten  dollars,  but  this  prohibition  is  extended  to  the 
notes  or  bills  which  shall  be  issued  by  its  order,  or  under  its  authority.  If  I 
should  even  be  mistaken  in  this  construction  of  the  law,  and  I  believe  I  am 
not,  it  would  only  follow  that  its  conduct  has  not  amounted  to  a  legal  for 
feiture  of  its  charter.  In  bolh  cases  the  violation  of  the  spirit  of  its  charter, 
and  the  contravention  of  the  wise  policy  of  the  legislature,  are  equally  glar 
ing.  So  entirely  did  the  bank  make  these  dead  notes  its  own  peculiar  circu 
lation,  that  until  July  last,  in  its  monthly  returns  to  the  Auditor  General  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  new  and  the  old  notes  are  blended  together,  without  any 
distinction.  In  that  return  we  were,  for  the  first  time,  officially  informed 
that  the  bank  had  ever  issued  any  notes  of  its  own. 

And  here  an  incident  occurs  to  me  which  will  be  an  additional  proof  how 
lawless  is  this  bank,  whenever  obedience  to  its  charter  interferes  in  the  least 
degree  with  its  policy.  By  the  tenth  fundamental  article  of  that  charter,  it  is 
required  to  "  make  to  the  Auditor  General  monthly  returns  of  its  condition, 
showing  the  details  of  its  operations  according  to  the  forms  of  the  returns  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  now  makes  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of 
the  United  States,  or  according  to  such  form  as  may  be  established  by  law." 
From  no  idle  curiosity,  but  from  a  desire  to  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible,  the 
condition  of  the  banks  of  the  country,  and  the  amount  of  their  circulation,  I 
requested  the  Auditor  General,  during  the  late  special  session  of  Congress  in 
September,  to  send  me  the  return  of  the  bank  for  that  month.  In  answer, 
he  informed  me,  under  date  of  the  22d  of  September,  that  the  bank  had  not 
made  any  return  to  his  office  since  the  loth  of  the  preceding  May.  Thus, 
from  the  date  of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  until  some  time  after  the 
22d  of  September  last,  how  long  I  do  not  know,  a  period  during  which  the 
public  mind  was  most  anxious  on  the  subject,  the  bank  put  this  provision  of 
its  charter  at  defiance.  Whether  it  thus  omitted  its  duty  because  at  the  date 
of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  it  had  less  than  a  million  and  a  half  of 


430  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

specie  in  its  vaults,  I  shall  not  pretend  to  determine.  If  this  were  the  reason, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  it  sent  to  the  Auditor  General  all  the  intermediate 
monthly  returns  on  the  2d  of  October,  1837,  because  at  that  period  it  had 
increased  its  gold  and  silver  to  more  than  three  millions  of  dollars. 

In  order  to  illustrate  the  enormity  of  the  offence  now  proposed  to  be 
punished,  Senators  have  instituted  several  comparisons.  No  case  which  they 
have  imagined  equals  the  offence  as  it  actually  exists.  Would  it  not,  says 
one  gentleman,  be  a  flagrant  breach  of  trust  for  an  executor,  entrusted  with 
the  settlement  of  his  testator's  estate,  to  reissue,  and  again  put  in  circulation 
for  his  own  benefit,  the  bills  of  exchange  or  promissory  notes  which  he  had 
found  among  the  papers  of  the  deceased,  and  which  had  been  paid  and  ex 
tinguished  in  his  lifetime  ?  I  answer,  that  it  would.  But,  in  that  case,  the 
imposition  upon  the  community  would  necessarily  be  limited,  whilst  the 
means  of  detection  would  be  ample.  The  same  may  be  observed  in  regard 
to  the  case  of  the  trustee,  which  has  been  suggested.  What  comparison  do 
these  cases  bear  to  that  of  the  conduct  of  the  bank  ?  The  amount  of  its  re 
issues  of  these  dead  notes  of  its  testator  is  many  millions.  Their  circulation 
is  coextensive  with  the  Union,  and  there  is  no  possible  means  of  detection. 
No  man  who  receives  this  paper  can  tell  whether  it  belongs  to  that  class 
which  the  new  bank  originally  found  dead  in  its  vaults,  or  to  that  which  it 
has  since  redeemed  and  reissued,  in  violation  of  law ;  or  to  that  which  has 
remained  circulating  lawfully  in  the  community,  and  has  never  been  redeemed 
since  the  old  charter  expired.  There  is  no  earmark  upon  these  notes.  It  is 
impossible  to  distinguish  those  which  have  been  illegally  reissued  from  the 
remainder. 

I  can  imagine  but  one  case  which  would  present  any  thing  like  a  parallel 
to  the  conduct  of  the  bank.  In  October  last,  we  authorized  the  issue  of 
$10,000,000  of  Treasury  notes,  and  directed  that  when  they  were  received  in 
payment  of  the  public  dues,  they  should  not  be  reissued,  but  be  canceled. 
Now,  suppose  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  happened  to  be  the  presi 
dent  of  a  bank  in  this  District,  and,  in  that  character,  had  reissued  these  dead 
treasury  notes,  which  he  ought  to  have  canceled,  and  again  put  them  into 
circulation,  in  violation  of  the  law,  then  a  case  would  exist  which  might  be 
compared  with  that  now  before  the  Senate.  If  such  a  case  should  ever  occur, 
would  not  the  Secretary  at  once  be  impeached ;  and  is  there  a  Senator  upon 
this  floor,  who  would  not  pronounce  him  guilty  ?  The  pecuniary  injury  to 
the  United  States  might  be  greater  in  the  supposed  than  in  the  actual  case  ; 
but  the  degree  of  moral  guilt  would  be  the  same. 

Whether  it  be  politic  to  pass  this  law  is  a  more  doubtful  question.  Judging 
from  past  experience,  the  bank  may  openly  violate  its  provisions  with  impu 
nity.  It  can  easily  evade  them  by  sending  packages  of  these  old  notes  to  the 
South  and  Southwest,  by  its  agents,  there  to  be  reissued  by  banks  or  individuals 
in  its  confidence.  There  is  one  fact,  however,  from  which  I  am  encouraged  to 
hope  that  this  law  may  prove  effectual.  No  man  on  this  floor  has  attempted 
to  justify,  or  even  to  palliate,  the  conduct  of  the  bank.  Its  best  friends  have 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANK    QUESTION.  431 

not  dared  to  utter  a  single  word  in  its  defence  against  this  charge.  The  moral 
influence  of  their  silence,  and  the  open  condemnation  of  its  conduct  by  some 
of  them,  may  induce  the  bank  to  obey  the  law. 

I  now  approach  the  question — do  Congress  possess  the  power  under  the 
Constitution  to  pass  this  bill  ?  In  other  words,  have  we  power  to  restrain  the 
trustees  of  our  own  bank  from  reissuing  the  old  notes  of  that  institution  which 
have  already  been  redeemed  and  ought  to  be  destroyed  ?  Can  there  be  a  doubt 
of  the  existence  of  this  power  ?  The  bare  statement  of  the  question  seems 
to  me  sufficient  to  remove  every  difficulty.  It  is  almost  too  plain  for  argu 
ment.  I  should  be  glad  if  any  gentleman  would  even  prove  this  power  to  be 
doubtful.  In  that  event  I  should  refrain  from  its  exercise.  I  am  a  State  rights 
man,  and  in  favor  of  a  strict  construction  of  the  Constitution.  The  older  I 
grow,  and  the  more  experience  I  acquire,  the  more  deeply  rooted  does  this 
doctrine  become  in  my  mind.  I  consider  a  strict  construction  of  the  Consti 
tution  necessary  not  only  to  the  harmony  which  ought  to  exist  between  the 
Federal  and  State  Governments,  but  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  Union.  I 
shall  exercise  no  power  which  I  do  not  consider  clear.  I  call  upon  gentle 
men,  therefore,  to  break  their  determined  silence  upon  this  subject,  and  con 
vince  me  even  that  the  existence  of  the  power  is  doubtful.  If  they  do,  I 
pledge  myself  to  vote  against  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

If  this  power  could  only  be  maintained  by  some  of  the  arguments  advanced 
by  the  friends  of  the  bill,  in  the  early  part  of  this  discussion,  it  never  should 
receive  my  vote.  Principles  were  then  avowed  scarcely  less  dangerous  and 
unsound  than  the  principle  on  which  the  Senator  from  Vermont  (Mr.  Prentiss) 
insists  that  the  friends  of  the  bill  must  claim  this  power.  He  contends  that  it 
does  not  exist  at  all,  unless  it  be  under  that  construction  of  the  Constitution 
advocated  by  his  friend  from  Massachusetts  (Mr.  Webster),  which  would  give 
to  Congress  power  over  the  whole  paper  currency  of  the  country  under  the 
coining  and  commercial  powers  of  the  Constitution.  The  Senator  from  Con 
necticut  (Mr.  Niles)  was  the  first  in  this  debate  who  presented  in  bold  relief 
the  principle  on  which  this  bill  can  securely  rest. 

Neither  shall  I  dodge  this  question,  as  some  Senators  have  done,  by  taking 
shelter  under  the  pretext  that  it  is  a  question  for  the  judiciary  to  decide, 
whether  the  general  language  of  the  bill  be  applicable  to  the  officers  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  under  the  Pennsylvania  charter.  We  all  know 
that  it  was  intended  to  embrace  them.  Indeed,  it  was  their  conduct,  and  that 
alone,  which  called  this  bill  into  existence.  It  is  true  that  the  provisions  of 
the  bill  extend  to  all  corporations  created  by  Congress;  but  it  is  equally 
certain,  that  had  it  not  been  intended  to  apply  to  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  it  would  have  been  confined  in  express  terms  to  the  District  of 
Columbia,  where  alone  corporations  now  exist  under  the  authority  of  Congress. 
Away  with  all  such  subterfuges  !  I  will  have  none  of  them. 

Suppose,  sir,  that  at  any  time  within  the  period  of  two  years  thus  allowed 
by  the  charter  to  the  president  and  directors  of  the  bank  to  wind  up  its  affairs, 
these  officers,  created  under  your  own  authority,  had  attempted  to  throw 


432  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

thirty  millions  of  dollars  of  their  dead  paper  again  into  circulation,  would  you 
have  had  no  power  to  pass  a  law  to  prevent  and  to  punish  such  an  atrocious 
fraud  ?  Would  you  have  been  compelled  to  look  on  and  patiently  submit  to 
such  a  violation  of  the  charter  which  you  had  granted  ?  Have  you  created 
an  institution,  and  expressly  limited  its  term  of  existence,  which  you  cannot 
destroy  after  that  term  has  expired  ?  This  would  indeed  be  a  political  Hydra 
which  must  exist  forever,  without  any  Hercules  to  destroy  it.  If  you  possess 
no  power  to  restrain  the  circulation  of  the  notes  of  the  old  bank,  they  may 
continue  to  circulate  forever  in  defiance  of  the  power  which  called  them  into 
existence.  You  have  created  that  which  you  have  no  power  to  destroy, 
although  the  law  which  gave  it  birth  limited  the  term  of  its  existence.  Will 
any  Senator  contend  that  during  these  two  years  allowed  by  the  charter  for 
winding  up  the  concerns  of  the  bank,  we  possessed  no  power  to  restrain  its 
president  and  directors  from  reissuing  these  old  notes  ?  There  is  no  man  on 
this  floor  bold  enough  to  advance  such  a  doctrine.  This  point  being  conceded, 
the  power  to  pass  the  present  bill  follows  as  a  necessary  consequence. 

If  the  president  and  directors  of  the  old  bank  could  not  evade  our  authority, 
the  next  question  is,  whether,  by  assigning  the  property  of  the  corporation  to 
a  trustee  the  day  before  the  charter  expired,  and  delivering  up  to  him  the  old 
notes  which  ought  to  have  been  canceled,  they  were  able  to  cut  this  trustee 
loose  from  the  obligations  which  had  been  imposed  upon  them  by  the  charter, 
and  from  the  authority  of  Congress.  Vain  and  impotent,  indeed,  would  this 
Government  be,  if  its  authority  could  be  set  at  nought  by  such  a  shallow  con 
trivance.  No,  sir,  the  fountain  cannot  ascend  beyond  its  source.  The  assignee 
in  such  a  case  is  not  released  from  any  obligation  which  the  assignor  assumed 
by  accepting  the  original  charter.  In  regard  to  Congress,  the  trustee  stands 
in  the  same  situation  with  the  president  and  directors  of  the  old  bank.  We 
have  the  same  power  to  compel  him  to  wind  up  the  concerns  of  the  bank, 
according  to  the  charter,  that  we  might  have  exercised  against  those  from 
whom  he  accepted  the  assignment.  The  question  is  too  plain  for  argument. 

The  present  case  is  still  stronger  than  the  one  which  I  have  presented.  It  is 
an  assignment  by  the  old  Bank  of  the  United  States,  not  to  strangers,  not  to 
third  persons,  but  to  themselves,  in  the  new  character  conferred  upon  them 
by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania.  This  new  charter  expressly  incorporates 
all  the  stockholders  of  the  old  bank,  except  the  United  States,  so  that  the 
individuals  composing  both  corporations  were  identical.  For  the  purpose  of 
effecting  this  transfer  from  themselves  to  themselves,  they  got  up  the 
machinery  of  one  president  and  one  board  of  directors  for  the  old  bank,  and 
another  president  and  another  board  of  directors  for  the  new  bank.  What 
kind  of  answer,  then,  would  it  be  to  Congress  for  them  to  say :  True,  we 
accepted  a  charter  under  your  authority,  by  which  we  were  bound  to  reissue 
none  of  our  old  notes  after  the  3d  March,  1836,  but  we  have  since  assumed 
a  new  character ;  and  under  our  old  character,  we  have  transferred  the  bank 
which  you  created,  to  ourselves  in  our  new  character;  and  we  have  thus 
released  ourselves  from  all  our  old  obligations,  and  you  have  no  constitutional 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANK    QUESTION.  433 

\&.r  rwYti 

power  to  enforce  them  against  us?  No  sir,  no  sir;  we  have  the  power,  and 
it  is  our  duty,  to  compel  the  president  and  directors  of  the  bank,  which  we 
established,  or  their  assignees,  to  close  its  concerns ;  and  this  power  will  con 
tinue  until  the  duty  shall  be  finally  accomplished.  The  one  power  is  a  neces 
sary  implication  from  the  other.  If  this  duty  has  not  been  performed  within 
the  two  years  which  we  have  allowed  for  its  fulfilment,  our  power  depends 
not  upon  any  such  limitation,  but  upon  the  fact  whether  the  concerns  of  the 
bank  have  been  actually  closed.  If  this  were  not  the  case,  then  all  the  affairs 
of  the  bank  left  unfinished  at  the  end  of  these  two  years  would  be  outlawed. 
This  limitation  was  intended  not  to  abridge  the  power  of  Congress,  but  to 
hasten  the  action  of  the  president  and  directors  in  winding  up  the  concerns 
of  the  bank.  At  this  very  session,  and  since  the  two  years  have  expired, 
Congress  has  passed  an  act,  without  a  shadow  of  opposition  from  any  quarter, 
giving  the  president  and  directors  of  the  old  bank  authority  to  prosecute  and 
defend  existing  suits.  I  should  be  glad  to  see  any  Senator  rise  in  his  place, 
and  make  even  a  plausible  argument  in  opposition  to  these  plain  and  almost 
self-evident  positions. 

In  this  brief  argument,  I  have  not  attempted  to  derive  any  power  from  the 
fact  that  the  United  States  were  proprietors  of  one-fifth  of  the  stock  of  the 
old  bank,  and  that  they  might  be  rendered  responsible,  either  legally  or 
equitably,  for  the  eventual  redemption  of  these  dead  notes.  I  disclaim  any 
such  source  of  power.  To  be  a  proprietor  is  one  thing,  and  to  be  a  sovereign 
is  another.  The  mere  fact  that  we  owned  stock  can  confer  no  power  upon  us, 
which  we  would  not  have  possessed,  had  we  never  been  interested  to  the 
amount  of  a  dollar.  We  should  have  the  same  power  to  wind  up  a  bank 
emanating  from  our  sovereign  authority  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  We 
possess  the  same  power  to  close  the  concerns  of  all  the  banks  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  after  their  charters  shall  have  expired,  although  we  are  not  pro 
prietors  of  any  of  their  stock,  which  we  have  to  wind  up  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  in  which  we  were  so  deeply  interested. 

I  need  scarcely  observe  that  I  do  not  contend  for  any  power  to  punish 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  even  the  officers  of  banking  institutions, 
except  such  of  them  only  as  the  trustees  of  the  bank  created  by  ourselves, 
for  issuing  these  dead  notes.  We  intend  to  punish  the  trustees  under  our  own 
law,  and  them  alone,  for  the  violation  of  that  law.  These  notes  may  circulate 
from  hand  to  hand  without  rendering  those  who  receive  or  those  who  pay 
them  obnoxious  to  any  punishment.  Even  if  we  possessed  the  power,  it 
would  be  highly  unjust  to  attempt  its  exercise.  As  I  observed  before, 
these  notes  have  no  earmarks,  and  no  man  can  tell  whether  any  one  of  them 
has  been  illegally  reissued  by  the  bank  since  the  3d  March,  1836,  or  whether 
it  was  issued  before  that  date,  and  has  continued  legally  to  circulate  in  the 
community  ever  since. 

I  repeat,  I  should  be  glad  to  see  any  Senator,  and  especially  any  one  who 
believes  that  Congress  possesses  the  constitutional  power  to  charter  a  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  rise  in  his  place,  and  make  even  a  plausible  argument  in 

I.— 28 


434  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

opposition  to  the  plain  and  almost  self-evident  positions  which  I  have  taken 
in  support  of  the  power  to  pass  this  bill.  Those  Senators  who  doubt  or  deny 
our  power  to  create  such  a  bank  are  placed  in  a  different  situation,  because 
their  vote  in  favor  of  this  bill  might  at  first  view  seem,  by  implication,  to  con 
cede  that  power.  This  objection  does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  sound.  That 
question  cannot  be  fairly  raised  by  this  bill.  Whether  the  charter  of  the  late 
bank  was  constitutional  is  no  longer  a  fair  subject  of  consideration.  It  was 
adopted  by  Congress,  approved  by  the  President,  and  afterwards  pronounced 
to  be  constitutional  by  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  the  land.  It  thus 
received  every  sanction  necessary  to  make  it  binding  on  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  The  question  was  thus  settled  beyond  the  control  of  any 
individual,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  every  good  citizen  to  submit.  Under  every 
government  there  must  be  a  time  when  such  controversies  shall  cease ;  and 
you  might  now  as  well  attempt  to  exclude  Louisiana  from  the  Union,  because 
you  may  believe  her  admission  was  unconstitutional,  as  to  act  upon  the 
principle,  in  the  present  case,  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  charter  the  late 
bank.  No  man  on  this  floor  had  ever  avowed  that  lie  would  vote  to  repeal 
the  charter  of  the  late  bank,  during  the  twenty  years  of  its  existence,  because 
he  might  have  thought  it  was  originally  unconstitutional.  During  this  period 
all  were  obliged  to  submit.  Under  such  circumstances,  it  would  be  carrying 
constitutional  scruples  very  far,  indeed,  for  any  gentleman  to  contend  that, 
although  the  bank  has  existed  under  the  sanction  of  a  law  which  we  were  all 
bound  to  obey,  we  cannot  now  execute  that  law  and  close  its  concerns, 
because  as  individuals  we  may  have  deemed  it  to  be  originally  unconstitutional. 
If  it  had  been  so,  the  obligation  upon  us  would  only  be  the  stronger  to  wind 
it  up  finally,  and  thus  terminate  its  existence. 

I  most  cheerfully  admit  that  if  an  attempt  should  ever  be  made  to  charter 
another  bank,  the  question  of  constitutional  power  would  then  again  be 
referred  to  each  individual  member  of  Congress,  to  be  decided  according  to 
the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment  and  his  own  conscience. 

Before  I  take  my  seat,  I  intend  to  make  some  remarks  on  the  causes  of 
the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks  of  the  country,  and  the 
causes  equally  powerful  which  must,  and  that  ere  long,  compel  a  resump 
tion. 

The  late  manifesto  issued  by  the  present  Bank  of  the  United  States  dis 
plays,  upon  its  face,  that  it  has  inherited  from  the  old  bank  an  unconquerable 
disposition  to  interfere  in  the  politics  of  the  country.  This  has  been  its  curse, 
its  original  sin,  to  which  it  owes  all  its  calamities  and  all  its  misfortunes.  It 
has  not  yet  learned  wisdom  from  its  severe  experience.  Would  that  it  might, 
and  confine  itself  to  its  appropriate  sphere !  As  a  citizen  of  Pennsylvania,  I 
most  ardently  and  devoutly  express  this  wish.  It  has  now  set  itself  up,  as  the 
primary  power,  against  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  and  has  attempted 
to  enlist  in  the  same  cause  all  the  other  banks  of  the  country.  Its  language 
to  them  is,  that  <:  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  makes  common  cause  with 
the  other  banks."  And  again :  "  They  (the  banks)  are  now  safe  and  strong, 


SPEECH  ON  THE   BANK   QUESTION.  435 

and  they  should  not  venture  beyond  their  entrenchments,  while  the  enemy  is 
in  the  plain  before  them."  "  The  American  banks  should  do,  in  short,  what 
the  American  army  did  at  New  Orleans,  stand  fast  behind  their  cotton  bales, 
until  the  enemy  has  left  the  country." 

Thus  whilst  every  eye  and  every  heart  was  directed  to  the  banks,  expect 
ing  anxiously  from  them  a  speedy  resumption  of  specie  payments,  this  grand 
regulator  of  the  currency  has  proclaimed  to  the  country  that  all  its  vast  power 
will  be  exerted  to  prevent  the  accomplishment  of  our  wishes. 

The  bank  does  not  even  attempt  to  conceal  the  fact  that,  in  pursuing  this 
course,  it  has  been  actuated  by  political  hostility  against  the  present  adminis 
tration.  It  has  been  boldly  avowed  that  "  if  the  banks  resume,  and  are  able, 
by  sacrificing  the  community,  to  continue  for  a  few  months,  it  will  be  conclu 
sively  employed  at  the  next  elections  to  show  that  the  schemes  of  the  executive  are 
not  as  destructive  as  they  will  prove  hereafter."  In  plain  language,  the  banks 
must  not  resume  before  the  next  elections;  they  must  not  open  their  vaults, 
pay  their  honest  debts,  and  thus  redeem  the  country  from  the  curse  of  an 
irredeemable  paper  currency;  because,  if  they  should,  this  may  operate  in 
favor  of  the  present  administration,  and  place  its  opponents  in  a  minority. 
And  such  is  the  conduct  of  the  bank  whilst  it  vaunts  its  own  ability  to  resume 
immediately. 

The  bank  proceeds  still  further,  and  complains  that  "  bank  notes  are  pro 
scribed  not  merely  from  the  land  offices,  but  from  all  payments  of  every 
description  to  the  Government."  I  would  ask,  has  any  Senator  upon  this 
floor,  has  any  statesman  of  any  party  in  the  country,  ever  raised  his  voice  in 
favor  of  the  receipt  by  the  Government  of  irredeemable  bank  paper  ?  I  beg 
their  pardon ;  two  Senators  have  proposed  such  a  measure,  [Messrs.  Preston  and 
Clay] ;  but  I  will  do  them  the  justice  to  say,  that  although  I  considered  their 
proposition  most  unwise  and  impolitic,  and  resisted  it  as  such  at  the  time,  yet 
they  intended  by  this  means  to  enable  the  banks  the  sooner  to  resume  specie 
payments. 

Mr.  Preston.     It  was  exclusively  limited  to  that  consideration. 

Mr.  Buchanan.  Although  the  proposition  was  limited  to  the  first  of 
August,  the  Senators  themselves  upon  reflection,  thought  it  so  improper  that 
they  abandoned  it,  and  we  have  heard  nothing  of  it  since. 

What  would  have  been  the  condition  of  the  country,  at  the  present 
moment,  had  we  received  irredeemable  bank  notes  in  payments  of  the  public 
dues  ?  The  banks,  by  our  conduct,  would  have  been  encouraged  to  increase 
their  discounts  and  expand  their  issues,  and  we  should  have  gone  from  bad  to 
worse,  until,  at  this  moment,  we  should  have  had  no  prospect  of  the  resump 
tion  of  specie  payments.  Mr.  Cheves  has  informed  us  that  if  the  Government 
had  not  stood  firm  in  1819  against  the  receipt  of  irredeemable  notes,  the 
banks  would  at  that  period  have  suspended.  Much  more  necessary  is  it  that 
we  should  now  maintain  the  same  ground,  in  order  to  secure  a  resumption. 
Had  we  pursued  any  other  course,  it  is  true  we  should  have  but  one  cur 
rency  for  the  Government  and  the  people ;  but  it  would  have  been  currency 


43 G  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

of  irredeemable  bank  rags,  without  the  hope  of  a  better.  And  yet  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States  complains  that  the  Government  does  not  receive  such 
paper.  In  order  to  have  done  so,  we  must  have  repealed  the  existing  laws 
upon  the  subject;  and  who  has  ventured  to  propose  any  such  measure? 

The  Bank  of  the  United  States  has  succeeded,  at  the  late  bank  convention 
in  New  York,  in  keeping  its  forces  behind  their  cotton  bales.  The  banks  of 
only  two  States  in  the  Union  have  voted  against  the  resolution  to  suspend 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments  until  the  first  day  of  January  next.  These 
were  New  York  and  Mississippi ;  and  whether  the  latter  voted  thus  because 
their  banks  are  ready  now  to  resume,  or  desired  to  postpone  resumption  until 
a  still  more  distant  day,  I  shall  not  pretend  to  determine.  After  this  display 
of  power,  no  one  will  question  the  ability  of  the  bank  to  keep  its  forces  be 
hind  their  entrenchments,  unless  they  should  be  driven  into  the  plain  by  the 
resistless  power  of  public  opinion. 

Several  weeks  ago  I  attempted  to  imitate  the  illustrious  examples  which 
had  been  set  before  me  on  this  floor,  and  became  a  political  prophet.  I  then 
predicted  that,  before  the  close  of  the  present  year,  commerce  and  manufac 
tures  would  revive  and  flourish,  and  the  country  would  be  restored  to  its 
former  prosperity.  The  signs  of  the  times  have  already  confirmed  the  truth 
of  this  prophecy.  Encouraged  by  past  experience,  I  shall  venture  to  make 
another  prediction :  There  is  not  a  sound  and  solvent  bank  in  any  of  the 
Atlantic  States  of  this  Union,  including  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  which 
will  not  have  resumed  specie  payments  long  before  the  first  of  January.  All 
the  opposition  of  the  banks  themselves  cannot  prevent  this  result.  In  the 
very  nature  of  things  it  must  come  to  pass.  The  power  of  public  opinion  is 
yet  still  greater  in  this  country  than  that  of  the  banks.  The  Bank  of  the 
United  States  will  not  be  able  to  keep  its  forces  behind  their  cotton  bags  until 
so  late  a  period. 

It  is  now  too  late  in  the  day  for  us  any  longer  to  doubt  what  was  the 
cause  of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments.  That  question  has  been  settled 
on  the  other  side  as  well  as  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Abundance  of  light 
has  been  shed  upon  this  subject,  and  no  two  sound-judging  men,  at  all  ac 
quainted  with  the  facts,  can  arrive  at  different  conclusions.  It  has  already 
become  history.  And  yet  the  bank,  in  its  manifesto,  has  not  once  alluded  to 
this  cause.  What  was  it?  In  the  perpetual  fluctuations  which  must  ever 
be  produced  by  our  present  banking  system,  unless  it  should  be  regulated 
by  State  legislation,  of  which  I  now  almost  despair,  it  was  expanded  in  the 
commencement  of  the  year  1837  almost  to  the  point  of  explosion.  The  bub 
ble  is  created,  it  expands,  and  reflects  the  most  brilliant  colors.  Its  admirers 
gaze  upon  it  with  hope  and  ecstasy,  when,  suddenly,  it  bursts,  and  leaves  them 
in  ruin  and  despair.  Such  has  been  the  history  of  the  past,  and  such  will  be 
that  of  the  future.  This  expansion  had  produced,  as  it  must  ever  produce, 
enormous  speculation  and  over-trading.  The  commercial  debt  which  we  then 
owed  to  England  for  foreign  merchandise  was  immense.  We  must  have  suf 
fered  the  fatal  collapse  sooner  or  later,  but  a  circumstance  then  occurred  in 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANK    QUESTION.  437 

England  which  at  once  produced  the  explosion.     It  was  the  spark  applied  to 
the  magazine  of  gunpowder. 

A  similar  state  of  expansion  then  existed  in  England.  They  were  threat 
ened  with  similar  evils  from  extravagant  bank  credits,  and  their  inevitable 
consequence — enormous  speculation  and  over-trading.  The  Bank  of  England 
had  in  vain  attempted  to  control  the  joint-stock  banks,  and  confine  them 
within  reasonable  limits.  She  at  last  .became  alarmed  for  her  own  safety. 
In  the  beginning  of  1837  her  stock  of  specie  was  reduced  to  about  four  mil 
lions  of  pounds  sterling,  or  one-sixth  of  her  circulation  and  deposits.  This 
was  not  more  than  one-half  of  the  proportion  which,  it  is  believed,  she  ought 
to  have  in  order  to  render  her  secure.  The  state  of  the  foreign  exchanges 
was  gradually  withdrawing  the  remaining  bullion  from  her  vaults.  At  this 
crisis,  under  the  influence  of  a  panic,  she  withdrew  her  credits  from  the 
American  houses  in  England,  and  ruined  them.  The  price  of  cotton,  in  con 
sequence,  suddenly  fell  from  nineteen  and  twenty  cents  to  seven  and  eight 
cents  per  pound ;  and  thus,  according  to  the  best  and  most  discreet  estimate 
which  I  have  seen,  we  lost  at  least  thirty  million  of  dollars.  The  sum  was 
thus,  as  it  were  in  a  single  moment,  abstracted  from  our  means  of  paying  the 
immense  commercial  balance  against  us.  At  the  close  of  this  disastrous  opera 
tion,  that  balance  was  estimated  at  forty  millions  of  dollars.  What  was  the 
immediate  consequence  ?  A  drain  of  specie  then  commenced  from  our  banks 
for  exportation,  in  order  to  pay  this  debt,  and  they  were  thus  compelled  to  sus 
pend  or  be  ruined.  Another  circumstance  existed  to  increase  our  embarrass 
ments.  Our  merchants  had  drawn  heavy  bills  upon  England,  predicated  upon 
the  cotton  which  they  had  shipped  there,  expecting  to  receive  the  old  prices. 
In  consequence  of  the  sudden  fall  of  prices,  these  bills  were  dishonored,  and 
came  back  protested.  Thus  many  of  our  largest  mercantile  houses  were  ruined. 

The  catastrophe  proceeded  from  the  same  causes,  and  was  similar  in  both 
countries,  except  that  in  England  the  banks  were  not  compelled  to  suspend 
specie  payments.  The  revenue  of  both  has  been  insufficient  to  meet  the  cur 
rent  expenses  of  the  Government,  and  each  will  be  obliged  to  borrow  nearly 
the  same  sum  to  supply  the  deficiency. 

This  is  now  history,  which  can  neither  be  changed  nor  perverted.  On 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  all  men  of  business  and  practical  statesmen  have 
come  to  the  same  conclusion.  Away,  then,  with  your  Specie  Circular,  your 
mismanagement  of  the  deposits,  and  your  clamor  raised  by  the  executive 
against  bank  notes,  as  the  causes  of  the  suspension  of  specie  payments.  The 
bank  calculates  too  much  upon  the  political  credulity  of  the  people,  when,  at 
this  late  day,  after  the  subject  is  perfectly  understood,  it  attempts  to  palm  off 
upon  them  such  exploded  reasons  for  the  suspension.  A  convulsion  which 
has  shaken  the  commercial  world  to  its  centre,  and  has  extended  over  three- 
quarters  of  the  globe,  could  never  spring  from  such  trivial  causes. 

If  the  executive  has  been  carrying  on  a  war  against  the  credit  system  of 
the  country,  and  in  favor  of  an  exclusive  metallic  currency  for  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  I  am  ignorant  of  the  fact.  I  have  never  even  suspected  it. 


438  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

I  believe  this  is  a  mere  phantom  which  has  been  conjured  up  to  alarm  the 
fears  of  the  timid.  If  the  President  ever  should  wage  any  such  war,  I  shall 
not  fight  under  his  banner.  The  only  pretext  upon  which  this  charge  has 
been  founded  is,  that  he  and  his  political  friends  desire  to  separate  the  busi 
ness  of  the  Treasury  from  that  of  the  banks,  not  to  render  them  hostile  to 
each  other.  Until  that  propitious  day  shall  arrive,  we  shall  be  forever  agitated 
by  the  connection  of  the  currency  with  our  miserable  party  politics.  Political 
panics,  political  pressures,  charges  against  the  Government  for  exercising  an 
improper  influence  over  the  banks,  and  charges  against  the  banks  for  interfer 
ing  with  the  politics  of  the  country ;  all,  all  which  have  kept  us  in  a  state  of 
constant  agitation  for  the  last  seven  years  will  continue  to  exist,  and  will  be 
brought  into  action  upon  every  successive  election  for  President  and  Yice 
President.  We  shall  thus  continue  in  a  state  of  perpetual  commotion ;  and 
the  great  interests  of  the  country  will  be  sacrificed.  Let  the  Treasury  and  the 
banks  part  in  peace,  and  whilst  they  are  mutually  independent,  let  them  wage 
no  war  against  each  other ;  and  I  solemnly  believe  it  would  be  the  greatest 
blessing  which  could  be  conferred  upon  both  parties.  To  this  extent,  I  should 
go  with  the  President  if  I  had  the  power ;  but  when  I  determine  to  obey 
instructions,  I  shall  do  it  honestly  and  fairly.  I  shall,  therefore,  say  no  more 
on  this  subject. 

It  is  true  that  at  the  special  session  I  did  endeavor  to  prove  that  the  present 
banking  system,  under  its  existing  regulations,  was  one  of  the  very  worst 
which  the  art  of  man  could  devise.  Under  it,  ruinous  expansions  and  revul 
sions  must  continue  to  succeed  each  other  at  stated  periods,  and  many  of  the 
best  and  most  enterprising  men  of  the  country  must  become  its  victims.  I 
then  expressed  a  hope,  not  unmingled  with  fear,  that  the  State  legislatures 
at  their  next  session  might  impose  wholesome  restrictions  upon  their  banking 
institutions — restrictions  which  would  prove  equally  advantageous  to  the  banks 
and  the  people.  These  legislatures  have  all  now  risen  without  prescribing 
any  such  regulations,  and  we  are  destined  again  and  again  to  pass  through 
the  same  vicissitudes  which  we  have  so  often  already  witnessed. 

The  Whigs  have  always  been  exceedingly  unlucky  in  regard  to  the  time 
of  these  periodical  revulsions,  occasioned  by  excessive  banking.  They  have 
either  come  too  soon  or  too  late  to  answer  their  political  purposes.  Had  the 
suspension  of  specie  payments  occurred  one  year  sooner  than  it  did,  the  hero 
of  Tippecanoe  might  have  been  the  successor  of  the  hero  of  New  Orleans. 
But  the  revulsion  came  again  at  the  wrong  time ;  and  long  before  the  Presi 
dential  election  of  1840,  the  country  will  again  be  prosperous.  The  effects  of 
the  suspension  will  have  passed  away,  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision, 
without  leaving  a  trace  behind.  Our  late  experience  has  been  so  severe,  that 
the  next  bank  explosion  may  possibly  bo  postponed  until  the  year  1844. 
Whom  it  may  then  benefit  I  know  not,  nor  do  I  much  care.  One  thing  is 
certain,  that  these  revulsions  can  never  do  anything  but  injury  to  the  party  in 
power.  It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  accuse  the  Government,  or  anything  else, 
except  his  own  misconduct,  for  his  misfortunes. 


SPEECH  ON  THE  BANK  QUESTION.  439 

I  now  approach  a  much  more  agreeable  part  of  my  subject;  and  that  is, 
to  prove  that  the  banks  must  and  will  speedily  resume  specie  payments.  I 
shall  attempt  to  establish  that  now  is  the  very  time,  the  accepted  time,  the 
best  time,  and,  within  the  period  of  a  few  months,  the  only  time,  when  they 
can  resume,  without  the  least  embarrassment.  Some  of  the  causes  which 
will  speedily  effect  this  happy  result,  I  shall  enumerate. 

In  the  first  place,  I  shall  do  the  banks  of  the  country  generally  the  justice 
to  say,  that  since  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  they  have  curtailed  their 
circulation  and  their  loans  to  a  great  extent,  and  have  done  everything  they 
reasonably  could  to  atone  for  their  past  extravagance.  The  banks  of  Penn 
sylvania,  including  that  of  the  United  States,  during  a  period  of  ten  months, 
commencing  in  January,  and  ending  in  November,  1837,  had  reduced  their 
circulation  from  twenty-five  millions  and  a  quarter  to  almost  seventeen  mil 
lions,  and  their  discounts  from  eighty-six  millions  and  a  half  to  nearly  seventy- 
one  millions,  whilst,  during  the  same  period,  they  had  increased  their  specie 
from  five  millions  and  three-quarters  to  upwards  of  seven  millions.  From  all 
I  can  learn,  they  have  been  since  progressing  at  nearly  the  same  rate,  though 
I  have  not  seen  their  official  returns.  The  banks  of  other  States  have  been 
generally  pursuing  the  same  course.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  confidence 
of  the  country  in  their  banking  institutions  has  been,  in  a  great  degree, 
restored.  I  feel  convinced  that  if  they  should  resume  specie  payments  to 
morrow,  in  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  at  least,  there  would  be  no  run 
upon  them,  except  for  as  much  silver  change  as  might  be  required  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  miserable  trash  now  in  circulation  under  the  denomination  of 
shinplasters.  Besides  they  would  soon  receive  on  deposit  a  greater  amount 
from  those  who  have  been  hoarding  specie,  under  the  belief  that  it  would  be 
safer  at  home  than  in  the  banks,  and  in  the  hope  that  they  might  hereafter 
use  it  to  great  advantage.  No  foreign  demand  now  exists  to  drain  the  banks 
of  their  specie;  on  the  contrary,  the  reflux  tide  has  set  in  strongly,  and  is 
now  wafting  immense  sums  of  gold  and  silver  to  our  shores. 

But,  sir,  another  powerful  cause  of  resumption  exists.  Our  exports  of 
cotton  have,  many  months  ago,  paid  our  foreign  commercial  debt.  Whilst 
that  has  been  extinguished,  the  disastrous  condition  of  our  currency  has 
reduced  almost  to  nothing  the  orders  of  our  merchants  for  foreign  goods. 
Our  imports  are  of  small  comparative  value.  In  the  mean  time,  our  cotton 
crop  of  1837  has  been  regularly  and  steadily  seeking  its  accustomed  markets 
in  England  and  France.  We  have  sold  much,  and  bought  little,  and  the 
balance  in  our  favor  is  nearly  all  returning  in  specie.  From  the  last  English 
accounts  which  I  have  seen,  the  exports  of  specie  from  that  country  to  this 
were  still  on  the  increase;  and  now,  by  almost  every  vessel  from  abroad 
which  reaches  our  shores,  we  are  receiving  gold  and  silver.  Specie,  by  the 
latest  advices,  was  the  most  profitable  means  of  remittance  from  England  to 
the  United  States,  yielding  a  profit  of  four  per  cent.  When  Congress  met 
in  September  last,  the  rate  of  exchange  against  us  on  England  was  upwards 
of  twenty  per  cent.  It  is  now  reduced  to  six  per  cent.,  which  is  three  or 


440  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

four  per  cent,  below  the  specie  par.  A  great  revolution  in  so  short  a  period ! 
It  proves  how  vast  are  the  resources  of  our  country. 

This  great  revolution  has  been  effected  by  means  of  our  cotton.  The 
English  manufacturers  must  have  this  article,  or  be  ruined.  This  necessity 
has  reversed  the  ordinary  laws  of  trade,  and  the  foreign  market  for  it  has 
remained  firm  and  steady,  although  we  bring  home  scarcely  any  equivalent, 
except  in  specie. 

If  a  large  portion  of  our  cotton  crop  still  remains  unsold,  so  much  the 
better.  The  golden  tide  will  continue  so  much  the  longer  to  flow  into  our 
country.  It  is  the  policy  of  our  banks  to  take  it  at  the  flood,  and  go  on  to 
fortune.  If  the  banks  do  but  seize  the  present  golden  opportunity,  they  will 
have  completely  fortified  themselves  before  a  reverse  can  come.  This  state 
of  things  cannot  always  continue.  A  reaction  must  occur.  If  the  banks 
wait  for  the  ebbing  tide,  and  postpone  a  resumption  until  our  merchants  shall 
make  heavy  purchases  abroad,  and  specie  shall  begin  to  be  exported,  they  will 
then  encounter  difficulties  which  they  need  not  now  dread.  I  again  repeat 
that  this  moment  is  the  accepted  time  for  the  banks  to  resume. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  ordinary  laws  of  trade  which  are  now  bringing  vast 
amounts  of  specie  to  our  country.  Two  other  causes  are  operating  powerfully 
to  produce  this  result. 

The  conduct  of  the  Bank  of  England,  in  arresting  its  credits  to  the  Amer 
ican  houses,  which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  suspension  of  specie  pay 
ments,  has  been  loudly  condemned  by  men  of  all  parties  there.  This  measure 
has  done  that  country  nearly  as  much  injury  as  it  has  done  this,  because 
England  must  always  suffer  from  every  derangement  in  our  currency.  The 
Bank  is  now  conscious  of  this  truth,  and  is  retracing  her  steps.  She  has 
increased  her  stock  of  bullion  between  February,  1837,  and  March,  1838, 
from  £4,032,090  to  upwards  of  ten  millions  sterling.  She  is  now  strong,  and 
it  is  her  interest,  as  well  as  that  of  the  people  of  England,  that  she  should  use 
this  strength  in  assisting  us  to  resume  specie  payments.  Accordingly,  she 
has,  through  the  agency  of  one  of  our  most  intelligent  and  enterprising 
citizens,  made  an  arrangement  to  furnish  the  banks  of  New  York  one  million 
sterling  in  specie,  to  aid  them  in  resuming  payments  in  gold  and  silver.  This 
million  is  now  arriving,  by  instalments,  in  the  United  States.  In  resuming  at 
the  present  moment,  our  banks  have  everything  to  hope,  and  nothing  to  fear, 
from  England. 

Again  :  The  spirit  of  internal  improvement  is  abroad  throughout  our  land. 
States  and  private  companies  have  loans  to  make  for  the  purpose  of  erecting 
their  public  works.  Money  is  now  plenty  in  England,  and  is  everywhere 
seeking  an  investment.  The  derangement  in  the  business  of  that  country  has 
thrown  capital  out  of  employment.  The  rate  of  interest  has  been  reduced  to 
three  and  three  and  a  half  per  cent.  Their  capitalists  are  anxious  to  make 
secure  investments  in  loans  to  our  different  State  governments,  and  incor 
porated  companies,  at  a  higher  rate  of  interest  than  they  can  obtain  at  home. 
These  loans  are  now  being  disposed  of  in  England  to  a  very  large  amount," 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANK    QUESTION.  441 

and  the  greater  proportion  of  their  proceeds  must  return  in  specie  to  this 
country.  Everything  is  propitious  to  an  immediate  resumption  by  our  banks. 

Will  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  resume  ?  I  confess  I  do  not  doubt  the 
fact.  She  has  made  a  false  movement,  and  it  is  the  great  prerogative  of 
strength  to  acknowledge  and  retrieve  an  error.  Her  late  manifesto  against 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments  has  not  found  a  single  advocate  on  this 
floor.  It  has  struck  dumb  all  her  friends.  But  yesterday  she  might  have 
stood  against  the  world.  To-day  there  is  none  so  poor  as  to  do  her  reverence. 
Even  those  who  must  politically  suffer  by  the  resumption,  because  "  it  will  be 
conclusively  employed  at  the  next  elections,  to  show  that  the  schemes  of  the 
executive  are  not  so  destructive  as  they  will  prove  hereafter,"  have  not  dared 
to  break  a  lance  in  her  defence.  This  was  not  wont  to  be  the  case  in  days  of 
yore,  for  hitherto  her  champions  have  been  always  ready  to  do  battle  in  her 
cause.  Notwithstanding  all  which  has  been  said  upon  the  subject,  I  am  not 
one  of  those  who  believe  that  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  is  not  able  to 
resume.  Although  the  statement  of  her  condition,  as  recently  published,  is  not 
very  flattering,  yet  her  resources  are  vast.  She  is  able  if  she  were  willing.  Of 
this  I  cannot  entertain  a  doubt. 

Again :  Will  not  the  bank  take  compassion  on  the  good  city  of  Philadel 
phia,  which  has  ever  been  devoted  to  its  interest  ?  Boston  has  been  called  the 
Athens  of  America ;  New  York,  the  great  Commercial  Emporium ;  and  Balti 
more,  the  Monumental  City ;  whilst  Philadelphia  has  been  distinguished  by 
the  name  of  the  City  of  the  Bank  or  marble  palace ;  and  well  have  her 
citizens  earned  this  distinction  by  their  loyalty.  Will  the  bank  now  consent 
to  see  her  commerce  and  trade  languish,  and  her  star  wane  before  that  of  New 
York,  rather  than  retrace  its  steps  and  resume  specie  payments  ?  No,  never. 
Forbid  it,  gratitude ! 

That  this  must  be  the  effect,  who  can  doubt  ?  Merchants  who  come  from 
a  distance  to  purchase  goods  with  money  in  hand  will  go  where  they  can  buy 
the  cheapest ;  and  goods  at  a  specie  standard  must  always  be  cheaper  than  in 
a  depreciated  currency.  Those  who  have  produce  to  sell,  especially  if  the  sale 
is  to  be  made  upon  credit,  will  select  that  market  where  they  will  receive  its 
price  in  a  sound  currency.  Already  the  prospect  of  resumption  in  New  York 
has  made  Philadelphia  bank  notes  worth  less  by  five  per  cent,  than  those  of 
that  city.  What  will  this  difference  become  when  the  one  city  shall  have 
resumed,  and  the  circulation  of  the  other  shall  be  irredeemable  paper  ?  Who 
that  has  money  to  remit  or  deposit  will  send  it  to  Philadelphia,  to  be  returned 
in  notes  depreciated  to  an  extent  which  cannot  be  foreseen,  when  they  can 
send  it  to  New  York  with  a  perfect  confidence  that  it  will  be  returned  to 
them  according  to  the  specie  standard  ?  Under  such  a  state  of  things,  the 
trade  of  New  York  must  increase  and  flourish  at  the  expense  of  that  of  Phila 
delphia.  I  have  not  time,  at  present,  to  enter  into  further  particulars  on  this 
branch  of  the  subject. 

The  people  of  Pennsylvania  have  submitted  patiently  to  the  suspension  of 
specie  payments  by  their  banks.  They  have  bowed  to  the  necessity  which 


442  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

existed,  and  have  treated  them  with  kindness  and  generosity.  The  Bank  of 
the  United  States  has  proclaimed  its  ability  to  resume,  and  our  other  banks 
are  in  the  same  situation.  The  necessity  for  a  further  suspension  no  longer 
exists.  Pay  your  honest  debts  when  you  are  able,  is  a  maxim  dear  to  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania.  This  duty  has  now  become  a  question  of  morality, 
far  transcending  any  question  of  policy.  If  these  privileged  corporations  now 
any  longer  refuse  to  pay  their  honest  debts,  either  for  the  sake  of  their  own 
advantage,  or  from  a  desire  to  elevate  one  political  party  and  depress  another, 
the  indignation  of  honest  men,  of  all  parties,  will  be  roused  against  them. 
There  will  be  a  burst  of  popular  feeling  from  our  mountains  and  our  valleys, 
which  they  will  be  compelled  to  respect.  Thank  God !  public  opinion  in  the 
interior  of  Pennsylvania  is  yet  stronger  than  the  money  power.  Our  people 
will  never  submit  to  the  degradation  that  their  banks  shall  furnish  them  no 
currency  but  that  of  irredeemable  paper  j  whilst,  throughout  the  State  of  New 
York,  the  banks  shall  have  resumed  specie  payments.  Nothing  could  be  more 
wounding  to  my  own  pride,  as  a  Pennsylvanian. 

If  our  banks  should  hold  out,  under  the  command  of  their  great  leader,  until 
the  first  day  of  January  next,  many  of  them  will  never  be  able  to  resume. 
The  public  confidence,  which  their  conduct  since  the  suspension  has  hitherto 
inspired,  will  long  ere  that  distant  day  cease  to  exist.  No  run  would  now 
be  made  on  them  in  case  they  resume;  but  if  they  are  forced  into  the 
measure  by  public  opinion,  after  resisting  as  long  as  they  can,  the  days  of 
many  of  them  will  then  be  numbered.  Honesty,  duty,  policy,  all  conspire  to 
dictate  to  them  a  speedy  resumption. 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  remark,  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
have  abundant  cause  for  the  deepest  gratitude  towards  that  great  and  glorious 
man  now  in  retirement  for  preventing  the  recharter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  He  is  emphatically  the  man  of  the  age,  and  has  left  a  deeper  and 
more  enduring  impress  upon  it  than  any  individual  of  our  country.  Still,  in 
regard  to  the  bank,  he  performed  but  half  his  work.  For  its  completion  we 
are  indebted  to  the  president  of  the  bank.  Had  the  bank  confined  itself,  after 
it  accepted  the  charter  from  Pennsylvania,  to  its  mere  banking  and  financial 
operations — had  it  exerted  its  power  to  regulate  the  domestic  exchanges  of  the 
country — and,  above  all,  had  it  taken  the  lead  in  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments,  a  new  bank,  Phoenix-like,  might  have  arisen  from  the  ashes  of  the 
old.  That  danger,  from  present  appearances,  has  now  passed  away.  The 
open  defiance  of  Congress  by  the  bank — the  laws  of  the  country  over  and 
over  again  violated — its  repeated  attempts  to  interfere  in  the  party  politics  of 
the  day — all,  all  have  taught  the  people  the  danger  of  such  a  vast  moneyed 
corporation.  Mr.  Biddle  has  finished  the  work  which  General  Jackson  only 
commenced. 

Not  one  particle  of  personal  hostility  towards  that  gentleman  has  been 
mingled  in  my  discussion  of  the  question.  On  the  contrary,  as  a  private 
gentleman,  I  respect  him ;  and  my  personal  intercourse  with  him,  though  not 
frequent,  has  been  of  the  most  agreeable  character.  I  am  always  ready  to 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANK    QUESTION.  443 

do  justice  to  his  great  and  varied  talents.  I  have  spoken  of  the  public  con 
duct  of  the  bank  over  which  he  presides  with  the  freedom  and  boldness 
which  I  shall  always  exercise  in  the  performance  of  my  public  duties.  It  is 
the  president  of  the  bank,  not  the  man,  that  I  have  assailed.  It  is  the  nature 
of  the  institution  over  which  he  presides  that  has  made  him  what  he  is.  Like 
all  other  men,  he  must  yield  to  his  destiny.  The  possession  of  such  vast  and 
unlimited  power,  continued  for  a  long  period  of  years,  would  have  turned  the 
head  of  almost  any  other  man,  and  have  driven  him  to  as  great  excesses. 

In  vain  you  may  talk  to  me  about  paper  restrictions  in  the  charter  of  a 
bank  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  be  able  to  crush  the  other  banks  of  the  coun 
try.  When  did  a  vast  moneyed  monopoly  ever  regard  the  law,  if  any  great 
interest  of  its  own  stood  in  the  way  ?  It  will  then  violate  its  charter,  and  its 
own  power  will  secure  it  impunity.  It  well  knows  that  in  its  destruction  the 
ruin  of  hundreds  and  thousands  would  be  involved,  and  therefore  it  can  do 
almost  what  it  pleases.  The  history  of  the  bank  for  several  years  past  has 
been  one  continued  history  of  violated  laws,  and  of  attempts  to  interfere  in 
the  politics  of  the  country.  Create  another  bank,  and  place  any  other  man 
at  its  head,  and  the  result  will  be  the  same.  Such  an  institution  will  always 
hereafter  prove  too  strong  for  the  Government;  because  we  cannot  again 
expect  to  see,  at  least  in  our  day,  another  Andrew  Jackson  in  the  Presidential 
chair.  On  the  other  hand,  should  such  a  bank,  wielding  the  moneyed  power 
of  the  country,  form  an  alliance  with  the  political  power,  and  that  is  the 
natural  position  of  the  parties,  their  combined  influence  would  govern  the 
Union,  and  liberty  might  become  an  empty  name. 

MR.  BUCHANAN'S  REPLY  TO  MR.  CLAY,  ON  THE  SAME  DAY. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said  he  had  never  enjoyed  many  triumphs,  and  therefore  he 
prized  the  more  highly  the  one  which  he  had  won  this  day.  He  had  forced 
the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Clay]  to  break  that  determined 
silence  which  had  hitherto  sealed  his  lips  on  the  subject  of  this  bill.  Thus, 
said  Mr.  B.,  I  have  adorned  my  brow  with  a  solitary  sprig  of  laurel.  Not 
one  word  was  he  to  utter  upon  the  present  occasion.  This  he  had  announced 
publicly. 

[Here  Mr.  Clay  dissented.] 

Mr.  Buchanan.  I  thought  he  had  announced  the  other  day  his  determina 
tion  not  to  debate  the  question,  and  stated  this  as  the  reason  why  he  pro 
pounded  to  the  Senator  from  New  Jersey  [Mr.  Wall]  the  question  whether, 
in  his  opinion,  John  Brockenbrough  and  Albert  G-allatin  could  be  constitu 
tionally  punished  by  Congress  for  re-issuing  the  old  notes  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States. 

[Mr.  Clay  again  explained.] 

Well,  said  Mr.  Buchanan,  the  Senator  did  intend  to  address  the  Senate  on 
this  subject,  and  the  only  sprig  of  laurel  which  I  ever  expected  to  win  from 
him  has  already  withered.  Yec  still  there  was  an  evident  reluctance  on  his 


444  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

part,  which  all  must  have  observed,  to  enter  into  this  contest.  The  Senator 
from  Vermont  [Mr.  Prentiss]  had  made  an  able  constitutional  argument  in 
opposition  to  the  bill.  With  the  exception  of  that  gentleman,  and  the  Sena 
tor  from  South  Carolina  (Mr.  Preston),  a  profound  silence  had  reigned  on  this 
(the  Whig)  side  of  the  house.  The  question  had  been  propounded  by  the 
Vice  President,  and  the  vote  was  about  to  be  taken,  when  I  rose  and 
addressed  the  Senate.  Immediately  after  I  had  taken  my  seat,  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  made  one  of  his  best  speeches,  for 
it  belongs  to  the  character  of  his  mind  to  make  the  ablest  efforts  with  the 
least  preparation.  I  will  venture  to  say  he  had  not  intended  to  make  that 
speech  when  he  entered  the  Senate  chamber  this  morning. 

[Mr.  Clay  admitted  this  to  be  the  fact.] 

Then,  said  Mr.  Buchanan,  I  have  succeeded,  and  my  sprig  of  laurel  is 
again  green. 

The  gentleman  says  I  may  hang  Nick  Biddle,  if  I  please ;  but  I  please  to 
do  no  such  thing.  I  would  be  sorry  to  subject  him  even  to  the  punishment 
of  imprisonment  denounced  by  this  bill ;  and  if  he  should  ever  be  convicted 
under  its  provisions,  I  hope  the  court  may  content  itself  with  the  infliction 
of  a  mere  pecuniary  fine.  Hang  Nick  Biddle,  indeed !  I  wish  to  keep  him 
for  the  service  of  the  Whig  party,  should  they  ever  come  into  power.  The 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Preston]  had  said,  at  the  extra  session,  that 
Mr.  Biddle,  if  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  would,  in  thirty  or  sixty 
days,  I  forget  which,  heal  all  the  disorders  in  the  currency,  and  remove  all  the 
financial  embarrassments  of  the  Government.  His  appointment  would  prove 
a  sovereign  panacea  for  all  existing  evils.  Now  I  go  for  this  administration 
both  from  principle  and  inclination,  and  shall  support  the  re-election  of  the 
present  President ;  but  if  I  were  a  Whig,  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  would 
be  my  first  choice.  I  should,  therefore,  be  very  sorry  to  deprive  him  of  the 
services  of  Mr.  Biddle,  who  will  make,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Senator's  friend 
from  South  Carolina,  the  very  best  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  the  whole 
country. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  asks  me  why  I  do  not  defend  Mr.  Biddle,  a 
distinguished  citizen  of  my  own  State.  My  answer  is  at  hand.  I  cannot 
defend  his  conduct  as  president  of  the  bank,  because  I  believe  it  to  be  wholly 
indefensible ;  and  he  has  been  attacked  in  no  other  character.  I  should  have 
been  proud  and  happy  to  undertake  this  task,  could  I  have  performed  it  con 
sistently  with  my  conscience.  But  why  does  the  Senator  propound  such  a 
question  to  me  ?  I  confidently  expected  Mr.  Biddle  would  have  been  defended 
by  a  much  more  eloquent  tongue.  I  defend  him !  when  the  eloquent  gentle 
men  all  around  me  are  his  own  peculiar  friends ;  and  yet,  strange  to  tell,  not 
one  of  them  has  attempted  to  justify  his  conluct.  "But  yesterday  he  might 
have  stood  against  the  world."  "  He  has  fallen,  fallen  from  his  high  estate." 
Whence  this  ominous  silence  ?  I  wished  to  hear  him  defended,  if  it  could  be 
done,  by  gentlemen  of  his  own  political  party,  who  have  never  hitherto 
shrunk  from  such  a  responsibility. 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANK    QUESTION.  445 

The  Senator  asserts  that  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  is  no  longer  in 
existence.  But  are  not  the  president,  directors,  and  officers,  the  same  that 
they  were  under  the  old  charter  ?  Has  it  not  branch  banks  in  at  least  two 
States — Louisiana  and  Georgia — and  branch  agencies  scattered  over  the  rest 
of  the  Union  ?  And  to  render  its  continued  existence  still  more  palpable,  has 
it  not  seized  all  the  notes  of  the  old  bank,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  and 
converted  them  to  its  own  use  ?  Why,  sir,  according  to  its  very  last  return, 
it  has  but  little  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  new  notes  in  cir 
culation,  whilst  the  circulation  of  its  old  notes  exceeds  six  millions.  Is  it  not 
still  diffusing  its  blessings  and  its  benefits  everywhere,  in  the  opinion  of  its 
friends  and  admirers  ?  Why  has  it  not,  then,  proved  to  be  the  grand  regula 
tor  of  the  currency,  and  prevented  a  suspension  of  specie  payments  ?  If  that 
were  impossible,  why  is  it  not,  at  least,  the  first  among  the  banks  to  urge 
their  resumption?  Had  it  acted  thus,  it  is  possible  it  might  have  obtained 
another  charter  from  Congress.  But  when  we  find  not  only  that  it  could  not 
save  itself  from  the  general  crash,  but  that  it  is  now  the  great  leader  in 
opposing  a  resumption  of  specie  payments,  we  must  lose  our  confidence  in 
its  power  as  a  grand  regulator. 

But  this  bank,  says  the  Senator,  is  a  mere  domestic  institution  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  With  one  of  its  arms  stretched  across  the  Atlantic,  for  the  purpose 
of  loaning  money,  buying  bills,  and  regulating  exchanges  there,  whilst,  with 
the  other,  it  conducts  immense  banking  and  trading  operations  here,  co 
extensive  with  the  Union,  how  can  it  be  called  a  mere  domestic  institution  of 
a  single  State?  Nay,  more:  it  seems,  by  its  last  manifesto,  to  have  taken 
"  the  great  commercial  and  pecuniary  interests  "  of  the  Union  into  its  keep 
ing,  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Sir,  a  single  State  cannot  furnish  employ 
ment  for  its  immense  capital.  It  would  starve  within  such  narrow  limits.  It 
is  no  more  a  State  institution  now  than  it  was  under  the  old  charter,  except 
that  its  existence  as  the  same  identical  corporation  has  been  continued  by  an 
act  of  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  instead  of  an  act  of  Congress ;  and 
that,  too,  with  much  greater  powers  than  it  formerly  possessed.  It  never 
ventured  to  plant  itself  in  England  under  the  old  charter.  No,  sir,  let  not 
gentlemen  delude  themselves.  The  old  Bank  of  the  United  States  still 
lives,  and  moves,  and  has  its  being,  without  even  having  changed  its  name. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  asks,  why  pass  this  bill?  He  says  it  is 
wholly  unnecessary ;  and  whilst  he  admits  that  the  present  bank  had  no  legal 
power  to  reissue  these  old  notes,  he  thinks  it  ought  not  to  be  prevented  from 
acting  thus,  because  these  notes  furnish  the  best  and  only  universal  currency 
in  the  Union.  The  Senator  reminds  me  of  the  ancient  heretics  which  existed 
in  the  Church,  mentioned  and  condemned  by  the  Apostle  Paul.  Their  doc 
trine  was,  that  it  was  lawful  to  do  evil  that  good  might  come.  It  seems  we 
are  now  to  have  a  similar  sect  of  political  heretics,  whose  doctrine  is,  violate 
the  law,  if  you  can  thereby  furnish  a  good  currency  for  the  people.  But 
there  was  not  the  least  necessity  for  any  such  violation.  As  the  old  notes 
came  in,  the  bank  might  have  supplied  their  place  by  circulating  its  own 


446  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

new  notes.  They  are  a  better  currency  in  every  respect ;  because  the  present 
bank  is  under  a  legal  obligation  to  redeem  them  on  demand.  Not  so  in  regard 
to  the  old  notes.  Their  immediate  redemption  depends  upon  the  honor  of  the 
bank,  and  nothing  more.  I  have  no  doubt  Mr.  Biddle  intends  to  redeem 
them,  but  he  may  be  succeeded  by  another  and  a  different  man.  Besides, 
the  bank  may,  in  the  course  of  time,  become  insolvent ;  and  in  that  event  the 
payment  of  its  own  notes  and  debts  must  be  preferred  to  that  of  these  resur 
rection  notes.  It  is  certain  that  no  direct  remedy  can  be  had  upon  them 
against  the  present  bank. 

The  Senator  denounces  the  present  bill  not  only  as  unconstitutional,  but  as 
the  most  enormous  stretch  of  power  he  has  ever  known  to  be  attempted.  I 
am  glad  to  find  that  the  Senator  has  become  the  advocate  of  a  strict  con 
struction  of  the  Constitution,  and  an  enemy  to  the  exercise  of  doubtful 
powers.  In  this  particular  we  agree.  And  I  am  much  pleased  to  learn  from 
himself  that  he  does  not  concur  with  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr. 
Webster]  in  deriving  power  over  the  paper  currency  of  the  country  from  the 
clauses  in  the  Constitution  authorizing  Congress  to  coin  money  and  regulate 
commerce.  By  abandoning  this  latitudinarian  construction,  however,  he  vir 
tually  surrenders  up  the  power  to  create  a  national  bank.  The  Senator  shakes 
his  head,  but  I  shall  endeavor  to  prove  that  this  is  the  dilemma  in  which  he 
has  placed  himself.  On  what  ground  did  the  Supreme  Court  decide  the  bank 
to  be  constitutional?  It  was  because  Congress,  possessing  the  express  power 
to  levy  and  collect  taxes  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  debts  of  the  United 
States,  might  create  a  bank  by  implication,  if  they  believed  it  to  be  a  neces 
sary  agent  in  the  execution  of  this  taxing  power.  Now  will  any  man,  at 
this  day,  pretend  that  the  taxes  of  the  Government  cannot  be  collected,  and 
its  debts  paid,  without  the  agency  of  such  a  bank  ?  I  think  not.  It  must 
have  been  for  the  purpose  of  extricating  himself  from  this  dilemma,  and  find 
ing  a  power  somewhere  else  to  establish  a  bank,  that  the  Senator  from  Mas 
sachusetts  asserted  a  general  power  in  Congress  to  create  and  regulate  the 
paper  currency  of  the  country,  and  derived  it  from  the  coining  and  commer 
cial  clauses  in  the  Constitution.  I  should  be  pleased  always  to  agree  with 
the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  and  I  am  glad  that  we  unite  in  denying  the 
power  claimed  by  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts. 

In  regard  to  the  power  to  pass  this  bill,  I  shall  state  the  proposition  of  the 
Senator  from  Kentucky  as  fairly  as  I  can.  He  says  that  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  is  a  corporation  created  by  a  sovereign  State,  and  that  this  bill, 
intended  to  operate  upon  such  a  corporation,  is  wholly  unconstitutional  and 
subversive  of  State  rights.  Now,  sir,  if  the  bill  were  intended  to  act  upon 
the  bank,  as  a  Pennsylvania  corporation,  I  should  abandon  the  argument. 
The  president  and  directors  of  this  bank  sustain  two  characters,  totally  sep 
arate  and  distinct  from  each  other.  They  are  officers  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Bank ;  and  in  that  character  they  are  beyond  our  control.  But  they  have 
voluntarily  assumed  another  character,  by  becoming  assignees  and  trustees  of 
the  old  bank  chartered  by  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  winding  up  its  con- 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANK    QUESTION.  447 

cerns;  and  it  is  in  this  character,  and  this  alone,  that  we  have  any  jurisdiction 
over  them.  We  do  not  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  bank  as  a  corporation 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  No,  sir ;  we  only  undertake  to  operate  upon 
it  as  the  assignee  of  our  old  bank.  The  gentleman  asked  if  the  old  bank  had 
assigned  its  property  to  individual  trustees,  could  we  pass  any  law  to  compel 
these  trustees  to  wind  up  its  concerns  ?  Most  certainly  we  could ;  because, 
no  matter  into  whose  hands  the  duty  of  winding  up  our  bank  may  have 
passed,  we  should  possess  the  power  to  compel  a  performance  of  that  duty. 
This  power  of  Congress  can  never  be  evaded  or  destroyed  by  any  transfer  to 
trustees  made  by  officers  created  by  our  own  law,  whether  the  transfer  be 
legal  or  illegal.  Our  power  attaches  to  such  trustees,  and  will  continue  until 
they  shall  have  closed  the  concerns  of  the  bank. 

The  gentleman  says  that  the  power  to  create  a  bank  is  one  implication, 
and  that  to  wind  it  up  is  a  second  implication,  and  to  pass  this  bill  would  be 
piling  implication  upon  implication,  like  Pelion  upon  Ossa,  which  cannot  be 
done  under  the  Constitution.  Now,  sir,  to  what  absurdities  does  not  this 
argument  lead  ?  By  implication  you  can  create  a  bank  for  a  limited  period, 
which  you  cannot  destroy  after  that  period  has  expired.  Your  creature,  the 
term  of  whose  existence  you  have  foreordained,  becomes  eternal  in  defiance  of 
your  power.  And  this  because  you  cannot  add  implication  to  implication. 
The  gentleman  asks  where  do  you  find  this  winding  up  power  in  the  Consti 
tution  ?  I  answer,  wherever  he  finds  the  creating  power.  The  one  neces 
sarily  results  from  the  other.  If  not,  when  you  call  a  bank  into  existence,  its 
charter,  although  limited  to  a  few  years,  becomes  in  fact  perpetual.  You 
cannot  create  that  which  you  cannot  destroy,  after  it  has  lived  its  appointed 
time. 

As  to  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Brockenbrough — nobody  pretends  you  can 
touch  them  or  their  banks  by  your  law.  The  bill  is  confined  to  your  own 
agents,  acting  under  your  own  law,  and  therefore  subject  to  your  own  juris 
diction.  These  agents  are  as  much  yours  for  the  purpose  proposed  by  the 
bill,  as  the  president  and  directors  of  the  old  bank  would  have  been.  There 
is  a  perfect  privity,  as  the  lawyers  would  say,  between  the  two ;  nay,  there 
is  a  perfect  identity.  It  is  no  argument  to  say  that  the  old  bank  is  dead ;  but 
even  this  is  not  the  fact.  We  have  extended  its  existence  at  the  present  ses 
sion,  without  a  dissenting  voice,  in  either  House,  for  the  purpose  of  prosecut 
ing  and  defending  its  suits,  and  it  has  always  continued  to  elect  a  president 
and  board  of  directors. 

The  Senator  has  asked,  if  the  Bank  of  England  or  any  of  the  banks  in 
Canada  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  their  agents  in  this  country  should  reissue 
their  old  notes,  whether  we  would  claim  the  power  of  punishing  them  for 
that  cause.  This  question,  in  my  opinion,  presents  the  only  instance  of  haste 
and  want  of  sufficient  reflection  in  the  gentleman's  speech.  There  is  no 
analogy  between  the  two  cases.  Congress  never  created  the  Bank  of  Eng 
land,  nor  any  bank  in  Canada,  and  therefore  Congress  can  never  claim  any 
power  to  close  their  concerns.  We  assert  no  power  except  over  our  own 


448  LIFE   OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

bank  and  its  trustees.     We  cannot  interfere  with  tlie  banks  of  the  several 
States,  much  less  with  those  of  a  foreign  country. 

The  Senator  thinks  he  has  caught  me  in  a  palpable  inconsistency.  He 
says  I  first  condemned  the  expansion  of  the  banks  in  this  country,  and  after 
wards  condemned  the  contraction  of  the  Bank  of  England.  I  might  have 
done  so,  in  the  special  case  of  the  refusal  of  that  bank  to  extend  its  accus 
tomed  credits  to  the  American  houses,  without  any  inconsistency;  but  I 
expressed  no  opinion  of  my  own  upon  the  subject.  In  stating  the  causes 
which  produced  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  in  the  United  States,  I 
said  that  this  act  of  the  Bank  of  England  had  been  condemned  in  that  country 
both  by  their  statesmen  and  men  of  business.  I  passed  no  censure  whatever 
on  the  conduct  of  that  bank,  and  the  gentleman,  therefore,  need  not  have 
reminded  me  that  it  would  but  little  regard  my  censure.  I  am  content  to 
confine  my  humble  exertions  to  our  own  institutions  at  home,  leaving  to  other 
gentlemen  the  glory  of  having  South  America  on  one  side  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Greece  on  the  other,  shouting  hosannas  in  their  praise. 

The  gentleman  asks,  with  a  triumphant  air,  where  are  England  and  France 
at  the  present  moment  ?  Are  they  not  prosperous,  whilst  we  are  embarrassed  ? 
In  regard  to  England,  I  answer  that  money  there  is  plenty  and  cheap ;  and 
this  simply  because  business  has  been  paralyzed  by  the  great  convulsion 
under  which  we  have  both  suffered ;  and  it  is  the  capital  which  has  been 
thrown  out  of  active  employment,  from  this  very  cause,  which  is  now  seeking 
investment  at  a  low  rate  of  interest.  The  commerce  and  trade  of  England 
have  fallen  off  to  such  an  extent  that  Parliament  has  been  obliged  to  borrow 
two  millions  sterling  to  meet  the  current  expenses  of  the  Government.  In 
this  particular  they  are  placed  in  a  similar  situation  with  ourselves.  And 
yet  after  all  the  light  which  has  been  shed  upon  this  subject,  the  gentleman 
still  attributes  that  convulsion  which  has  shaken  the  commercial  world  to 
its  centre,  to  the  removal  of  the  deposits,  the  Specie  Circular,  and  General 
Jackson. 

I  have  but  lately  turned  prophet ;  and  there  has  been  such  poor  success  in 
that  line  on  this  side  of  the  House,  that  I  have  almost  determined  to  abandon 
the  trade  forever.  In  one  respect  I  resemble  the  false  prophets  of  old,  because 
they  prophesied  nothing  but  good.  This  may  probably  result  from  my  san 
guine  temperament,  and  my  desire  to  look  upon  the  bright  side  of  human 
affairs.  In  my  prophetic  vision  I  have  therefore  never,  like  the  gentleman, 
denounced  war,  pestilence,  and  famine  against  the  country. 

The  gentleman  strongly  condemns  the  members  of  the  present  cabinet.  I 
am  willing  to  accord  to  the  President  the  privilege  of  selecting  his  own  agents 
and  advisers,  without  any  interference  on  my  part.  When  he,  or  they,  shall 
recommend  measures  of  which  I  disapprove,  I  shall  exercise  my  right  of  op 
posing  them  as  an  independent  Senator.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  evidence 
can  be  produced  that  the  President  and  his  cabinet  are  opposed  to  the  credit 
system  of  the  country.  If  this  should  ever  appear,  it  will  then  be  time  enough 
for  me  to  denounce  such  a  policy.  My  instructions  have  prevented  me  from 


POLITICAL   CHANGE    IMPENDING.  449 

expressing  my  views  at  length  upon  this  subject.  They  contain  nothing, 
however,  which  forbid  me  from  saying,  nay  I  am  only  expressing  their  senti 
ment  when  I  assert,  that  a  separation  of  the  business  of  the  Government 
from  that  of  the  banks  would  be  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  which  could  be 
conferred  on  the  country.  In  releasing  the  banks  from  the  Government,  and 
the  Government  from  the  banks,  the  interests  of  both  parties  would  be  pro 
moted,  mutual  jealousies  and  recriminations  would  be  ended,  and  the  cur 
rency  and  business  of  the  country  would  cease  to  be  involved  in  the  perpetual 
struggles  which  exist  for  political  power. 

I  might  say  much  more  in  reply  to  the  gentleman,  but  I  forbear. 


Through  the  session  of  1839-40  the  financial  policy  of  Mr. 
Yan  Buren  continued  to  be  the  same.  Still  the  plan  of  the  "  In 
dependent  Treasury,"  as  it  was  called,  continued  to  occupy  the 
attention  of  the  Senate,  and  still  Mr.  Buchanan  was  among  the 
ablest  and  steadiest  of  its  supporters.  On  the  12th  of  January, 
1840,  and  again  at  the  same  session,  on  the  3d  of  March,  he 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  discussion  of  these  subjects.  These 
seven  years  of  political  warfare  on  the  relations  of  the  General 
Government  to  the  currency,  commencing  in  1833  and  extend 
ing  into  the  year  1840,  were  a  period  of  unexampled  commer 
cial  distress ;  and  when  the  two  parties  arrayed  their  forces  and 
named  their  candidates  for  the  next  election  of  a  President,  the 
Democrats,  although  in  possession  of  official  power,  were  in  a 
position  in  which  the  prevailing  public  and  private  embarrass 
ments  could  be  charged  by  their  adversaries  as  the  direct  conse 
quence  of  their  measures.  A  great  political  revolution  was  at 
hand.  That  victorious  party  which  claimed  to  have  been 
founded  by  Jefferson,  which  nearly  thirty  years  before  its 
present  precarious  situation  had  carried  Madison  through  a  war 
with  England,  which  had  by  its  forbearance  made  for  Monroe 
"  the  era  of  good  feeling,"  which  had  beaten  the  administration 
of  the  second  Adams  into  the  dust,  which  had  twice  elected 
Jackson  and  would  have  elected  him  a  third  time  but  for  a 
sacred  tradition  of  the  Republic,  which  had  enabled  Jackson  to 
name  his  successor,  which  filled  the  important  offices  and 
wielded  the  whole  patronage  of  the  Government,  was  now  to 
be  swept  out  of  power  by  a  popular  tempest,  such  as  the 
country  had  never  known  in  a  time  of  peace.  It  was  broken 
in  New  York,  it  was  broken  in  Pennsylvania,  it  was  broken  in 

1—29 


450  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

many  other  States  which  for  twelve  years  had  been  among  its 
strongholds. 

The  summer  and  autumn  of  1840  saw  a  popular  excitement, 
in  which  there  was  much  that  history  might  condemn,  but 
which  the  sober  wisdom  of  history  can  both  account  for  as 
natural,  and  regard  as  not  unwholesome.  There  had  come  to 
be  a  feeling  that  the  public  men  who  had  so  long  been  entrusted 
with  the  Government  of  the  country,  and  been  sustained  with 
so  large  a  share  of  the  popular  confidence,  who  had  been  the 
peculiar  friends  of  the  people,  whose  party  designation  im 
plied  a  democracy  of  a  purer  type,  and  a  wider  regard  for  the 
welfare  of  the  masses,  had  grown  indifferent  to  the  general 
suffering. 

At  first,  the  course  of  General  Jackson  towards  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  his  vast  popularity  and  the  influence  which  it 
gave  him,  enabled  him  and  his  followers  to  maintain  their 
power.  Hardly  had  there  ever  been  a  popular  confidence 
greater  than  that  which  was  reposed  in  Jackson,  through  the 
whole  of  his  conflict  with  a  moneyed  institution,  which  a  great 
majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  regarded,  with  him, 
as  a  dangerous  instrument.  But  when  year  after  year  passed 
away  and  nothing  was  done  for  the  relief  of  the  prevailing 
embarrassment,  when  thousands  had  become  bankrupt,  when 
labor  was  unemployed  or  was  remunerated  in  a  depreciated  and 
discredited  currency,  when  the  mercantile,  the  manufacturing, 
the  agricultural  classes  were  involved  in  a  common  distress, 
elements  of  political  excitement,  scarcely  ever  before  combined, 
were  united  in  a  vague  longing  for  a  great  political  change. 
Then  were  to  be  seen  the  highest  statesmen  discussing  before 
huge  masses  of  the  people  the  most  profound  questions  of 
public  finance  and  constitutional  construction,  and  stump  ora 
tors  of  all  degrees,  sounding  the  depths  of  popular  agitation. 
The  songs,  the  mottoes,  the  cries,  the  emblems  of  the  party 
which  had  adopted  the  name  of  Whigs,  a  name  which,  both  in 
English  history  and  in  our  own,  had  represented  popular  inter 
ests  against  the  prerogatives  of  government,  were  at  once 
puerile  and  effective.  They  convey  a  scarcely  intelligible  mean 
ing  to  the  present  generation,  but  to  those  who  listened  to  and 
looked  upon  them,  they  expressed  feelings  and  passions  which 


THE  POLITICAL  REVOLUTION    OF    1840.  451 

stirred  the  popular  heart.*  For  once,  the  "Whigs  had  laid 
hold  of  a  string,  coarse  indeed  and  rude,  but  which  vibrated  to 
every  touch  throughout  the  land  with  singular  force.  The 
divorce  of  the  Government  from  all  connection  with  the  cur 
rency,  the  disclaimer  of  all  responsibility  about  the  circulating 
medium  which  must  be  used  by  the  people,  the  exclusive  regard 
for  the  monetary  concerns  of  the  Government  as  distinguished 
from  the  monetary  interests  of  the  community,  were  arrayed  by 
the  Whigs  as  the  favorite  and  pernicious  doctrines  of  the  party 
in  power.  In  all  this  there  was  some  injustice,  but  when  does 
not  popular  suffering  produce  injustice  ? 

The  result  of  this  upheaving  of  society  was  the  election  of 
General  William  Henry  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  as  President,  and 
of  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  as  Vice  President,  by  a  majority 
of  114  electoral  votes.  Never  was  a  political  defeat  more  over 
whelming  than  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren.  He  obtained 
but  60  out  of  the  234  electoral  votes.  Of  the  larger  States, 
he  held  only  Yirginia.f 

Mr.  Buchanan's  personal  position  was  unaffected  by  this 
political  change.  He  had  been  re-elected  to  the  Senate  in 
January,  1837,  by  a  very  large  vote,  and  for  a  full  term,  which 
would  not  terminate  until  the  3d  of  March,  18434  When  the 
political  "  campaign  "  of  1840  came  on,  he  did  his  part,  and  did 
it  valiantly,  for  the  success  of  his  party  and  the  re-election  of 
Mr.  Yan  Buren.  The  detail  of  his  exertions  would  not  be 
interesting  now.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  in  the  arrangements 
of  the  public  meetings  held  by  his  political  associates  in  various 
States,  he  was  much  relied  upon  as  an  antagonist  to  the  great 
Whig  leaders,  and  was  often  in  one  sense  pitted  against  Mr. 
Webster  and  Mr.  Clay,  although  it  was  not  the  habit  of  the 
time  for  public  men  on  opposite  sides  to  encounter  each  other 
on  the  same  platform.  As  a  popular  orator,  there  was  no  one 

*  Subsequent  generations  will  need  a  key  to  the  "  log-cabin  "  and  the  barrel  of  li  hard 
cider,"  the  shouts  of  "  Tippecanoe  and  Tyler  too,"  the  long  processions  of  trades,  the 
enormous  multitudes  that  gathered  at  the  great  open-air  meetings.  Omnia  qua  vidi,  the 
writer  might  say,  and  he  might  add  with  a  variation,  quorum  pars  minima  fui. 

t  The  sixty  electoral  votes  obtained  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  were  given  by  the  States  of 
New  Hampshire,  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Illinois,  Alabama,  Missouri  and  Arkansas. 

$  In  a  letter  from  one  of  his  friends,  which  lies  before  me,  written  at  the  time  of  his 
re-election,  it  is  said  that  he  was  the  first  person  who  had  been  elected  a  second  time  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  by  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania. 


452  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

on  the  Democratic  side  who  was  listened  to  with  more  respect 
than  Mr.  Buchanan.  But  popular  eloquence  was  not  his  forte. 
On  the  platform,  as  in  the  Senate,  he  was  grave,  earnest,  per 
spicuous  and  impressive :  but  he  did  not  kindle  the  passions  or 
arouse  the  enthusiasm  of  audiences  :  nor  indeed  was  there  much 
enthusiasm  to  be  evoked  in  the  defence  of  a  cause  against  which 
almost  all  the  elements  of  ardent  popular  feeling  were  at  the 
command  of  its  adversaries. 

Mr.  Buchanan  might  have  escaped  from  the  Senate  into  the 
Cabinet  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren,  if  he  had  wished  to  do  so.  It  was 
Mr.  Yan  Buren's  desire,  in  1839,  that  Mr.  Buchanan  should 
become  Attorney-General  in  his  administration,  to  fill  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Grundy.  The  cor 
respondence  between  them  discloses  that  Mr.  Buchanan  pre 
ferred  to  remain  in  the  Senate. 

[MR.    VAN   BUREN   TO   MR.    BUCHANAN.] 

WASHINGTON,  Dec.  27th,  1839. 
DEAR  SIR; — 

The  office  of  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States  has  become  vacant 
by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Grundy.  Although  I  have  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  it  would  be  desirable  to  you  to  change  your  present  position  in  the  public 
service,  I  have  nevertheless  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  offer  the  seat  in  my 
cabinet,  which  has  thus  been  placed  at  my  disposal,  for  your  acceptance,  and 
to  assure  you  that  it  will  afford  me  sincere  pleasure  to  hear  that  it  will  be 
agreeable  to  you  to  accept  it,  a  sentiment  in  which  those  who  would  be  your 
associates,  will,  I  am  confident,  cordially  participate. 

Should  you  decide  otherwise,  the  occasion  will  have  been  presented,  and 
cheerfully  embraced,  to  express  the  high  sense  I  entertain  of  your  talents, 
and  also  my  confidence  in  your  patriotism  and  friendship  for  the  admin 
istration. 

Please  to  let  me  hear  from  you  at  your  earliest  convenience,  and  believe 
me  to  be  very  respectfully  and  truly  your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

M.  VAN  BUREN. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN   TO   MR.    VAN   BUREN.] 

WASHINGTON,  Dec.  28th,  1839. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  received  your  note  of  yesterday  evening,  tendering  to  me  the  office 
of  Attorney-General.  Whilst  I  regard  it,  with  grateful  sensibility,  as  a  distin 
guished  mark  of  your  kindness  and  confidence,  yet  I  prefer  my  position  as  a 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS.  453 

Senator  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  Attorney-Generalship,  high  and  honorable 
as  it  is  justly  considered.  Nothing  could  induce  me  to  waive  this  preference, 
except  a  sense  of  public  duty ;  and  happily  upon  the  present  occasion,  this 
presents  no  obstacle  to  the  indulgence  of  my  own  inclination.  Devotedly 
attached,  as  I  am,  to  the  great  principles  upon  which  your  administration  has 
been  conducted,  I  feel  that  I  can  render  a  more  efficient  support  to  these  prin 
ciples  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  than  I  could  in  an  executive  office,  which, 
from  its  nature,  would  necessarily  withdraw  me,  in  a  great  degree,  from  the 
general  politics  of  the  country,  and  again  subject  me  to  the  labors  of  the 
profession. 

Permit  me  to  embrace  this  occasion  of  again  respectfully  reiterating  my 
earnest  desire  that  you  would  confer  this  appointment  upon  Judge  Porter. 
I  believe  him  to  be  eminently  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  sta 
tion  ;  and  that  it  would  be  highly  gratifying  to  the  Democracy  of  Pennsyl 
vania  to  be  represented  in  your  cabinet  by  a  gentleman  who  enjoys  so  large 
a  portion  of  their  confidence. 

With  the  highest  esteem,  I  remain  very  respectfully  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[TO  GENERAL  PORTER.] 

WASHINGTON,  May  30th,  1840. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  received  yours  of  the  28th  inst.,  and  it  afforded  me  much 
pleasure. 

I  have  had  a  long  and  free  conversation  with  Mr.  Yan  Buren  this  morn 
ing  on  the  subject  of  Pennsylvania  politics.  It  was  the  first  of  the  kind  for 
some  time.  In  the  course  of  it  I  took  occasion  to  read  your  letter  to  him, 
with  which  he  was  much  gratified. 

I  impressed  upon  him,  in  the  same  terms  I  used  to  yourself,  the  absolute 
necessity  of  union  and  harmony  between  the  State  and  national  administra 
tion.  I  told  him  that  if  one  portion  of  the  party  in  Pennsylvania  said  they 
were  for  Paul,  and  another  for  Apollos,  the  great  cause  with  which  both 
Paul  and  Apollos  were  identified  might  be  ruined.  He  expressed,  as  he  ever 
has  done,  a  great  regard  for  you,  and  said  he  had  given  conclusive  evidence 
of  it  by  the  appointment  of  Judge  Blythe,  and  that  he  never  had  concealed 
the  fact  that  this  appointment  was  made  to  gratify  your  wishes.  Upon  a  sug 
gestion  of  mine,  that  an  opportunity  might  probably  be  presented,  on  the 
4th  of  July,  to  manifest  his  regard  for  you  by  giving  a  toast  in  your  favor, 
he  said  he  doubted  the  policy  of  that  course,  both  in  regard  to  you  and  him 
self.  That  the  better  mode  was  for  both  to  evince  their  feelings  by  their  con 
duct.  He  spoke  freely  of  certain  politicians  in  Philadelphia,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  from  what  he  said,  that  he  will  exert  his  influence  in  some  manner  to 
prevent  them,  from  any  longer  treating  you  unfairly.  Upon  the  whole,  I  left 
him  more  convinced  than  I  ever  was  before,  that  he  is  your  friend.  He  made 


454  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

the  very  observation  to  me  which  I  had  made  to  you,  that  in  the  progress  of 
the  Presidential  canvass,  when  the  party  became  excited,  the  feeling  which 
now  existed  against  you  in  a  few  places  would  be  entirely  forgotten.  Of  this 
I  am  perfectly  convinced,  especially  if  the  bill  should  pass  imposing  the  restric 
tions  on  the  banks  recommended  in  your  January  message.  There  is  no  man  in 
the  State  who  more  ardently  desires  this  result  than  myself,  and  none  who 
will  more  endeavor  to  accomplish  it.  Devoted  as  I  am  to  bank  reform,  from 
a  conviction  of  its  absolute  necessity,  and  having  always  expressed  the  same 
opinion  on  this  subject,  publicly  and  privately,  this  bill  would  place  a  power 
ful  weapon  in  my  hand.  I  shall  have  to  visit  Westmoreland  County,  on  the 
business  of  my  late  brother-in-law's  estate,  very  soon  after  the  adjournment 
of  Congress,  and  I  am  under  the  impression  that  I  can  do  much  good  there. 
I  shall  be  very  much  rejoiced  indeed  to  hear  of  the  passage  of  this  bill. 

I  have  had  a  long  and  a  strong  talk  with .     I  am  confident 

his  feelings  towards  you  are  not  unkind. 

The  resolution  of  the  Senate,  expressing  their  opinion  in  favor  of  the  bank 
rupt  system  will  place  me  in  an  embarrassing  position,  should  it  pass,  the 
House.  Had  the  legislature  instructed  me,  I  should  obey  with  pleasure, 
because  all  my  sympathies  are  in  favor  of  the  suffering  debtors.  If  left  to 
myself,  my  judgment  is  so  much  opposed  to  my  feelings,  that  I  believe  I 
should  vote  against  the  bill  without  making  any  speech.  The  expression  of  a 
legislative  opinion  would  probably  compel  me  to  give  my  reasons  for  dissent 
ing  from  their  opinion.  If  there  be  a  majority  of  the  House  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  why  not  change  the  expression  of  their  opinion  into  instructions, 
and  then  I  shall  be  relieved  from  all  responsibility  on  the  subject.  I  made  a 
long  speech  in  opposition  to  the  bankrupt  bill  during  the  first  session  of  my 
service  in  Congress,  1821-2;  and  I  have  yet  heard  nothing  materially  to 
shake  my  ancient  opinions,  though  I  am  still  open  to  conviction.  I  have  not 
yet  heard  from  Mr.  Espy. 

Ever  your  friend, 

Very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[TO  GENERAL  PORTER.] 

SENATE  CHAMBER,  WASHINGTON,  February  9,  1841. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

The  third  crash  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  so  soon  after  its  resump 
tion  has  taken  us  all  by  surprise.  I  sincerely  hope  that  it  has  made  its  last 
struggle,  and  may  now  go  into  final  liquidation.  Whilst  I  regret  the  sufferings 
to  which  its  stockholders  may  be  exposed,  I  yet  believe  that  its  dissolution  is 
necessary  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  As  long  as  it  shall  continue  to 
exist,  it  "will  continue  to  derange  the  business  of  the  country,  and  produce 
again  and  again  those  revulsions  to  which  we  have  been  subjected.  It  has 
ever  been  a  lawless  institution,  and  has  done  what  it  pleased,  knowing  that 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS.  455 

to  destroy  it  would  subject  the  people  to  evils  which  they  would  be  unwilling 
to  encounter.  We  ought  to  rejoice  that  it  has  now  destroyed  itself.  I  most 
sincerely  hope  that  you  may  take  this  view  of  the  subject;  and  adhere 
strictly,  as  I  have  no  doubt  you  will,  to  your  opposition  to  permitting  the 
banks  to  issue  notes  under  five  dollars. 

As  a  sincere  friend,  both  personally  and  politically,  I  have  deemed  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  make  these  suggestions,  and  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  receive 
them  as  they  are  intended. 

From  your  friend,  sincerely, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[TO  GENERAL  PORTER.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  17,  1841. 
Mr  DEAR  SIR:— 

Sitting  "solitary  and  alone"  in  my  private  room,  the  thought  has  just 
struck  me  that  I  would  address  you  a  few  lines.  If  I  were  capable  of  envying 
any  man,  I  should  envy  the  position  in  which  you  are  now  placed.  The  eyes 
of  the  Democracy  of  the  whole  Union  are  now  directed  towards  you  with 
intense  anxiety;  and  all  you  have  to  do  to  render  yourself  an  object  of  their 
respect  and  admiration  is  to  adhere  firmly  to  your  avowed  principles.  That 
you  will  adopt  this  course,  I  have  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt. 

To  put  down  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  will  be  a  measure  of  the 
greatest  relief  to  the  State.  It  has  not  strength  enough  to  assist  the  people ; 
but  must  exist  by  borrowing  money  and  crippling  other  institutions.  If  it 
were  out  of  the  way,  the  other  State  institutions  might  safely  be  left  to  the 
people  of  the  State.  And  I  firmly  believe  there  would  be  no  serious  attempt 
to  forfeit  their  charters.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States  makes  a  merit  of 
having  loaned  large  sums  to  the  State  government,  when,  by  this  means,  it 
has  preserved  its  existence  this  long.  It  exchanged  its  own  paper  for  what 
would  command  specie,  and  enable  it  to  raise  money  abroad.  Whilst,  there 
fore,  I  feel  for  the  distress  of  those  whom  it  has  ruined,  I  believe  its  going 
into  liquidation  would  be  the  best  relief  measure  which  could  be  adopted.  It 
may  occasion  much  suffering  for  the  present ;  but  this  will  soon  be  over,  and 
all  may  then  again  hope  to  see  settled  times. 

When  I  sat  down,  I  wanted  to  say  a  word  against  small  notes;  but  I 
am  interrupted  and  must  stop. 

Ever  sincerely  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN   TO    GEORGE    G.    LEIPER,  ESQ.] 

LANCASTER,  October  23, 1841. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  most  sincerely  sympathize  with  you  in  your  domestic  afflictions,  and 
trust  that  He  who  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb  may  comfort  and 
sustain  your  daughter  in  her  distress. 


456  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

I  reciprocate  your  congratulations  on  our  recent  victory  with  all  my  heart. 
It  is  a  great  moral  triumph.  After  the  late  Presidential  election  many,  who 
had  formerly  felt  an  abiding  confidence  in  the  integrity  and  intelligence  of 
the  people,  began  to  waver.  The  ridiculous  mummeries  which  apparently 
had  an  effect  upon  them  were  insults  to  their  understanding.  But  nobly 
have  they  redeemed  themselves,  and  have  proved  to  the  world  that  if  they 
can  be  made  to  slumber  over  their  rights  for  a  moment,  they  are  certain  to 
awake  with  a  firmer  determination  than  ever  to  maintain  them.  Governor 
Porter  has  now  a  fine  opportunity  of  distinguishing  himself;  and  most 
ardently  do  I  hope  that  he  may  embrace  it.  By  doing  his  duty  fearlessly,  he 
will  make  a  name  for  himself,  which  no  other  governor  of  Pennsylvania  has 
ever  yet  enjoyed.  On  the  other  hand,  should  he  falter,  we  shall  lose  the  State, 
if  not  at  the  next  election,  at  the  next  gubernatorial  contest.  He  must  devote 
himself  to  reforming  the  administration  of  our  internal  improvements,  and 
rendering  them  productive ;  he  must  firmly  resist  any  increase  of  the  State 
debt.  And  if  he  does  no  more,  he  must  veto  every  bill  to  create  a  new  bank 
or  renew  the  charter  of  an  old  one.  These  are  principles  on  which  the  De 
mocracy  will  insist.  Besides,  he  ought  to  recommend  and  urge  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Pennsylvania  and 
other  banks.  The  time  has  passed  for  consulting  mere  expediency ;  and  the 
Democratic  party  has  risen  again  upon  its  principles,  and  it  will  continue  to 
stand  no  longer  than  it  maintains  them.  I  do  not  think  that  the  Presidential 
question  to  which  you  allude  will  occasion  any  serious  embarrassment  to  the 
party.  Throughout  the  Union,  with  the  exception  of  Philadelphia,  they  all 
appear  to  be  alive  to  the  necessity  of  forbearance.  When  the  proper  time 
shall  arrive,  the  choice  of  a  candidate  will  be  made  without  serious  difficulty ; 
because  I  believe  that  the  candidates  who  will  be  the  most  prominent  are  all 
willing  to  yield  their  pretensions,  if  that  should  be  found  necessary  to  pro 
mote  the  success  of  the  great  causes. 

Please  to  remember  me,  in  the  kindest  terms,  to  your  family,  and  believe 
me  to  be  your  friend  sincerely, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


[TO   MR.  WILLIAM   FLINN,  JR.] 

WASHINGTON,  September  5th,  1841. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  thank  you  for  your  kind  and  acceptable  letter,  and  feel  much  gratified 
that  the  honest  and  incorruptible  farmers  of  your  county  have  expressed  their 
approbation  of  my  political  course.  To  live  in  their  esteem  would  be  a  high 
reward. 

The  second  bank  bill,  or  "  kite-flying  fiscality,"  is  now  before  President 
Tyler,  and  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  will  share  the  fate  of  its  predecessor. 
Should  the  second  veto  be  of  a  firm  and  manly  character,  precluding  all  hope 
of  the  establishment  of  a  national  bank  during  the  present  Presidential  term, 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS.  457 

it  will  be,  as  it  ought  to  be,  hailed  with  enthusiasm  by  the  Democratic  party. 
In  Congress  we  shall  pursue  the  straight  line  of  political  duty,  and  shall  yield 
the  measures  of  the  President,  so  far  as  they  may  be  in  accordance  with  our 
principles,  a  cheerful  and  hearty  support.  As  to  President-making,  we  shall 
leave  that  to  the  people,  where  it  ought  to  be  left. 

I  should  be  pleased  to  see  you  established  as  the  editor  of  a  Democratic 
paper.  That  is  a  much  more  honorable,  and  independent  vocation  than  to  be 
hanging  about  the  public  offices  here  as  a  subordinate  clerk.  Should  you 
become  the  editor  of  the  Mercury,  however,  whilst  I  am  deeply  sensible  of 
your  kindness,  I  would  not  wish  you  to  bring  out  my  name  as  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency.  It  is  yet  too  soon  to  agitate  this  question  in  the  public 
journals ;  and  any  premature  movement  would  only  injure  the  individual  it 
was  intended  to  benefit.  Besides,  I  have  no  ambitious  longings  on  this  sub 
ject.  Let  events  take  their  course ;  and  my  only  desire  is,  that  at  the  proper 
time,  the  individual  may  be  selected  as  our  candidate,  who  will  best  promote 
the  success  of  the  party  and  its  principles. 

I  am  rejoiced  at  our  flattering  prospects  in  Pennsylvania.  Should  the 
Keystone  State  come  "  booming  "  into  the  Democratic  line  in  October  next, 
by  a  handsome  majority,  this  auspicious  event  will  do  much  to  prostrate  the 
present  Whig  party. 

With  sentiments  of  regard,  I  remain  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


CHAPTER    XYI. 

1841—1842. 


DEATH  OF  PRESIDENT  HARRISON—  BREACH  BETWEEN  PRESIDENT  TYLER 
AND  THE  WHIGS  —  TYLER*S  VETOES  —  BUCHANAN'S  REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON 
THE  VETO  POWER  —  HIS  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  BANKRUPT  ACT  OF  1841. 


ARELY  lias  a  party  in  a  constitutional  government  come 
t  into  power  with  apparently  a  better  prospect  of  doing 
good  to  their  country,  and  retaining  their  hold  upon  it,  than 
did  the  Whigs  under  President  Harrison.  This  worthy  man, 
who  was  by  no  means  a  statesman  of  the  first  or  even  of  the 
second  order,  was  a  person  of  fair  intelligence,  of  entire  honesty 
of  character,  and  was  moderately  well  taught  in  the  principles 
of  the  Constitution.  Almost  his  first  act,  after  his  election,  was 
to  tender  the  chief  place  in  his  cabinet  to  Mr.  "Webster.  This 
was  done  with  the  concurrence  of  Mr.  Clay,  whom  it  suited  to 
remain  in  the  Senate,  as  its  leader,  and  who  expected  to  carry  a 
new  national  bank,  as  a  remedy  for  the  existing  disordered 
condition  of  the  currency. 

But  General  Harrison  died  on  the  day  which  completed  the 
first  month  of  his  official  term.*  His  successor,  John  Tyler,  of 
Yirginia,  had  been  chosen  as  Yice  President,  with  very  little 
attention  to  his  political  opinions  on  the  part  of  those  who 
selected  him  for  that  position,  or  of  those  wrho  voted  for  him. 
When  he  assumed  the  duties  of  the  Presidency,  he  requested 
the  members  of  General  Harrison's  cabinet  to  remain  in  office. 
They  were  all  of  that  political  school  which  regarded  a  national 
bank  of  some  kind  as  a  necessity,  and  held  it  to  be  an  instru 
ment  of  Government  which  Congress  might  constitutionally 
create.f  President  Harrison  and  his  official  advisers  had 

*  April  4th,  1841. 

t  The  members  of  the  Harrison  cabinet  were  Daniel  Webster,  Secretary  of  State  ; 
Thomas  Ewing,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  John  Bell,  Secretary  of  War  ;  George  E.  Badger, 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  ;  John  J.  Crittenden,  Attorney  General  ;  Francis  Granger,  Postmaster 
General. 


BREACH   BETWEEN    TYLER    AND    THE    WHIGS.  459 

deemed  it  necessary  to  convene  an  extra  session  of  Congress ; 
and  his  proclamation  had  summoned  it  for  the  31st  of  May. 
When  that  day  arrived,  it  began  to  be  remembered  that  Mr. 
Tyler  had  theretofore  been  among  those  who  denied  the  power 
of  Congress  to  establish  a  national  bank,  and  that  as  a  Senator 
he  had  voted  against  one.  Here,  then,  the  long-cherished  policy 
of  the  leading  Whigs,  which  they  claimed  had  been  affirmed  by 
the  people  in  the  late  election,  was  in  peril  of  encountering  the 
opposition  of  the  President.  In  July,  a  bill  for  a  bank,  with 
power  to  establish  offices  of  discount  and  deposit  in  the  several 
States,  either  with  or  without  their  consent,  was  passed  by  both 
Houses  and  sent  to  the  President.  He  returned  it  on  the  16th 
of  August,  with  his  objections,  from  which  it  appeared  that  he 
held  such  a  bank  to  be  unconstitutional.  In  the  Senate,  Mr. 
Clay  made  a  bitter  attack  upon  the  President ;  the  Whigs  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  burst  into  a  fury  of  indignation. 
But  the  Whig  majority  was  not  large  enough  to  pass  the  bill 
over  the  President's  "  veto."  A  new  bill  to  create  a  "  Fiscal 
Corporation  of  the  United  States "  was  brought  in.  In  the 
mean  time  the  President  was  denounced  in  the  press  by  persons 
who  stood  in  close  relations  with  Mr.  Clay,  as  a  man  faithless  to 
the  party  which  had  made  him  Yice  President.  In  the  debate 
on  the  new  bill,  Mr.  Clay  again  assailed  the  President  with 
great  violence,  expecting  by  that  means  to  prevent  a  second 
"  veto."  Mr.  Tyler  remained  firm  to  his  own  convictions  ;  the 
second  "  veto "  came ;  an  irreparable  breach  between  the 
Whigs  and  the  President  ensued  ;  four  of  the  members  of  the 
cabinet  appointed  by  President  Harrison  resigned  their  places, 
without  previous  conference  with  Mr.  Webster,  who  remained 
in  office.*  Thus  within  six  months  after  the  death  of  General 
Harrison,  the  Whigs  lost  the  power  cf  shaping  the  financial 
legislation  of  the  country,  which  their  triumphant  success  in  the 
late  election  appeared  to  have  given  them. 

Mr.  Buchanan,  if  not  now  the  leader  of  the  opposition  in 
the  Senate,  was  one  of  its  most  prominent  debaters.  It  has 
already  been  said  that  he  was  not  an  orator,  in  the  highest 


*  For  the  reasons  which  led  Mr.  Webster  to  remain  in  office,  see  his  Life,  by  the  present 
writer,  vol.  II.,  pp.  69  et  seq.    See  farther,  note  on  page  625  post. 


460  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

sense  of  that  term.  But  in  all  the  polemics  of  debate  he  was 
exceedingly  efficient.  He  could  mingle  logic  with  humor; 
and  although  in  discussions  which  were  largely  occupied 
with  party  topics  and  with  grave  constitutional  questions,  he 
was  not  sparing  in  his  thrusts,  there  was  a  gentleman-like 
manner  in  his  wielding  of  the  rapier,  as  well  as  force  in  handling 
the  weightier  weapon  of  argument.  On  both  of  the  bills  which 
were  prepared  with  a  good  deal  of  design  to  encounter  the 
anticipated  opposition  of  Mr.  Tyler,  and  the  last  of  which 
was  almost  avowedly  gotten  up  as  a  means  of  "  heading  him 
off"  from  a  union  with  the  democratic  opposition,  Mr. 
Buchanan  spoke  at  the  extra  session  with  remarkable  energy 
and  effect.  His  most  elaborate  speech  on  the  first  bill  was 
delivered  on  the  7th  of  July.  It  related  partly  to  the  old 
question  of  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  create  a 
national  bank  of  any  kind  ;  and  in  the  course  of  this  discussion 
he  treated  the  topic  of  the  binding  authority  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  in  reference  to  the  legislative 
department,  with  new  and  forcible  illustrations,  contending  that 
upon  any  new  bank,  Senators  were  bound  to  follow  their  con 
scientious  convictions.  The  residue  of  the  speech  was  a  severe 
criticism  upon  the  details  of  the  bill,  which  he  contended  would 
establish  a  dangerous  connection  between  a  moneyed  institution 
and  the  executive  of  the  United  States,  far  worse  than  that 
which  had  existed  in  the  case  of  either  of  the  former  banks. 
Such  a  speech  was  well  calculated  to  produce  a  strong  impres 
sion  at  once  upon  the  mind  of  the  President  before  whom  the 
bill  was  likely  to  come,  and  upon  the  country.  Mr.  Buchanan 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  all  question  about  a  national 
bank,  as  a  fiscal  agent  of  the  Government  in  the  collection  and 
disbursement  of  its  revenues,  would  be  at  an  end,  and  the 
"  Independent  Treasury "  system  would  be  resorted  to  as  the 
substitute.* 

Upon  the  second  bill  he  spoke  on  the  2d  of  September,  in 
reply  to  Mr.  Clay.  This  scheme  of  a  "  Fiscal  Corporation  of 
the  United  States,"  which  was  to  have  the  power  of  dealing  in 


*  Speech  delivered  in  the  Senate  July  7th,  1841.      Compare  President  Tyler's  veto 
message. 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANKRUPT    ACT    OF    1841.  461 

bills  of  exchange  drawn  between  different  States,  or  on  foreign 
countries,  but  was  not  to  be  allowed  to  discount  promissory 
notes,  was  assailed  by  Mr.  Buchanan  wyith  great  vigor.  His 
speech  placed  the  advocates  of  the  bill  in  a  somewhat  ridiculous 
position,  for  it  did  not  appear  whether  they  concurred  in  found 
ing  it  on  the  power  to  regulate  commerce,  or  on  the  power  to 
collect  and  disburse  the  public  revenue:  and  in  the  practical 
operation  of  the  scheme,  he  made  it  very  plain  that  it  would 
become  a  mere  "  kite-flying  "  machine.  Mr.  Clay  thought  that 
Mr.  Buchanan  did  not  succeed  in  "attempts  at  wit."  Buchanan 
retorted  that  this  wras  true,  and  that  his  opponent  as  rarely  suc 
ceeded  in  argument.  An  impartial  reader  would  now  say  that 
Buchanan  had  the  argument  on  his  side,  and  a  very  respectable 
share  of  what  was  certainly  a  telling  species  of  humor,  if  it  was 
not  wit.  His  description  of  the  heterogeneous  political  mate 
rials  that  made  up  the  famous  "  Harrisburg  Convention," — the 
body  which  nominated  Harrison  and  Tyler,  with  such  an  entire 
disregard  of  the  opinions  of  the  candidates  that  it  became  after 
wards  a  disputed  question  whether  they  were  "  bank  "  or  "  anti- 
bank  "  men, — was  not  an  unhappy  hit.* 

Under  the  advice  of  Mr.  Webster,  the  Whigs  postponed  the 
subject  of  a  bank  to  the  next  regular  session  of  Congress. 
But  some  important  measures  were  passed  at  the  extra  session, 
and  approved  by  the  President,  among  which  was  a  Bankrupt 
Act.  Mr.  Buchanan  opposed  it  in  the  following  speech,  deliv 
ered  on  the  2ith  of  July,  1841 : 

The  question  being  on  the  passage  of  the  bill — 

Mr.  Buchanan  said,  that  when  he  entered  the  Senate  chamber  this  morn 
ing,  he  had  not  intended  to  say  one  word  on  the  subject  of  the  bankrupt  bill. 
He  was  content  that  the  question  should  have  been  taken  silently  on  its  final 
passage,  and  decided  in  its  favor,  as  all  knew  it  would  be,  from  the  vote 
yesterday  upon  its  engrossment.  The  able  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  New 
York  (Mr.  Tallmadge)  had  induced  him  to  change  his  purpose,  and  endeavor 
to  place  himself  in  a  proper  position  before  the  public  in  relation  to  this 
important  measure. 

He  trusted  that  he  felt  as  much  sympathy  for  the  unfortunate  as  any 
Senator  on  this  floor.  It  would,  therefore,  have  afforded  him  heartfelt  pleas 
ure  to  be  able  to  vote  for  this  bill.  He  was  sorry,  very  sorry,  that  from  a 


*  See  the  speech  of  Sept.  2, 1841. 


462  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

deep  sense  of  public  duty,  he  should  be  compelled  to  vote  against  it.  Would 
to  Heaven  that  this  were  not  the  case ! 

It  had  been  asserted  over  and  over  again,  that  there  were  five  hundred 
thousand  bankrupts  in  the  United  States  anxiously  awaiting  relief  from  the 
passage  of  this  bill.  Now,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  this  must  be  a 
monstrous  exaggeration  of  the  number  of  these  unfortunate  men.  Less  than 
two  millions  and  a  half  of  votes  had  been  given  at  the  late  Presidential  elec 
tion  ;  and,  if  you  add  to  this  number  five  hundred  thousand,  the  aggregate  of 
three  millions  would  exceed  the  number  of  all  the  male  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States  who  could  by  possibility  become  bankrupts.  Could  any  man 
believe  that  half  a  million  of  this  number  were  in  a  state  of  bankruptcy  ? 
That  every  sixth  man  in  the  United  States  was  in  this  wretched  condition? 
The  experience  of  us  all  must  demonstrate  that  this  was  impossible.  There 
were  several  States  in  the  Union  where  this  bill  would  be  almost  a  dead  letter 
for  want  of  subjects  on  which  it  could  operate.  Although  we  had  suffered 
much  from  the  spirit  of  wild  speculation,  which  had  been  excited  to  madness 
by  our  unrestricted  banking  system,  yet  he  did  not  believe  there  were  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  bankrupts  in  the  United  States  who  would  apply 
for  relief  under  this  bill 

Now,  sir,  what  was  the  nature  of  this  bill  ?  Whom  did  it  embrace  in  its 
provisions  ?  He  would  answer,  every  individual  in  the  United  States  who 
was  an  insolvent  debtor.  There  was  no  limitation,  no  restriction  whatever. 
It  would  discharge  all  the  insolvent  debtors  now  in  existence  throughout  the 
Union,  from  all  the  debts  which  they  had  ever  contracted,  on  the  easiest 
terms  possible.  It  was  said  that  the  bill  contained  provisions  both  for  volun 
tary  and  involuntary  bankruptcy ;  and  so  it  did  nominally :  but  in  truth  and 
in  fact,  it  would  prove  to  be  almost  exclusively  a  voluntary  bankrupt  bill. 

The  involuntary  clause  would  scarcely  ever  be  resorted  to,  unless  it  might 
be  by  a  severe  and  vindictive  creditor,  for  the  purpose  of  unjustly  oppressing  his 
unfortunate  debtor.  And  why  would  this  prove  in  practice  to  be  a  voluntary 
bankrupt  bill,  and  that  alone  ?  The  compulsory  clause  applied  only  to  mer 
chants — wholesale  and  retail,  to  bankers,  factors,  brokers,  underwriters,  and 
marine  insurers.  These  were  objects  of  compulsory  bankruptcy,  provided 
they  owed  debts  to  the  amount  of  two  thousand  dollars.  In  order  to  enable 
their  creditors  to  prosecute  petitions  against  them,  for  the  purpose  of  having 
them  declared  bankrupt,  they  must  have  committed  one  of  the  acts  of  bank 
ruptcy  specified  by  the  bill  What  were  they?  The  debtor  must  either 
have  departed  from  the  State  of  his  residence,  with  intent  to  defraud  his 
creditors ; — or  concealed  himself  to  avoid  being  arrested ; — or  fraudulently 
procured  himself  to  be  arrested  or  his  goods  or  lands  to  be  attached,  distrained, 
sequestered,  or  taken  in  execution ; — or  removed  and  concealed  his  goods  and 
chattels  to  prevent  them  from  being  levied  upon  or  taken  in  execution ; — • 
or  made  a  fraudulent  conveyance  or  assignment  of  his  lands,  goods,  or  credits. 
These  were  the  five  acts  of  bankruptcy  specified  in  the  bill ;  and  could  it  be 
supposed  that  any  merchant  or  man  of  business,  in  insolvent  circumstances, 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANKRUPT    ACT    OF    1841.  463 

would  wait  and  subject  himself  to  this  compulsory  process  by  committing  any 
of  these  acts ;  whilst  the  bill  threw  the  door  wide  open  to  him,  in  common 
with  all  other  persons,  to  become  a  voluntary  bankrupt,  at  any  time  he  might 
think  proper  ?  He  would  select  the  most  convenient  time  for  himself  to  be 
discharged  from  his  debts  •  and  would  cautiously  avoid  any  one  of  these  acts 
of  bankruptcy,  which  might  restrain  the  freedom  of  his  own  will,  and  place 
him  in  some  degree  within  the  power  of  his  creditors.  He  would  "swear 
out"  when  it  suited  him  best,  and  would  not  subject  himself  to  their  pleasure. 
This  bill,  then,  although  in  name  compulsory  as  well  as  voluntary,  was  in  fact, 
from  the  beginning  to  end,  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  voluntary  bankrupt  law. 

Now  it  might  be  wise,  on  a  subject  of  such  great  importance,  to  consult  the 
experience  of  the  past.  In  1817,  the  British  Parliament  had  appointed  a 
commission  on  the  subject  of  their  bankrupt  laws.  The  testimony  taken  by 
the  commissioners  was  decidedly  against  these  laws ;  and  the  Lord  Chancellor 
declared  that  the  abuses  under  them  were  a  disgrace  to  the  country ;  that  it 
would  be  better  to  repeal  them  at  once  than  to  submit  to  such  abuses ;  and 
that  there  was  no  mercy  to  the  bankrupt's  estate  nor  to  the  creditors.  Mr.  B. 
spoke  from  memory ;  but  he  felt  confident  he  was  substantially  correct  in  the 
facts  stated.  This  was  the  experience  of  England,  and  that,  too,  notwith 
standing  their  bankrupt  laws  had  interposed  many  more  guards  against  fraud 
than  the  present  bill  contained,  and  were  executed  with  an  arbitrary  severity, 
wholly  unsuited  to  the  genius  of  our  institutions.  In  that  country,  however, 
these  laws  had  existed  for  so  long  a  period  of  time,  and  were  so  interwoven 
with  the  business  habits  of  the  people,  that  it  was  found  impossible  to  abolish 
them  altogether. 

We  have  had  some  experience  on  this  subject  in  our  own  country.  Con 
gress  passed  a  bankrupt  law  in  April,  1800.  It  was  confined  to  traders,  and 
was  exclusively  compulsory  in  its  character.  The  period  of  its  existence  was 
limited  to  five  years  and  until  the  end  of  the  next  session  of  Congress  there 
after.  It  so  entirely  failed  to  accomplish  the  objects  for  which  it  was  created, 
and  was  the  source  of  so  many  frauds,  that  it  was  permitted  to  live  out  but 
little  more  than  half  its  appointed  days.  It  was  repealed  in  December,  1803; 
and  a  previous  resolution,  declaring  that  it  ought  to  be  repealed,  passed  the 
House  of  Representatives  by  a  vote  of  77  to  12. 

The  State  of  Pennsylvania  had  furnished  another  important  lesson  on  this 
subject.  In  March,  1812,  the  legislature  of  that  State  passed  a  bankrupt  or 
insolvent  law  absolving  all  those  who  chose  to  take  advantage  of  it  from  the 
payment  of  their  debts.  It  was  confined  to  the  city  and  county  of  Philadel 
phia  ;  but  within  these  limits,  like  the  present  bill,  it  offered  relief  to  every 
body  who  desired  to  be  relieved.  This  act  was  repealed,  almost  by  acclama 
tion,  at  the  commencement  of  the  very  next  session  after  its  passage.  Its 
baneful  effects  were  so  fully  demonstrated  during  this  short  intervening  period, 
that  the  representatives  from  the  city  and  county  who  had,  but  a  few  months 
before,  strained  every  nerve  to  procure  its  passage,  were  the  most  active 
and  zealous  in  urging  its  repeal. 


464  t-IFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

During  the  first  session  of  his  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives  (that 
of  1821-2),  powerful  efforts  were  made  to  pass  a  bankrupt  law.  There  was 
then  a  greater  and  more  general  necessity  for  such  a  measure  than  had  ever 
existed  since.  The  extravagant  expansion  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
in  1816,  '17  and  '18  had  reduced  it  to  the  very  brink  of  insolvency.  In  order 
to  save  itself  from  ruin,  it  was  compelled  to  contract  its  loans  and  issues  with 
a  rapidity  beyond  all  former  example.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  years 
1819,  '20  and  '21  were  the  most  disastrous  which  the  country  had  ever 
experienced  since  the  adoption  of  the  federal  Constitution.  Not  only  mer 
chants  and  speculators  were  then  involved  in  ruin  ;  but  the  rage  for  specula 
tion  had  extended  to  the  farmers  and  mechanics  throughout  the  country,  and 
had  rendered  vast  numbers  of  them  insolvent.  The  cry  for  relief,  by  the 
passage  of  a  bankrupt  bill,  therefore,  came  to  Congress  from  all  classes  of 
society,  and  from  almost  every  portion  of  the  Union. 

The  best  speech  which  he  (Mr.  B.)  had  ever  made  in  Congress  was  in 
opposition  to  that  bill.  The  reason  was,  that  he  had  derived  much  assistance 
from  conversations  with  Mr.  Lowndes  upon  the  subject.  That  great  and  good 
statesman  was  then  suffering  under  the  disease  which  proved  fatal  to  him  soon 
after.  He  attempted  to  make  a  speech  against  the  bill,  but  was  compelled  to 
desist  by  physical  exhaustion  before  he  had  fairly  entered  on  his  subject.  It 
was  his  decided  conviction,  that  no  bankrupt  law,  of  which  the  English 
system  was  the  model,  could  ever  be  adopted  by  Congress  without  great 
injury  to  the  country.  He  (Mr.  B.)  had  attempted  to  demonstrate  this  propo 
sition,  at  that  period,  and  he  should  now  again,  after  the  lapse  of  nearly 
twenty  years,  make  a  very  few  observations  on  the  same  subject. 

And  in  the  first  place,  it  would  be  physically  impossible  for  the  district 
courts  of  the  United  States  to  carry  this  law  into  execution ;  and  if  it  were 
even  possible,  it  would  be  extremely  burdensome  and  oppressive  to  the  people 
generally. 

The  bill  prescribes  that  all  applicants  for  its  benefit  shall  file  their  petitions 
in  the  district  court  of  the  district  in  which  they  reside.  Twenty  days'  notice 
only  is  required,  and  that  not  to  be  served  personally  on  the  creditors,  but 
merely  by  newspaper  publication.  At  the  time  and  place  appointed,  the 
creditors  of  the  applicant  may  appear  and  show  cause  why  the  prayer  of  his 
petition  should  not  be  granted.  If  there  be  no  appearance  on  the  part  of  the 
creditors,  or  sufficient  cause  be  not  shown  to  the  contrary,  then  the  court 
decree  the  applicant  to  be  a  bankrupt ;  and  thus  ends  the  first  stage  of  the 
proceedings,  so  far  as  he  is  personally  concerned. 

After  such  applicant  has  been  thus  declared  a  bankrupt,  and  has  complied 
with  all  the  provisions  of  the  act,  he  may  then  file  another  petition  to  be  dis 
charged  from  his  debts,  which  may  be  granted  at  any  time  after  ninety  days 
from  the  date  of  the  decree  declaring  him  a  bankrupt.  Seventy  days'  notice 
is  to  be  given  to  his  creditors  to  appear  in  court,  and  oppose  his  discharge,  if 
they  think  proper. 

It  thus  appeared  that  there  might  be  two  formal  hearings  in  each  case 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANKRUPT    ACT    OF    1841.  465 

before  the  district  court  upon  every  application ;  and  that  there  would  be,  in 
many  of  the  cases,  was  beyond  a  doubt.  Besides,  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  proceedings  in  bankruptcy,  and  from  the  provisions  of  the  bill,  the  inter 
locutory  applications,  and  the  examinations  of  the  bankrupt  before  the  court, 
must  be  very  numerous.  At  every  stage  of  the  proceedings  a  large  portion 
of  the  time  of  the  court  must  necessarily  be  devoted  to  the  subject. 

Should  the  district  court  decide  that  the  bankrupt  shall  not  be  discharged, 
he  might  then  demand  a  trial  by  jury,  of  appeal  from  this  decision  to  the  cir 
cuit  court.  This  would  be  another  prolific  fountain  of  business  for  the  district 
and  circuit  courts  of  the  United  States. 

Thus  far  the  proceeding  was  confined  to  the  bankrupt  personally.  But 
before  what  court  was  his  estate  to  be  settled  ?  By  the  terms  of  the  bill, 
the  demands  of  all  creditors  of  the  bankrupt,  if  disputed,  must  be  tried  in  the 
district  court ;  the  controversies  which  might  arise  between  the  creditors  and 
the  assignees  of  the  bankrupt,  and  also  between  the  bankrupt  himself  and  his 
assignees,  must  be  settled  in  the  district  court ;  and,  to  use  the  comprehen 
sive  terms  of  the  bill,  the  jurisdiction  of  that  court  was  extended  "  to  all  acts, 
matters,  and  things  to  be  done  under  and  in  virtue  of  the  bankruptcy,  until 
the  final  distribution  and  settlement  of  the  estate  of  the  bankrupt,  and  the 
close  of  the  proceedings  in  bankruptcy." 

There  were  also  several  criminal  offences  created  by  the  bill ;  all  of  which 
must  be  tried  in  the  district  courts  of  the  United  States. 

From  the  nature  of  the  federal  Constitution,  all  the  business  which  he  had 
enumerated  must  necessarily  be  transacted  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States. 
It  could  not  be  transferred  to  the  State  courts. 

Now,  sir,  said  Mr.  B.,  this  bill  will  prove  to  be  a  felo  de  se.  It  can  never 
be  carried  into  effect,  for  want  of  the  necessary  judicial  machinery.  Another 
midnight  judiciary  must  be  established,  to  aid  bankruptcy.  The  number  of 
these  midnight  judges  which  were  added  to  the  federal  judiciary  in  February, 
1801,  was  eighteen  ;  and  if  these  were  necessary  at  that  time,  three  times  the 
number  would  not  be  sufficient  at  present. 

He  had  just  examined  McCullough's  Commercial  Dictionary,  under  the  title 
Bankruptcy.  He  there  found  that  the  annual  number  of  commissions  of 
bankruptcy  opened  in  England  on  an  average  of  nine  years,  ending  with  the 
year  1830,  was  a  little  below  seventeen  hundred.  The  average  annual  number 
of  all  the  commissions  which  issued  during  the  same  period,  was  about  two 
thousand  one  hundred.  One-half  of  these  seventeen  hundred  cases  were  what 
are  called  town  cases,  and  the  other  half  country  cases.  To  transact  the  town 
business  alone,  consisting  of  eight  hundred  and  fifty  cases  annually,  it  had 
been  found  necessary  to  establish  a  new  court  of  bankruptcy,  similar  to  the 
ancient  courts  at  Westminster  Hall,  consisting  of  one  chief  judge,  and  three 
puisne  judges.  To  this  court  there  were  attached  six  commissioners,  two 
principal  registrars,  and  eight  deputy  registrars.  Such  was  the  judicial  force 
found  necessary  in  England  to  examine  and  decide  upon  the  cases  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  bankrupts  in  each  year, 

I.— 30 


466  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Then  what  provision  had  the  present  bill  made  to  discharge  half  a  million 
of  bankrupts,  the  number  which  its  friends  assert  exist  at  present  in  the 
United  States?  None  whatever,  except  to  cast  this  burden  upon  the  district 
courts  of  the  United  States,  which,  in  the  large  commercial  cities,  where  the 
cases  of  bankruptcy  must  chiefly  be  heard,  had  already  as  much  business  as 
they  could  conveniently  transact.  The  courts  could  not  transact  all  this  busi 
ness,  if  there  were  half  a  million  of  bankrupts  to  be  discharged,  within  the 
next  twenty  years.  Sir,  unless  you  establish  new  courts,  and  increase  your 
judicial  force  at  least  ten  fold,  it  is  vain  for  you  to  pass  the  present  bill. 
Without  this,  the  law  can  never  be  carried  into  effect.  The  moment  it  goes 
into  operation,  these  unfortunate  bankrupts  will  rush  eagerly  to  the  district 
courts  in  such  numbers  as  to  arrest  all  other  judicial  business.  This  bill  pro 
vides  that  these  courts  shall  be  considered  open  every  day  in  the  year,  for 
the  purpose  of  hearing  bankrupt  cases. 

The  district  courts  of  the  United  States  were  scattered  over  the  Union  at 
great  distances  from  each  other.  For  example,  there  were  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  he  believed,  but  two  of  these  courts.  In  Pennsylvania,  one  was 
held  in  Philadelphia,  another  in  Pittsburg,  and  a  third  in  Williamsport.  Pitts  - 
burg  and  Philadelphia  were  three  hundred  miles  apart;  and  parties,  jurors, 
and  witnesses  must  constantly  be  in  attendance  from  great  distances  at  these 
two  places,  on  the  hearing  of  the  different  bankrupts,  and  on  the  trial  of  all 
the  causes  which  might  arise  out  of  the  settlement  of  their  estates.  By  the 
operation  of  this  bill,  all  these  causes  would  and  must  be  transferred  from  the 
State  to  the  Federal  courts.  This  would  be  an  intolerable  oppression  to  the 
people. 

"Without  entering  into  any  detail  of  the  frauds  to  which  this  bill  would 
give  birth,  he  must  be  permitted  to  advert  to  the  effect  which  it  would  have 
upon  the  rights  of  creditors  in  States  distant  from  the  court  where  the  debtor 
might  make  his  application.  It  would  speedily  sponge  away  all  the  indebted 
ness,  now  very  great,  of  the  Southwestern  portion  of  the  Union  to  the  Eastern 
cities.  Our  merchants  in  those  cities,  should  the  bill  pass,  would  have  no 
difficulty  in  balancing  their  books.  This  would  be  done  for  them  by  the  bill 
in  the  easiest  possible  manner. 

Under  all  other  bankrupt  laws  which  had  ever  existed,  or  ever  been  pro 
posed,  either  in  this  country  or  in  England,  or  anywhere  else,  as  he  believed, 
the  debtor  could  not  obtain  his  certificate  of  discharge  without  the  express 
written  assent  of  a  certain  proportion  of  his  creditors  in  number  and  value. 
This  rule  had  never  been  found  to  operate  severely  in  practice  on  honest 
debtors,  whilst  it  afforded  some  security  to  the  creditors.  Under  the  present 
bankrupt  laws  of  England,  the  certificate  of  discharge  must  be  signed  by  four- 
fifths  in  number  and  value  of  the  creditors  of  the  bankrupt ;  and  under  our 
old  bankrupt  law  of  1800,  two-thirds  in  number  and  value  of  the  creditors 
were  required  to  sign.  Without  this  express  assent,  no  bankrupt  could 
receive  his  certificate  of  discharge.  But  the  present  bill  had  completely 
reversed  this  rule.  Under  it  the  debtor  must  be  discharged,  '•'  unless  a  majority 


SPEECH  ON  THE  BANKRUPT  ACT  OF  1841.  467 

in  number  and  value  of  his  creditors,  who  have  proved  their  debts,  shall 
file  their  written  dissent  thereto."  Now  he  should  put  a  case ;  and  many 
such  would  occur  under  the  present  bill.  A  merchant  in  Philadelphia  had  a 
debtor  in  Mississippi,  who  owed  him  $20,000.  This  debtor  applies  to  the 
district  court  of  that  State  for  the  benefit  of  the  act.  The  merchant  believes 
he  has  been  guilty  of  fraud,  and  determines  to  oppose  his  discharge.  He  goes 
or  sends  to  Mississippi  for  this  purpose.  I  ask  you,  sir,  what  chance  he  would 
have  to  obtain  the  necessary  proof,  in  a  country  where  thousands  were  at  the 
same  time  applying  for  the  benefit  of  the  bankrupt  law.  The  task  would  be 
hopeless ;  and  consequently  the  attempt  would  be  made  in  very  few  cases. 
Had  the  law  required  the  express  assent  of  two-thirds  or  even  a  majority  in 
number  and  value  of  the  bankrupt's  creditors,  the  merchant  would  have  had 
one  security  left.  The  debtor  must  have  satisfied  him  that  he  had  acted  hon 
estly  before  he  could  have  obtained  his  assent.  Now  the  debtor  would  be 
discharged  unless  a  majority  expressly  dissent.  The  ancient  rule  had  been 
reversed;  and  instead  of  an  express  assent  being  required  to  produce  his  dis 
charge,  there  must  now  be  an  express  dissent  to  prevent  it.  And  if  the 
majority  did  dissent,  what  would  be  the  consequence  ?  Was  this  conclusive, 
and  would  the  debtor  still  remain  liable  ?  No,  sir,  no.  The  Philadelphia  mer 
chant  would  then  have  to  enter  upon  a  new  law  suit.  Notwithstanding  this 
express  dissent,  the  question  would,  under  the  bill,  be  referred  to  a  jury, 
and  if  they  decided  in  the  bankrupt's  favor,  he  was  discharged  from  his 
debts  forever,  even  against  the  dissent  of  all  his  creditors.  This  jury  would 
necessarily  be  composed  of  his  own  neighbors,  all  having  a  sympathetic  feeling 
with  him,  and  looking  upon  the  distant  Philadelphia  creditor  as  an  unjust  and 
an  unfeeling  man.  This  was  a  natural  feeling,  and  common  to  almost  all  men 
in  similar  circumstances.  It  implied  no  imputations  upon  their  honesty. 
Truly  this  bill  was  a  measure  to  relieve  all  debtors  who  might  desire  to  cut 
loose  from  their  debts,  without  any  adequate  provision  for  the  security  of 
creditors. 

But  all  these  evils  were  nothing  when  compared  with  the  baneful  effects 
which  the  bill  would  have  upon  the  morals  of  the  people  of  this  country. 
Our  people  were  already  too  much  addicted  to  speculation,  and  too  anxious 
to  become  suddenly  rich.  As  a  nation,  we  required  the  rein  and  the  bit  much 
more  than  the  spur.  The  present  bill  would  stimulate  the  spirit  of  specula 
tion  almost  to  madness.  Men  would  be  tempted  by  the  hope  of  realizing 
rapid  fortunes,  and  living  in  affluence  the  remainder  of  their  days,  to  embark 
in  every  wild  undertaking,  knowing  that  they  had  everything  to  gain  and 
nothing  to  lose.  This  bill  proclaimed  not  merely  to  merchants  and  insurers, 
whose  business  was  from  its  nature  hazardous;  but  to  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  "  you  may  be  as  wild  and  extravagant  in  your  speculations  as 
you  please — you  may  attempt  to  seize  the  golden  prize  in  any  manner  you 
choose  :  if  you  succeed  you  will  then  possess  what  your  heart  most  desires ; 
if  not,  your  debts  shall  be  blotted  out  in  the  easiest  manner  possible,  and  you 
may  begin  the  world  again."  This  was  in  effect  the  language  of  the  bill. 


468  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

The  consequence  must  be  that  the  faith  of  contracts  would  soon  become  an 
idle  word.  Our  former  bankrupt  law  was  wholly  compulsory  in  its  charac 
ter,  and  was  confined  to  traders.  The  present  English  bankrupt  law  expressly 
excludes  farmers  and  graziers  from  its  provisions.  We  went  a  long  distance 
in  advance  of  both.  The  present  bill  would  be  in  effect  wholly  voluntary, 
and  it  embraced  everybody  under  the  sun,  and  all  debts  which  had  been,  or 
might  be,  contracted. 

He  would  venture  to  predict,  that  when  this  bill  should  go  into  operation 
the  people  of  the  United  States  would  soon  become  astonished  and  alarmed 
at  its  consequence :  and  it  would  be  blotted  out  of  existence  in  less  time  than 
had  elapsed  between  the  passage  and  repeal  of  the  act  of  1800. 

He  might  be  asked  if  he  were  opposed  to  a  bankrupt  law  in  any  form. 
He  could  answer  that  he  was  not.  He  would  most  cheerfully  vote  for  any 
safe  measure  of  this  nature  which  could  be  carried  into  execution  by  the 
courts  of  the  United  States,  and  he  did  not  believe  that  it  would  be  very  diffi 
cult  to  frame  such  a  measure.  The  judicial  system  of  the  Federal  Grovern- 
ment  was  of  such  a  character,  that  it  could  never  execute  a  bankrupt  law, 
modelled  after  the  English  system,  without  producing  great  fraud,  delay,  and 
injustice.  If  you  changed  this  system,  and  increased  the  number  of  courts 
and  judges,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  transact  the  business  under  this  bill,  with 
proper  deliberation  and  within  a  reasonable  time,  you  would  go  far  towards 
producing  a  judicial  consolidation  of  the  Union.  It  was  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Lowndes,  that  we  should  be  compelled  to  abandon  the  idea  of  framing  a  bill 
upon  the  English  model,  and  adopt  the  system  which  prevailed  in  countries 
subject  to  the  civil  law.  For  example,  he  (Mr.  B.)  would  permit  a  debtor  in 
failing  circumstances  to  make  any  composition  he  could  obtain  from  a  major 
ity  or  two-thirds  in  number  and  value  of  his  creditors.  In  that  event,  he 
would  discharge  him  from  his  debts  as  against  the  remainder,  unless  they 
could  prove  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  fraud.  He  would  never  place  any  unfor 
tunate,  but  honest  debtor,  in  the  power  of  a  few  vindictive  creditors  against 
the  will  of  the  majority.  Such  a  law  would,  in  a  great  degree,  execute 
itself,  and  dispense  with  nearly  all  the  machinery  of  this  bill.  The  composi 
tion  between  the  debtor  and  his  creditors,  and  his  assignment  of  his  property 
for  the  benefit  of  them  all,  which  he  should  consider  indispensable,  might  be 
filed  in  the  district  court,  and  receive  its  sanction.  He  would  not  take  time 
at  present  to  do  more  than  hint  at  the  nature  of  the  bankrupt  law,  which  he 
thought  would  be  applicable  to  this  country.  It  would  very  much  resemble 
the  cessio  bonorum  which  now  prevailed  in  Louisiana,  where  the  civil  and  not 
the  common  law  governed  the  proceedings  of  the  courts. 

But  what  great  and  overruling  necessity  existed  for  Congress  to  pass  any 
bankrupt  law?  Each  State  could  now  pass  bankrupt  laws,  which  would 
relieve  their  citizens  from  the  obligation  of  debts  contracted  with  other  citi 
zens  of  the  same  State  subsequent  to  the  passage  of  such  laws.  This  point 
had  been  solemnly  adjudged  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  case  of  Ogden  vs.  Saunders,  reported  in  12th  Wheaton,  213 ;  and  its 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANKRUPT    ACT    OF    1841.  409 

authority  was  confirmed  in  the  case  of  Boyle  vs.  Zacharie,  reported  in 
6  Peters,  635. 

This  discharge,  however,  would  be  confined  to  debts  contracted  between 
citizens  of  the  same  State  where  the  discharge  was  granted.  The  decision 
rested  on  the  principle,  that  the  State  law  under  which  the  discharge  would 
take  place,  had  become  a  part  of  the  original  contract,  in  the  contemplation 
of  the  parties.  But  if  a  citizen  of  Pennsylvania  had  loaned  money  to  a 
citizen  of  New  York,  who  should  afterwards  take  the  benefit  of  a  bankrupt 
law  existing  in  the  latter  State,  this  would  not  discharge  the  debt ;  but  the 
Pennsylvanian  might,  notwithstanding,  recover  the  amount  due  from  the 
New  Yorker,  in  either  the  federal  or  State  courts.  But,  even  in  such  a  case, 
if  the  Pennsylvania  creditor  should  accept  his  dividend  of  the  estate  of  the 
New  York  debtor,  he  would  then  be  bound  for  ever,  and  the  debt  would 
be  discharged.  [Vide  the  case  of  Clay  vs.  Smith,  3  Peters,  411.]  Foreign 
creditors  would,  in  almost  every  instance,  accept  such  dividends,  if  they 
amounted  to  anything  considerable ;  and  this  would  be  an  encouragement  for 
debtors,  in  failing  circumstances,  not  to  struggle  on  till  all  their  property  was 
gone,  but  to  surrender  it  while  something  remained  for  the  general  creditors. 
Thus,  then,  it  was  clear  that  the  States  could  provide  for  all  prospective  cases, 
and  could  enact  bankrupt  laws  which  would  have  the  same  force  and  effect 
between  their  own  citizens  as  though  they  had  been  passed  by  Congress. 
Besides,  the  State  courts,  established  in  every  county,  could  carry  those  laws 
into  effect  with  promptitude,  and  without  inconvenience  to  the  people. 

A  thought  had  struck  him  at  the  moment.  Why  might  not  Congress 
declare  by  law  that  a  discharge  under  all  State  bankrupt  laws  should  be  as 
effectual  against  citizens  of  other  States  as  they  could  be  against  citizens  of 
the  same  State  ?  This  would  render  the  system  complete  in  regard  to  future 
debts,  without  any  further  interposition  of  Congress.  He  would  not  say  that 
we  possessed  the  power,  under  the  Constitution,  to  pass  such  a  law,  because 
he  had  never  considered  the  subject ;  but,  if  we  did,  it  would  be  the  best 
mode  in  which  we  could  exercise  our  power  over  bankruptcy.  Every  State 
would  then  be  left  at  liberty  to  adopt  the  policy  in  relation  to  bankrupts 
required  by  its  own  peculiar  circumstances,  and  to  execute  the  laws  which 
operated  chiefly  upon  the  domestic  concerns  of  its  own  citizens  according  to 
its  own  discretion. 

Mr.  B.  said,  as  he  had  referred  to  the  speech  which  he  had  made  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  on  this  subject,  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  he  felt 
bound  to  acknowledge  that,  upon  one  point,  he  had  fallen  into  a  then  prevail 
ing  error.  Of  this  he  had  been  fully  convinced  by  the  debate  in  the  Senate 
at  the  last  session.  In  1822,  it  was  his  opinion  that  the  constitutional  power 
of  Congress  was  confined  to  traders,  or  that  class  of  persons  which  were 
embraced  by  the  bankrupt  laws  of  England  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.  This  he  now  believed  was  too  narrow  a  construc 
tion.  The  Constitution  declared  that  "  Congress  shall  have  power  to  establish 
uniform  laws  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies,  throughout  the  United  States." 


470  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

The  subject  of  bankruptcies  was  thus  placed  generally  under  our  control ; 
and  wherever  bankruptcy  existed,  no  matter  what  might  have  been  the  pur 
suits  of  the  bankrupt,  whether  he  had  been  a  trader  or  not,  our  power 
extended  over  him.  It  also,  in  his  opinion,  embraced  artificial  as  well  as 
natural  persons.  Was  it  not  absurd  to  say,  that  an  individual  manufacturer 
on  one  side  of  the  street  at  Lowell  might  be  subjected  to  the  compulsory 
operation  of  a  bankrupt  law ;  whilst  two  or  three  individual  manufacturers 
on  the  other  side  of  the  same  street,  who  had  obtained  a  charter  of  incor 
poration  from  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  could  thus  withdraw  them 
selves  in  their  corporate  capacity  from  the  power  conferred  upon  Congress 
over  bankruptcies?  He,  therefore,  entertained  no  doubt  of  the  power  of 
Congress  to  pass  a  compulsory  bankrupt  law  against  banks.  If  it  could  not 
pass  such  a  law,  a  firm  of  individual  bankers  would  be  embraced  by  our 
power;  but  if  these  very  individuals  obtained  a  charter  of  incorporation, 
they  might  then  place  that  power  at  defiance.  He  entertained  as  little  doubt 
of  the  policy  of  such  a  law  as  applied  to  banks.  The  knowledge  of  its  exist 
ence  would  of  itself,  in  almost  every  instance,  prevent  the  necessity  of  its 
application.  Banks,  then,  in  order  to  save  themselves  from  destruction,  would 
take  care  to  conduct  their  business  in  such  a  manner  as  always  to  be  able  to 
pay  their  liabilities  in  specie.  He  indulged  no  hope  of  a  permanently  sound 
convertible  paper  currency  except  what  arose  from  the  power  of  Congress  to 
subject  banks  to  a  bankrupt  law.  This  was  the  only  practicable  method 
which  could  be  devised  of  securing  to  the  people  this  great  blessing. 

Mr.  B.  thought  it  might  be  shown  that  this  bill  was  deficient  in  its  details. 
He  would  now  only  refer  to  one  particular.  It  dispensed  with  the  use  of 
commissioners  of  bankruptcy  altogether.  In  this  respect  it  was  a  departure 
from  the  English  statute  of  bankruptcy,  and  from  our  own  act  of  1800.  Now 
whilst  he  admitted  that  compulsory  bankruptcy  would  rarely  occur  under  this 
bill,  unless  it  might  be  to  gratify  the  malignity  of  a  severe  creditor ;  yet  he 
asked  the  chairman  of  the  committee  (Mr.  Berrien)  to  say  what  would  become 
of  the  debtor's  property  between  the  time  which  would  intervene  between 
filing  the  petition  against  him  by  the  creditor,  and  the  final  decree  of  the  court 
declaring  him  a  bankrupt.  The  debtor  might  require  a  trial  by  jury  before  the 
court  to  ascertain  the  fact  whether  or  not  he  had  committed  an  act  of  bank 
ruptcy.  This  trial  might,  and  probably  would,  often  be  delayed  for  years, 
whilst  it  ought  to  proceed  immediately.  What  was  to  become  of  the  debtor's 
property  in  the  mean  time,  without  commissioners?  Was  he  to  be  left  to 
squander  it  at  pleasure  ?  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  petitioning  creditor  should 
proceed  without  sufficient  cause,  the  act  of  1800  gave  the  debtor  a  remedy 
against  him.  He  was  bound,  before  the  commission  was  sued  out,  to  give 
bond,  with  such  surety  as  the  court  might  direct,  conditioned  that  the  obligor 
should  prove  the  debtor  to  be  a  bankrupt.  In  case  of  failure,  the  debtor  had 
his  remedy  on  the  bond  to  the  amount  of  the  injury  he  might  have  sustained, 
in  case  the  condition  of  it  had  been  violated.  Surely  this  was  no  more  than 
justice.  After  the  debtor  had  been  arrested  in  the  pursuit  of  his  business  by 


SPEECH    ON    THE    BANKRUPT    ACT.  471 

a  charge  of  bankruptcy — after  bis  prospects  in  life  had  been  blasted — after  his 
credit  had  been  destroyed — and  after  he  had  been  pursued  for  years  in  a 
course  of  litigation  which  eventually  terminated  in  his  favor,  justice  required 
that  he  should  have  some  remedy.  He  asked,  therefore,  why  these  provisions 
of  the  act  of  1800  had  been  left  out  of  the  present  bill  ? 

It  had  been  contended  that  as  the  Constitution  had  conferred  upon  Con 
gress  the  power  to  pass  a  bankrupt  law,  it  was  therefore  their  duty  to  exercise 
this  power.  But  power  was  one  thing  and  duty  another.  The  language  of 
power  was  that  you  may — of  duty  that  you  must.  The  Constitution  had  also 
conferred  upon  Congress  the  power  of  declaring  war,  of  imposing  taxes,  and 
of  raising  and  supporting  armies ;  but  would  any  Senator  contend  that  it  was 
our  duty  to  give  life  and  energy  to  these  powers  by  calling  them  into  action, 
unless  the  Interest  or  honor  of  the  country  demanded  it  at  our  hands  ?  These 
sovereign  powers  were  to  be  exercised  or  not,  according  to  the  dictates  of  a 
sound  discretion  ;  and  we  were  under  no  obligation  whatever  to  pass  a  bank 
rupt  law,  unless  we  believed  that  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  country, 
such  a  law  would  promote  the  best  interests  of  the  people. 

Upon  the  whole,  he  could  declare  that  such  was  his  sympathy  for  these 
unfortunate  debtors,  that  he  had  never  given  a  vote  in  his  life  more  disagree 
able  to  his  feelings  than  the  vote  which  he  should  be  compelled  to  give  upon 
the  present  occasion.  He  was  convinced,  however,  that  the  bill,  in  its  effects, 
would  prove  disastrous  to  the  people  ;  and,  therefore,  although  reluctantly,  he 
should  record  his  vote  against  its  passage. 

At  the  session  which  commenced  in  December,  1 841,  a  meas 
ure  in  which  President  Tyler  and  his  cabinet  had  united  was 
recommended  to  Congress.  It  proposed  the  establishment  of 
an  "  Exchequer  Board,"  to  consist  of  certain  Government  offi 
cers  and  other  commissioners,  with  branch  agencies  in  the  dif 
ferent  States.  As  it  never  took  effect,  it  is  only  needful  to  refer 
to  Mr.  Buchanan's  description  of  it  in  a  speech  made  on  the 
29th  of  December,  from  which  it  appears  that  he  regarded  it  as 
only  another  form  of  a  Government  bank.  He  professed  his 
readiness  to  concur  with  the  President  in  any  unobjectionable 
measure  confined  to  the  collection,  safe-keeping,  and  disburse 
ment  of  the  public  money,  "  in  the  hope  that,  after  all  experi 
ments  should  have  been  tried,  and  reason  should  have  time  to 
prevail,  the  people  and  the  Government  would  at  length  return 
to  and  re-establish  the  Independent  Treasury."*  But  as  the 
Senate  continued  to  be  occupied  through  the  winter  of  1841-2 

*  Speech  of  December  29, 1841. 


472  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

with  the  discussion  of  these  subjects  of  finance,  Mr.  Clay  kept 
on  in  his  bitter  criticisms  of  the  President's  "  vetoes  "  of  bills 
which  had  been  passed  by  those  who  had,  as  he  claimed,  be 
stowed  on  Mr.  Tyler  the  office  that  had  made  him  the  succes 
sor  of  General  Harrison.  Mr.  Clay  went  so  far  as  to  propose  a 
joint  resolution  for  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  so  as 
to  require  but  a  bare  majority  of  all  the  members  of  each  house 
to  pass  any  bill  into  a  law,  notwithstanding  the  objections  of 
the  President.  That  he  really  expected  to  bring  about  such  a 
change  in  the  fundamental  rule  which  had  alone  made  the 
President's  negative  of  any  practical  value,  may  be  doubtful. 
He  was  then  looking  for  a  nomination  to  the  Presidency  by 
the  next  national  convention  of  the  Whigs,  and  this  proposal 
to  curtail  the  "veto"  power  would  probably  be,  under  the 
circumstances  of  the  times,  a  popular  topic  on  which  to  make 
his  canvass  against  the  Democratic  party.  It  is,  perhaps,  to  be 
regretted  that  Mr.  "Webster  was  not  in  the  Senate  at  this  time ; 
but  as  he  was  not,  it  is  fortunate  that  Mr.  Buchanan  was.* 
Notwithstanding  the  many  differences  of  opinion  between  these 
two  statesmen,  on  the  scope  of  the  legislative  powers  of  Con 
gress,  I  regard  it  as  certain  that  they  would  not  have  differed 
in  their  views  of  the  fundamental  purpose  of  the  Constitution 
in  requiring  two-thirds  of  each  House  to  pass  a  bill  over  the 
President's  objections.  Great  and  eminent  as  were  Mr.  Web 
ster's  powers  of  understanding  and  enforcing  the  principles  of 
the  Constitution,  and  commanding  as  was  his  reputation,  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  an  equally  conscientious  and  careful  student  of 
that  instrument,  and  equally  faithful  to  its  great  purposes.  His 
speech  on  the  veto  power,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Clay,  delivered  on 
the  2d  of  February,  1842,  may  be  ranked  very  high  as  an  ex 
position  of  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  our  political  sys 
tem.  There  is  a  good  deal  in  it  of  the  temporary  and  party 
controversies  of  that  period ;  and  there  is  also  a  great  deal  of 
sound  and  comprehensive  reasoning,  valuable  now  and  here 
after. 

Mr.  President :  I  am  now  sorry  that  I  ever  committed  myself  to  make  a 
speech  upon  this  subject.     I  assure  you  that  it  has  become  extremely  cold  j 

*  Compare  what  Mr.  Webster  has  eaid  on  the  veto  power. 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.      473 

and  I  think  I  never  shall  again  pledge  myself  to  address  the  Senate  at  the  end 
of  a  week  or  ten  days,  to  be  occupied  in  the  discussion  of  an  intervening  and 
different  question.  Cold  as  the  subject  had  become,  it  is  now  still  colder,  after 
having  waited  for  an  hour  to  hear  a  debate  on  the  mere  reference  of  a  memo 
rial  to  the  Committee  on  Commerce.  But  although  the  subject  may  have  lost 
its  freshness  to  my  mind,  and  I  may  not  be  able  to  reply  to  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky  (Mr.  Clay)  with  as  much  effect,  as  if  the  discussion  on  the  bankrupt 
bill  had  not  intervened,  yet  it  has  lost  none  of  its  intrinsic  importance. 

Before  I  commence  the  discussion,  however,  let  me  clearly  and  distinctly 
state  the  question  to  be  decided  by  the  Senate. 

Under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  it  now  exists — 

"  Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the 
Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States ;  if  he  approve  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it, 
with  his  objections,  to  that  House  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who  shall 
enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their  journal  and  proceed  to  reconsider  it.  If 
after  such  reconsideration  two-thirds  of  that  House  shall  agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it 
shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the  other  House,  by  which  it  shall 
likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by  two-thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall 
become  a  law.  But,  in  all  such  cases,  the  votes  of  both  Houses  shall  be  deter 
mined  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the  names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against 
the  bill,  shall  be  entered  on  the  journal  of  each  House  respectively.  If  any 
bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  President  within  ten  days  (Sundays  excepted) 
after  it  shall  have  been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  man 
ner  as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress,  by  their  adjournment,  prevent 
its  return,  in  which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law." 

The  same  constitutional  rule  is  applicable  to  "  every  order,  resolution  or 
vote  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
may  be  necessary,  except  on  a  question  of  adjournment." 

The  joint  resolution  offered  by  the  Senator,  proposes  to  change  the  existing 
Constitution,  so  as  to  require  but  a  bare  majority  of  all  the  members  belonging 
to  each  House  to  pass  any  bill  into  a  law,  notwithstanding  the  President's 
objections. 

The  question  then  is,  whether  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  so  amended  as 
to  require  but  a  bare  majority  of  all  the  members  of  each  House,  instead  of 
two-thirds  of  each  House,  to  overrule  the  President's  veto ;  and,  in  my 
opinion,  there  never  was  a  more  important  question  presented  to  the  Senate. 
Is  it  wise,  or  is  it  republican,  to  make  this  fundamental  change  in  our  institu 
tions  ? 

The  great  Whig  party  of  the  country  have  identified  themselves,  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  with  this  proposed  amendment.  Feeling  sensibly,  by 
sad  experience,  that  they  had  suffered  since  the  late  Presidential  election,  from 
not  having  previously  presented  a  clear  exposition  of  their  principles  "  to  the 
public  eye,"  they  determined  no  longer  to  suffer  from  this  cause.  Accord 
ingly,  the  conscript  fathers  of  the  church  assembled  in  convention  at  the  city 


474  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

of  Washington,  on  the  13th  September  last — at  the  close  of  the  ever  memor 
able  extra  session — and  adopted  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
This  manifesto  contains  a  distinct  avowal  of  the  articles  of  their  creed  ;  and, 
first  and  foremost  among  them  all,  is  a  denunciation  of  the  veto  power.  I  shall 
refer  very  briefly  to  this  address  ;  although  to  use  the  language  of  my  friend, 
the  present  Governor  of  Kentucky,  it  contains  much  good  reading.  So 
exasperated  were  the  feelings  of  the  party  then,  and  so  deeply  were  they 
pledged  to  the  abolition  of  the  veto  power,  that  they  solemnly  and  formally 
read  John  Tyler  out  of  the  Whig  church,  because  he  had  exercised  it  against 
the  bills  to  establish  "a  fiscal  agent"  and  a  "fiscal  corporation"  of  the  United 
States.  The  form  of  excommunication  bears  a  resemblance  to  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  which  severed  this  country  forever  from  Great  Britain. 
I  shall  give  it  in  their  own  emphatic  language.  They  declare  that  John 
Tyler — 

"  By  the  course  he  has  adopted  in  respect  to  the  application  of  the  veto 
power  to  two  successive  bank  charters,  each  of  which  there  was  just  reason  to 
believe  would  meet  his  approbation ;  by  the  withdrawal  of  confidence  from 
his  real  friends  in  Congress  and  from  the  members  of  his  Cabinet ;  by  the 
bestowal  of  it  upon  others  notwithstanding  their  notorious  opposition  to  lead 
ing  measures  of  his  administration,  has  voluntarily  separated  himself  from 
those  by  whose  exertions  and  suffrages  he  was  elevated  to  that  office  through 
which  he  reached  his  present  exalted  station,"  etc. 

After  a  long  preamble,  they  proceed  to  specify  the  duties  which  the  Whig 
party  are  bound  to  perform  to  the  country,  and  at  the  head  of  these  duties, 
the  destruction  of  the  veto  power  contained  in  the  Constitution  stands 
prominently  conspicuous.  The  following  is  the  language  which  they  have 
employed : 

"  First.  A  reduction  of  the  executive  power,  by  a  further  limitation  of  the 
veto,  so  as  to  secure  obedience  to  the  public  will,  as  that  shall  be  expressed  by 
the  immediate  Representatives  of  the  people  and  the  States,  with  no  other 
control  than  that  which  is  indispensable  to  avert  hasty  or  unconstitutional 
legislation." 

Mark  me,  sir,  the  object  is  not  to  secure  obedience  to  the  public  will  as 
expressed  by  the  people  themselves,  the  source  of  all  political  power ;  but  as 
expounded  by  their  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress. 

After  enumerating  other  duties,  they  declare  that  "  to  the  effectuation  of 
these  objects  ought  the  exertions  of  the  Whigs  to  be  hereafter  directed."  And 
they  make  a  direct  appeal  to  the  people  by  announcing  that  "  those  only  should 
be  chosen  members  of  Congress  who  are  willing  cordially  to  co-operate  in  the 
accomplishment  of  them."  Twenty  thousand  copies  of  this  manifesto  were 
ordered  to  be  printed  and  circulated  among  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

This  appeal  to  the  people,  sir,  was  a  vain  one.  The  avowal  of  their  princi 
ples  destroyed  them.  The  people  did  not  come  to  the  rescue.  Never  was 
there  a  more  disastrous  defeat  than  theirs,  at  the  last  fall  elections,  so  imme 
diately  after  their  triumphant  victory.  Thank  Heaven !  the  people  have  not 


REPLY    TO    CLAY    ON    THE    VETO    POWER.  475 

thus  far  responded  to  this  appeal,  and  I  trust  they  may  never  consent  to 
abolish  the  veto  power.  Sir,  the  Democratic  party,  in  regard  to  this  power, 
in  the  language  of  the  doughty  barons  of  England,  centuries  ago,  are  not  will 
ing  that  the  charter  of  their  liberties  shall  be  changed.  We  shall  hold  on  to 
this  veto  power  as  one  of  the  most  effectual  safeguards  of  the  Union,  and  one 
of  the  surest  means  of  carrying  into  effect  the  will  of  the  people. 

In  my  humble  judgment,  the  wise  statesman  ought  equally  to  avoid  a  fool 
ish  veneration  for  ancient  institutions  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  restless  desire 
for  change  on  the  other.  In  this  respect,  the  middle  is  the  safer  course.  Too 
great  a  veneration  for  antiquity  would  have  kept  mankind  in  bondage ;  and 
the  plea  of  despots  and  tyrants,  in  every  age,  has  been  that  the  wisdom  of 
past  generations  has  established  institutions  which  the  people  ought  not  to 
touch  with  a  sacrilegious  hand.  Our  ancestors  were  great  innovators ;  and 
had  they  not  been  so,  the  darkness  and  despotism  which  existed  a  thousand 
years  ago  would  have  continued  until  the  present  moment.  For  my  own  part, 
I  believe  that  the  human  race,  from  generation  to  generation,  has  in  the  main 
been  advancing,  and  will  continue  to  advance,  in  wisdom  and  knowledge ; 
and  whenever  experience  shall  demonstrate  that  a  change,  even  in  the  Fed 
eral  Constitution,  will  promote  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  people,  I 
shall  not  hesitate  to  vote  in  favor  of  such  a  change.  Still,  there  are  circum 
stances  which  surround  this  instrument  with  peculiar  sanctity.  It  was  framed 
by  as  wise  men  and  as  pure  patriots  as  the  sun  of  heaven  ever  shone  upon. 
We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  Providence  smiled  upon  their  labors, 
and  predestined  them  to  bless  mankind.  Immediately  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  order  arose  out  of  confusion ;  and  a  settled  Government, 
capable  of  performing  all  its  duties  to  its  constituents  with  energy  and  effect, 
succeeded  to  the  chaos  and  disorder  which  had  previously  existed  under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  For  more  than  half  a  century,  under  this  Consti 
tution,  we  have  enjoyed  a  greater  degree  of  liberty  and  happiness  than  has 
ever  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  other  nation  on  earth.  Under  such  circumstances, 
the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  before  he  can  rightfully  demand  our  votes  in 
favor  of  a  radical  change  of  this  Constitution,  in  one  of  its  fundamental  articles, 
ought  to  make  out  a  clear  case.  He  ought  not  only  to  point  out  the  evils 
which  the  country  has  suffered  from  the  existence  of  the  veto  power,  but 
ought  to  convince  us  they  have  been  of  such  magnitude,  that  it  is  not  better 
"  to  bear  the  ills  we  have,  than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of."  For  my 
own  part,  I  believe  that  the  veto  power  is  one  of  the  strongest  and  stateliest 
columns  of  that  fair  temple  which  our  ancestors  have  dedicated  to  liberty ; 
and  that  if  you  remove  it  from  this  time-honored  edifice,  you  will  essentially 
impair  its  strength  and  mar  its  beauty.  Indeed  there  will  then  be  great 
danger  that  in  time  it  may  tumble  into  ruins. 

Sir,  in  regard  to  this  veto  power,  as  it  at  present  exists,  the  convention 
which  framed  the  Constitution,  although  much  divided  on  other  subjects,  were 
unanimous.  It  is  true  that  in  the  earlier  stages  of  their  proceedings,  it  was 
considerably  discussed,  and  presented  in  different  aspects.  Some  members 


47G  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

were  in  favor  of  an  absolute  veto,  and  others  were  opposed  to  any  veto,  how 
ever  qualified ;  but  they  at  length  unanimously  adopted  the  happy  mean,  and 
framed  the  article  as  it  now  stands  in  the  Constitution.  According  to  Mr. 
Madison's  report  of  the  debates  and  proceedings  in  the  convention,  we  find 
that  on  Saturday  the  21st  July,  1787,  "  the  tenth  resolution  giving  the  execu 
tive  a  qualified  veto,  requiring  two-thirds  of  each  branch  of  the  legislature  to 
overrule  it,  was  then  agreed  to  nem.  con"  The  convention  continued  in  ses 
sion  for  nearly  two  months  after  this  decision ;  but  so  far  as  I  can  discover, 
no  member  ever  attempted  to  disturb  this  unanimous  decision. 

A  principle  thus  settled  ought  never  to  be  rashly  assailed  under  the  ex 
citement  of  disappointed  feelings  occasioned  by  the  veto  of  two  favorite  meas 
ures  at  the  extra  session,  on  which  Senators  had  fixed  their  hearts.  There 
ought  to  have  been  time  for  passion  to  cool  and  reason  to  resume  her  empire. 
I  know  very  well  that  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  had  announced  his  oppo 
sition  to  the  veto  power  so  far  back  as  June,  1840,  in  his  Hanover  speech ; 
but  that  speech  may  fairly  be  considered  as  a  declaration  of  his  own  individual 
opinion  on  this  subject.  The  great  Whig  party  never  adopted  it  as  one  of  the 
cardinal  articles  of  their  faith,  until,  smarting  under  disappointment,  they  saw 
their  two  favorite  measures  of  the  extra  session  fall  beneath  this  power.  It 
was  then,  and  not  till  then,  that  the  resolution,  in  effect  to  abolish  it,  was 
adopted  by  them  as  a  party,  in  their  manifesto.  The  present  amendment 
proposes  to  carry  this  resolution  into  execution. 

I  should  rather  rely  upon  the  judgment  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky  on  any 
other  question,  than  in  regard  to  the  veto  power.  He  has  suffered  so  much 
from  its  exercise  as  to  render  it  almost  impossible  that  he  can  be  an  impartial 
judge.  History  will  record  the  long  and  memorable  struggle  between  himself 
and  a  distinguished  ex-President,  now  in  retirement.  This  was  no  common 
party  strife.  Their  mighty  war  shook  the  whole  Republic  to  its  centre.  The 
one  swayed  the  majority  in  both  Houses  of  Congress ;  whilst  the  other  was 
sustained  by  a  majority  of  the  people.  Under  the  lead  of  the  one,  Congress 
passed  bills  to  establish  a  Bank  of  the  United  States ; — to  commence  a  system 
of  internal  improvements ; — and  to  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands 
among  the  several  States;  whilst  the  other,  strong  in  his  convictions  of  duty, 
and  strong  in  his  belief  that  the  voice  of  the  sovereign  people  would  condemn 
these  measures  of  their  representatives,  vetoed  them  every  one.  And  what 
was  the  result  ?  Without,  upon  the  present  occasion,  expressing  an  opinion 
on  any  one  of  these  questions,  was  it  not  rendered  manifest  that  the  Presi 
dent  elected  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  directly  responsible  to  them  for 
his  conduct,  understood  their  will  and  their  wishes  better  than  the  majority  m 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  ?  No  wonder  then  that  the  Sena 
tor  from  Kentucky  should  detest  the  veto  power.  It  ought  never  to  be  torn 
from  its  foundation  in  the  Constitution  by  the  rash  hands  of  a  political  party, 
impelled  to  the  deed  under  the  influence  of  defeated  hopes  and  disappointed 
ambition. 

I  trust  now  that  I  shall  be  able  to  prove  that  the  Senator  from  Kentucky 


REPLY   TO  CLAY   ON  THE  VETO  POWpS.  477 


has  entirely  mistaken  the  character  of  the  veto  power  ;  that  in  its  origin  and 
nature  it  is  peculiarly  democratic  ;  that  in  the  qualified  form  in  which  it  exists 
in  our  Constitution,  it  is  but  a  mere  appeal  by  the  President  of  the  people's 
choice  from  the  decision  of  Congress  to  the  people  themselves;  and  that 
whilst  the  exercise  of  this  power  has  done  much  good,  it  never  has  been,  and 
never  can  be,  dangerous  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the  people. 

This  is  not  "  an  arbitrary  and  monarchical  power;  "  it  is  not  "a  monarch 
ical  prerogative,"  as  it  has  been  designated  by  the  Senator.  If  it  were,  I 
should  go  with  him,  heart  and  hand,  for  its  abolition.  What  is  a  monarchi 
cal  prerogative  ?  It  is  a  power  vested  in  an  emperor  or  king,  neither  elected 
by,  nor  responsible  to,  the  people,  to  maintain  and  preserve  the  privileges  of 
his  throne.  The  veto  power  in  the  hands  of  such  a  sovereign  has  never  been 
exerted,  and  never  will  be  exerted,  except  to  arrest  the  progress  of  popular 
liberty,  or  what  he  may  term  popular  encroachment.  It  is  the  character  of 
the  public  agent  on  whom  this  power  is  conferred,  and  not  the  nature  of  the 
power  itself,  which  stamps  it  either  as  democratic  or  arbitrary.  In  its  origin 
we  all  know  that  it  was  purely  democratic.  It  owes  its  existence  to  a  revolt 
of  the  people  of  Rome  against  the  tyrannical  decrees  of  the  Senate.  They 
retired  from  the  city  to  the  Sacred  Mount,  and  demanded  the  rights  of  free 
men.  They  thus  extorted  from  the  aristocratic  Senate  a  decree  authorizing 
them  annually  to  elect  tribunes  of  the  people.  On  these  tribunes  was  con 
ferred  the  power  of  annulling  any  decree  of  the  Senate,  by  simply  pronoun 
cing  the  word  "veto."  This  very  power  was  the  only  one  by  means  of 
which  the  Democracy  of  Rome  exercised  any  control  over  the  government  of 
the  republic.  It  was  their  only  safeguard  against  the  oppression  and  encroach 
ments  of  the  aristocracy.  It  is  true  that  it  did  not  enable  the  people, 
through  their  tribunes,  to  originate  laws  ;  but  it  saved  them  from  all  laws 
of  the  Senate  which  encroached  on  their  rights  and  liberties. 

Now,  sir,  let  me  ask  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  was  this  an  arbitrary  and 
monarchical  power?  No,  sir;  it  was  strictly  democratic.  And  why? 
Because  it  was  exercised  by  tribunes  elected  by  the  people,  and  responsible 
annually  to  the  people  ;  and  I  shall  now  attempt  to  prove  that  the  veto 
power,  under  our  Constitution,  is  of  a  similar  character. 

Who  is  the  President  of  the  United  States,  by  whom  this  power  is  to  be 
exercised?  He  is  a  citizen,  elected  by  his  fellow-  citizens  to  the  highest 
official  trust  in  the  country,  and  directly  responsible  to  them  for  the  manner 
in  which  he  shall  discharge  his  duties.  From  the  manner  in  which  he  is 
elected,  he  more  nearly  represents  a  majority  of  the  whole  people  of  the 
United  States  than  any  other  branch  of  the  Government.  Sir,  one-fourth  of 
the  people  may  elect  a  decided  majority  of  the  Senate.  Under  the  Constitu 
tion,  we  are  the  representatives  of  sovereign  States,  and  little  Delaware  has 
an  equal  voice  in  this  body  with  the  Empire  State.  How  is  it  in  regard  to 
the  House  of  Representatives?  Without  a  resort  to  the  gerrymandering 
process  which  of  late  years  has  become  so  common,  it  may  often  happen, 
from  the  arrangement  of  the  Congressional  districts,  that  a  minority  of  the 


478  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

people  of  a  State  will  elect  a  majority  of  representatives  to  Congress.  Not 
so  in  regard  to  the  President  of  the  United  States.  From  necessity,  he  must 
be  elected  by  the  mass  of  the  people  in  the  several  States.  He  is  the  creature 
of  the  people — the  mere  breath  of  their  nostrils — and  on  him,  as  the  tribune 
of  the  people,  have  they  conferred  the  veto  power. 

Is  there  any  serious  danger  that  such  a  magistrate  will  ever  abuse  this 
power  ?  What  earthly  inducement  can  he  have  to  pursue  such  a  course  ?  In 
the  first  place,  during  his  first  term,  he  will  necessarily  feel  anxious  to  obtain 
the  stamp  of  public  approbation  on  his  conduct,  by  a  re-election.  For  this 
reason,  if  no  other  existed,  he  will  not  array  himself,  by  the  exercise  of  the 
veto  power,  against  a  majority  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  unless  in  extreme 
cases,  where,  from  strong  convictions  of  public  duty,  he  may  be  willing  to 
draw  down  upon  himself  their  hostile  influence. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Constitution  leaves  him  in  a  state  of  dependence 
on  Congress.  Without  their  support,  no  measure  recommended  by  him  can 
become  a  law,  and  no  system  of  policy  which  he  may  have  devised  can  be 
carried  into  execution.  Deprived  of  their  aid,  he  can  do  nothing.  Upon 
their  cordial  co-operation  the  success  and  glory  of  his  administration  must,  in 
a  great  degree,  depend.  Is  it,  then,  at  all  probable  that  he  would  make  war 
upon  Congress,  by  refusing  to  sanction  any  one  of  their  favorite  measures, 
unless  he  felt  deeply  conscious  that  he  was  acting  in  obedience  to  the  will  of 
the  people,  and  could  appeal  to  them  for  support  ?  Nothing  short  of  such  a 
conviction,  unless  it  be  to  preserve  his  oath  inviolate  to  support  the  Constitu 
tion,  will  ever  induce  him  to  exercise  a  power  always  odious  in  the  eyes  of 
the  majority  in  Congress,  against  which  it  is  exerted. 

But  there  is  still  another  powerful  influence  which  will  prevent  his  abuse 
of  the  veto  power.  The  man  who  has  been  elevated  by  his  fellow-citizens  to 
the  highest  office  of  trust  and  dignity  which  a  great  nation  can  bestow,  must 
necessarily  feel  a  strong  desire  to  have  his  name  recorded  in  untarnished 
characters  on  the  page  of  his  country's  history,  and  to  live  after  death  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen.  This  consideration  would  forbid  the  abuse  of  the 
veto  power.  What  is  posthumous  fame  in  almost  every  instance  ?  Is  it  not 
the  voice  of  posterity  re-echoing  the  opinion  of  the  present  generation  ?  And 
what  body  on  the  earth  can  give  so  powerful  an  impulse  to  public  opinion, 
at  least  in  this  country,  as  the  Congress  of  the  United  States?  Under  all 
these  circumstances,  we  must  admit  that  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  Fed 
eralist  is  sound,  and  that  "  it  is  evident  that  there  would  be  greater  danger  of 
his  not  using  his  power  when  necessary,  than  of  his  using  it  too  often  or  too 
much."  Such  must  also  have  been  Mr.  Jefferson's  opinion.  When  consulted 
by  General  Washington  in  April,  1792,  as  to  the  propriety  of  vetoing  "the 
act  for  an  apportionment  of  Representatives  among  the  several  States,  accord 
ing  to  the  first  enumeration,"  what  was  his  first  reason  in  favor  of  the  exer 
cise  of  this  power  upon  that  occasion?  "Viewing  the  bill,"  says  he,  "  either 
as  a  violation  of  the  Constitution,  or  as  giving  an  inconvenient  exposition  to 
its  words,  is  it  a  case  wherein  the  President  ought  to  interpose  his  negative?" 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON   THE  VETO  POWER.  479 

"I  think  it  is."  "  The  non  user  of  his  negative  power  begins  already  to  excite 
a  belief  that  no  President  will  ever  venture  to  use  it;  and  consequently,  has 
begotten  a  desire  to  raise  up  barriers  in  the  State  legislatures  against  Congress 
throwing  off  the  control  of  the  Constitution."  I  shall  not  read  the  other  rea 
sons  he  has  assigne.d,  none  of  them  being  necessary  for  my  present  purpose. 
Perilous,  indeed,  I  repeat,  is  the  exercise  of  the  veto  power,  and  "  no  Presi 
dent  will  ever  venture  to  use  it,"  unless  from  the  strongest  sense  of  duty, 
and  the  strongest  conviction  that  it  will  receive  the  public  approbation. 

But,  after  all,  what  is  the  nature  of  this  qualified  veto  under  the  Constitu 
tion  ?  It  is,  in  fact,  but  an  appeal  taken  by  the  President  from  the  decision 
of  Congress,  in  a  particular  case,  to  the  tribunal  of  the  sovereign  people  of 
the  several  States,  who  are  equally  the  masters  of  both.  If  they  decide  against 
the  President,  their  decision  must  finally  prevail,  by  the  admission  of  the 
Senator  himself.  The  same  President  must  either  carry  it  into  execution 
himself,  or  the  next  President  whom  they  elect,  will  do  so.  The  veto  never 
can  do  more  than  postpone  legislative  action  on  the  measure  of  which  it  is 
the  subject,  until  the  will  of  the  people  can  be  fairly  expressed.  This  suspen 
sion  of  action,  if  the  people  should  not  sustain  the  President,  will  not  gener 
ally  continue  longer  than  two  years,  and  it  cannot  continue  longer  than  four. 
If  the  people,  at  the  next  elections,  should  return  a  majority  to  Congress 
hostile  to  the  veto,  and  the  same  measure  should  be  passed  a  second  time,  he 
must  indeed  be  a  bold  man,  and  intent  upon  his  own  destruction,  who  would, 
a  second  time,  arrest  it  by  his  veto.  After  the  popular  voice  has  determined 
the  question,  the  President  would  always  submit,  unless,  by  so  doing,  he 
clearly  believed  he  would  involve  himself  in  the  guilt  of  perjury,  by  violating 
his  oath  to  support  the  Constitution.  At  the  end  of  four  years,  however,  in 
any  and  every  event,  the  popular  will  must  and  would  be  obeyed  by  the 
election  of  another  President. 

Sir,  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  in  one  of  those  beautiful  passages  which 
always  abound  in  his  speeches,  has  drawn  a  glowing  picture  of  the  isolated 
condition  of  kings,  whose  ears  the  voice  of  public  opinion  is  never  permitted 
to  reach ;  and  he  has  compared  their  condition  in  this  particular,  with  that  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  Here  too,  he  said,  the  Chief  Magistrate 
occupied  an  isolated  station,  where  the  voice  of  his  country  and  the  cries  of 
its  distress  could  not  reach  his  ear.  But  is  there  any  justice  in  this  compari 
son  ?  Such  a  picture  may  be  true  to  the  life  when  drawn  for  an  European 
monarch ;  but  it  has  no  application  whatever  to  a  President  of  the  United 
States.  He,  sir,  is  no  more  than  the  first  citizen  of  this  free  Republic.  No 
form  is  required  in  approaching  his  person,  which  can  prevent  the  humblest 
of  his  fellow-citizens  from  communicating  with  him.  In  approaching  him,  a 
freeman  of  this  land  is  not  compelled  to  decorate  himself  in  fantastic  robes,  or 
adopt  any  particular  form  of  dress,  such  as  the  court  etiquette  of  Europe 
requires.  The  President  intermingles  freely  with  his  fellow-citizens,  and 
hears  the  opinions  of  all.  The  public  press  attacks  him — political  parties,  in 
and  out  of  Congress,  assail  him,  and  the  thunders  of  the  Senator's  own 


480  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

denunciatory  eloquence  are  reverberated  from  the  Capitol,  and  reach  the 
White  House  before  its  incumbent  can  lay  his  head  upon  his  pillow.  His 
every  act  is  subjected  to  the  severest  scrutiny,  and  he  reads  in  the  newspapers 
of  the  day  the  decrees  of  public  opinion.  Indeed,  it  is  the  privilege  of  every 
body  to  assail  him.  To  contend  that  such  a  Chief  Magistrate  is  isolated  from 
the  people,  is  to  base  an  argument  upon  mere  fancy,  and  not  upon  facts.  No, 
sir;  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  more  directly  before  the  people, 
and  more  immediately  responsible,  than  any  other  department  of  our  Gov 
ernment:  and  woe  be  to  that  President  who  shall  ever  affect  to  withdraw 
from  the  public  eye,  and  seclude  himself  in  the  recesses  of  the  Executive 
mansion  I 

The  Senator  has  said,  and  with  truth,  that  no  veto  of  the  President  has 
ever  been  overruled,  since  the  origin  of  the  Government.  Not  one.  Although 
he  introduced  this  fact  for  another  purpose  than  that  which  now  induces  me 
to  advert  to  it,  yet  it  is  not  the  less  true  on  that  account.  Is  not  this  the 
strongest  possible  argument  to  prove  that  there  never  yet  has  been  a  veto,  in 
violation  of  the  public  will  ? 

[Here  Mr.  Clay  observed  that  there  had  been  repeated  instances  of  majori 
ties  in  Congress  deciding  against  vetoes.] 

Mr.  Buchanan  resumed.  I  am  now  speaking  of  majorities,  not  of  Con 
gress,  but  of  the  people.  I  shall  speak  of  majorities  in  Congress  presently. 

Why,  sir,  has  no  veto  been  ever  overruled  ?  Simply  because  the  President 
has  never  exercised,  and  never  will  exercise,  this  perilous  power  on  any 
important  occasion,  unless  firmly  convinced  that  he  is  right,  and  that  he  will 
be  sustained  by  the  people.  Standing  alone,  with  the  whole  responsibility  of 
his  high  official  duties  pressing  upon  him,  he  will  never  brave  the  enormous 
power  and  influence  of  Congress,  unless  he  feels  a  moral  certainty  that  the 
people  will  come  to  the  rescue.  When  he  ventures  to  differ  from  Congress 
and  appeal  to  the  people,  the  chances  are  all  against  him.  The  members  of 
the  Senate  and  the  House  are  numerous,  and  are  scattered  over  the  whole 
country,  whilst  the  President  is  but  an  individual  confined  to  the  city  of 
Washington.  Their  personal  influence  with  their  constituents  is,  and  must 
be,  great.  In  such  a  struggle,  he  must  mainly  rely  upon  the  palpable  justice 
of  his  cause.  Under  these  circumstances,  does  it  not  speak  volumes  in  favor 
of  the  discretion  with  which  the  veto  power  has  been  exercised,  that  it  has 
never  once  been  overruled,  in  a  single  instance,  since  the  origin  of  the  Govern 
ment,  either  by  a  majority  of  the  people  in  the  several  States,  or  by  the  con 
stitutional  majority  in  Congress. 

It  is  truly  astonishing  how  rarely  this  power  has  ever  been  exercised. 
During  the  period  of  more  than  half  a  century  which  has  elapsed  since  the 
meeting  of  the  first  Congress  under  the  Constitution,  about  six  thousand 
legislative  acts  have  been  passed.  How  many  of  these,  sir,  do  you  suppose 
have  been  disapproved  by  the  President  ?  Twenty,  sir ;  twenty  is  the  whole 
number.  I  speak  from  a  list  now  in  my  hand  prepared  by  one  of  the  clerks 
of  the  Senate.  And  this  number  embraces  not  merely  those  bills  which  have 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.       481 

been  actually  vetoed ;  but  all  such  as  were  retained  by  him  under  the  Consti 
tution,  in  consequence  of  having  been  presented  at  so  late  a  period  of  the 
session  that  he  could  not  prepare  his  objections  previous  to  the  adjournment. 
Twenty  is  the  sum  total  of  all  I 

Let  us  analyze  these  vetoes  (for  I  shall  call  them  all  by  that  name)  for  a 
few  moments.  Of  the  twenty,  eight  were  on  bills  of  small  comparative 
importance,  and  excited  no  public  attention.  Congress  at  once  yielded  to  the 
President's  objections,  and  in  one  remarkable  instance,  a  veto  of  General 
Jackson  was  laid  upon  the  table  on  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky 
himself.  No  attempt  was  even  made  to  pass  the  bill  in  opposition  to  this  veto, 
and  no  one  Senator  contested  its  propriety.  Eleven  of  the  twelve  remaining 
vetoes  upon  this  list,  relate  to  only  three  subjects.  These  are,  a  Bank  of  the 
United  States  ;  internal  improvements  in  different  forms ;  and  the  distribution 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  among  the  several  States.  There  have 
been  four  vetoes  of  a  Bank  of  the  United  States ;  one  by  Mr.  Madison,  one 
by  General  Jackson,  and  two  by  Mr.  Tyler.  There  have  been  six  vetoes  on 
internal  improvements,  in  different  forms ;  one  by  Mr.  Madison,  one  by  Mr. 
Monroe,  and  four  by  General  Jackson.  And  General  Jackson  vetoed  the  bill 
to  distribute  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  among  the  several 
States.  These  make  the  eleven. 

The  remaining  veto  was  by  General  Washington;  and  it  is  remarkable 
that  it  should  be  the  most  questionable  exercise  of  this  power  which  has  ever 
occurred.  I  refer  to  his  second  and  last  veto,  on  the  first  of  March,  1797,  and 
but  three  days  before  he  retired  from  office,  on  the  "  Act  to  alter  and  amend 
an  act,  entitled  an  act  to  ascertain  and  fix  the  military  establishment  of  the 
United  States."  In  this  instance,  there  was  a  majority  of  nearly  two-thirds  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  where  it  originated,  in  favor  of  passing  the  act, 
notwithstanding  the  objections  of  the  Father  of  his  Country.  The  vote  was 
fifty-five  in  the  affirmative  to  thirty-six  in  the  negative.  This  act  provided  for 
the  reduction  of  the  military  establishment  of  the  country ;  and  the  day  will 
probably  never  again  arrive  when  any  President  will  venture  to  veto  an  act 
reducing  the  standing  army  of  the  United  States. 

Then  in  the  range  of  time  since  the  year  1789,  there  have  been  but  twenty 
vetoes;  and  eleven  of  these  related  to  only  three  subjects  which  have  radically 
divided  the  two  great  political  parties  of  the  country.  With  the  exception  of 
twenty,  all  of  the  acts  which  have  ever  passed  Congress,  have  been  allowed  to 
take  their  course  without  any  executive  interference. 

That  this  power  has  never  been  abused,  is  as  clear  as  the  light  of  the  sun. 
I  ask  Senators,  and  I  appeal  to  you,  sir,  whether  the  American  people  have 
not  sanctioned  every  one  of  the  vetoes  on  the  three  great  subjects  to  which  I 
have  referred.  Yes,  sir,  every  one,  not  excepting  those  on  the  Fiscal  Bank  and 
Fiscal  Corporation — the  leading  measures  of  the  extra  session.  Notwithstand 
ing  the  solemn  denunciation  against  the  President,  made  by  the  "Whig  party, 
and  their  appeal  to  the  people,  there  has  been  no  election  held  since  that 
session  in  which  the  people  have  not  declared,  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  their 
I— 31 


482  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

approbation  of  the  two  vetoes  of  President  Tyler.  I  shall  not,  upon  the 
present  occasion,  discuss  the  question  whether  all  or  any  of  these  vetoes  were 
right  or  wrong.  I  merely  state  the  incontrovertible  fact  that  they  have  all 
been  approved  by  the  American  people. 

The  character  of  the  bills  vetoed  shows  conclusively  the  striking  contrast 
between  the  veto  power  when  entrusted  to  an  elective  and  responsible  chief 
magistrate,  and  when  conferred  upon  a  European  sovereign  as  a  royal  preroga 
tive.  All  the  vetoes  "which  an  American  President  has  imposed  on  any 
important  act  of  Congress,  except  the  one  by  General  Washington,  to  which.  I 
have  alluded,  have  been  so  many  instances  of  self-denial.  These  acts  have  all 
been  returned,  accompanied  by  messages  remonstrating  against  the  extension 
of  executive  power,  which  they  proposed  to  grant.  Exerting  the  influence 
which  these  acts  proposed  to  confer  upon  him,  the  President  might,  indeed, 
have  made  long  strides  towards  the  attainment  of  monarchical  power.  Had  a 
national  bank  been  established  under  his  control,  uniting  the  moneyed  with 
the  political  power  of  the  country ;  had  a  splendid  system  of  internal  improv- 
ments  been  adopted  and  placed  under  his  direction,  presenting  prospects  of 
pecuniary  advantage  to  almost  every  individual  throughout  the  land ;  and  in 
addition  to  all  this,  had  the  States  become  pensioners  on  the  bounty  of  the 
Federal  Government  for  the  amount  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands,  we  might  soon  have  witnessed  a  powerful  consolidated  Government, 
with  a  chief  at  its  head,  far  different  from  the  plain  and  unpretending  Presi 
dent  recognized  by  the  Constitution.  The  General  Government  might  then 
have  become  everything,  whilst  the  State  governments  would  have  sunk  to 
nothing.  Thanks  to  the  vetoes  of  our  Presidents,  and  not  to  Congress,  that 
most  of  these  evils  have  been  averted.  Had  these  acts  been  all  approved  by 
the  President,  it  is  my  firm  conviction  that  the  Senator  himself  would  as 
deeply  have  deplored  the  consequences  as  any  other  true  patriot,  and  that  he 
would  forever  have  regretted  his  own  agency  in  substantially  changing  the 
form  of  our  Government.  Had  these  bills  become  laws,  the  executive  power 
would  then  have  strode  over  all  the  other  powers  of  the  Constitution ;  and 
then,  indeed,  the  Senator  might  have  justly  compared  the  President  of  the 
United  States  with  the  monarchs  of  Europe.  Our  Presidents  have  had  the 
self-denying  firmness  to  render  all  these  attempts  abortive  to  bestow  on  them 
selves  extraordinary  powers,  and  have  been  content  to  confine  themselves  to 
those  powers  conferred  on  them  by  the  Constitution.  They  have  protected 
the  rights  of  the  States  and  of  the  people  from  the  unconstitutional  means  of 
influence  which  Congress  had  placed  within  their  grasp.  Such  have  been  the 
consequences  of  the  veto  power  in  the  hands  of  our  elective  chief  magistrate. 

For  what  purposes  has  this  power  been  exerted  by  European  monarchs, 
with  whom  our  President  has  been  compared  ?  When  exercised  at  all,  it  has 
always  been  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  royal  prerogative  and  arrest 
ing  the  march  of  popular  liberty.  There  have  been  but  two  instances  of  its 
exercise  in  England  since  the  Revolution  of  1688.  The  first  was  in  1692,  by 
William  the  Third,  the  rival  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  and  beyond  question  the 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.  483 

ablest  man  who  has  sat  upon  the  throne  of  Great  Britain  for  the  last  century 
and  a  half.  He  had  the  hardihood  to  veto  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury's  bill, 
which  had  passed  both  houses,  limiting  the  duration  of  Parliaments  to  three, 
instead  of  seven  years,  and  requiring  annual  sessions  to  be  held.  He  dreaded 
the  influence  which  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  responsible  to  their 
constituents  at  the  end  of  each  period  of  three  years,  might  exert  against  his 
royal  power  and  prerogatives ;  and,  there/ore,  held  on  by  means  of  the  veto 
to  septennial  Parliaments.  And  what  did  George  the  Third?  In  1806  he 
vetoed  the  Catholic  Emancipation  bill,  and  thus  continued  to  hold  in  political 
bondage  millions  of  his  fellow-men,  because  they  insisted  upon  worshipping 
their  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 

[Here  Mr.  Clay  observed  that  this  was  a  mistake,  and  expressed  his 
belief  that,  upon  the  occasion  alluded  to,  the  matter  had  gone  no  further  than 
the  resignation  of  the  Grenville  administration.] 

Mr.  Buchanan.  I  shall  then  read  my  authority.  It  is  to  be  found  in 
"  Random  Recollections  of  the  House  of  Lords,  by  Mr.  Grant,"  page  25.  The 
author  says: 

"  But  if  the  king  refuses  his  signature  to  it,  [a  bill]  as  George  the  Third  did 
in  the  case  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  bill  of  1806,  it  necessarily  falls  to  the 
ground.  The  way  in  which  the  king  intimates  his  determination  not  to  give 
his  assent  to  the  measure,  is  not  by  a  positive  refusal  in  so  many  words ;  he 
simply  observes,  in  answer  to  the  application  made  to  him  for  that  purpose, 
'  Le  roi  s'avisera,'  namely,  '  The  king  will  consider  of  it,'  which  is  understood 
to  be  a  final  determination  not  to  sanction  the  measure." 

But,  sir,  be  this  author  correct  or  incorrect,  as  to  the  existence  of  a  veto  in 
1806,  it  is  a  matter  of  trifling  importance  in  the  present  argument.*  I  admit 
that  the  exercise  of  the  veto  power  has  fallen  into  disuse  in  England  since 
the  revolution.  And  what  are  the  reasons  ?  First,  because  its  exercise  by  a 
hereditary  sovereign  to  preserve  unimpaired  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown 
against  the  voice  of  the  people,  is  always  an  odious  exertion  of  the  royal  pre 
rogative.  It  is  far  different  from  its  exercise  by  an  elective  magistrate,  acting 
in  the  character  of  a  tribune  of  the  people,  to  preserve  their  rights  and 
liberties  unimpaired.  And  secondly,  because  this  veto  power  is  no  longer 
necessary  to  secure  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown  against  the  assaults  of 
popular  liberty. 

Two  centuries  ago,  the  people  of  England  asserted  their  rights  by  the  sword 
against  their  sovereign.  They  dethroned  and  beheaded  him.  Since  that 

*  Mr.  Buchanan  cannot  discover,  after  careful  examination,  that  any  Catholic  Emancipa 
tion  bill  was  vetoed  by  George  the  Third  in  1806,  according  to  the  statement  of  Mr.  Grant. 
That  gentleman,  most  probably,  intended  to  refer  to  the  bill  for  this  purpose  which  was 
introduced  by  the  Grenville  ministry,  in  March,  1807,  under  the  impression  that  they  had 
obtained  for  it  the  approbation  of  His  Majesty.  Upon  its  second  reading,  notice  was  given 
of  his  displeasure.  The  ministry  then  agreed  to  drop  the  bill  altogether ;  but,  notwithstand 
ing  this  concession,  they  were  changed,  because  they  would  not  give  a  written  pledge  to  the 
king,  that  they  should  propose  no  farther  concessions  to  the  Catholics  thereafter.  This  was 
an  exertion  of  the  royal  prerogative  beyond  the  veto  power.  (Note  by  Mr.  Buchanan.) 


484  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

time,  the  kings  of  England  have  changed  their  course.  They  have  discov 
ered  from  experience  that  it  was  much  easier  to  govern  Parliament  by  means 
of  the  patronage  and  money  at  the  command  of  the  crown,  than  openly  to 
resist  it  by  the  veto  power.  This  system  has  succeeded  admirably.  Influence 
has  taken  the  place  of  prerogative ;  and  since  the  days  of  Walpole,  when  the 
votes  of  members  were  purchased  almost  without  disguise,  corruption  has 
nearly  destroyed  the  independent  action  of  Parliament.  It  has  now  descended 
into  the  ranks  of  the  people,  and  threatens  destruction  to  the  institutions  of 
that  country.  In  the  recent  contest  for  power  between  the  Whigs  and  the 
Tories,  the  bargain  and  sale  of  the  votes  of  the  electors  was  open  and  noto 
rious.  The  bribery  and  corruption  of  both  parties  sought  no  disguise.  In 
many  places  the  price  of  a  vote  was  fixed,  like  any  other  commodity  in  the 
market.  These  things  have  been  proclaimed  without  contradiction  on  the 
floor  of  Parliament,  The  Tories  had  the  most  money  to  expend ;  and  the 
cause  of  dear  bread,  with  a  starving  population,  prevailed  over  the  modifica 
tion  or  repeal  of  the  corn  laws.  In  a  country  so  venal,  it  is  easy  for  the 
crown,  by  a  politic  distribution  of  its  honors,  offices  and  emoluments,  and  if 
these  should  all  fail,  by  a  direct  application  of  money,  to  preserve  its  preroga 
tives  without  the  use  of  the  veto  power. 

Besides,  the  principal  ministers  of  the  crown  are  always  members  of  the 
House  of  Lords  or  the  House  of  Commons.  It  is  they  who  originate  the 
important  laws;  and  they,  and  they  alone,  are  responsible,  because  it  is  a 
maxim  of  the  British  government,  that  the  king  can  do  no  wrong.  If  they 
cannot  maintain  a  majority  in  Parliament  by  the  use  of  the  patronage  and 
influence  of  the  crown,  they  must  yield  their  places  to  their  successful  rivals ; 
and  the  king,  without  the  least  hesitation,  will  receive  as  his  confidential 
advisers  to-morrow,  the  very  men  whose  principles  he  had  condemned  but 
yesterday.  Such  is  a  king  of  England.  He  can  do  no  wrong. 

On  one  memorable  occasion,  when  the  ministers  of  the  crown  themselves 
— I  refer  to  the  coalition  administration  of  Mr.  Fox  and  Lord  North — had 
passed  their  East  India  Bill  through  the  House  of  Commons,  it  was  defeated  in 
the  House  of  Lords  by  the  direct  personal  influence  of  the  sovereign.  George 
the  Third,  it  is  known,  would  have  vetoed  that  bill,  had  it  passed  the  House 
of  Lords ;  and  well  he  might.  It  was  an  attempt  by  his  own  ministers  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  wealth  and  the  power  of  India,  and  to  use  them  for 
the  purpose  of  controlling  both  the  sovereign  and  the  people  of  England. 
This  was  not  the  common  case  of  a  mere  struggle  between  opposite  parties 
as  to  which  should  administer  the  government,  about  which  the  sovereign 
of  England  might  be  perfectly  indifferent;  but  it  was  an  attempt  to  deprive 
the  crown  of  its  power  and  prerogatives. 

Under  such  circumstances,  can  the  Senator  seriously  contend  that,  because 
the  veto  power  has  been  disused  by  the  kings  of  England,  therefore,  it 
ought  to  be  taken  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  ?  The  king  is  a 
hereditary  sovereign — the  President  an  elective  magistrate.  The  king  is  not 
responsible  to  the  people  for  the  administration  of  the  executive  government 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.       455 

— the  President  is  alone  responsible.  The  king  could  feel  no  interest  in  using 
the  veto  power,  except  to  maintain  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown ;  and  it  has 
been  shown  to  be  wholly  unnecessary  for  this  purpose ;  whilst  the  President 
has  never  exerted  it  on  any  important  occasion,  but  in  obedience  to  the  pub 
lic  will,  and  then  only  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  encroachment  by  Con 
gress  on  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  on  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  on 
the  liberties  of  the  people. 

The  Senator  is  mistaken  in  supposing  that  the  veto  power  has  never  been 
exercised  in  France.  It  is  true,  I  believe,  that  it  has  never  been  exerted  by 
the  government  of  Louis  Philippe ;  but  his  government  is  as  yet  nothing 
but  a  mere  experiment.  It  has  now  existed  less  than  twelve  years,  and 
during  this  short  period  there  have  been  nineteen  different  cabinets.  I  saw  a 
list  of  them  a  few  days  ago,  in  one  of  the  public  journals.  To  cite  the  exam 
ple  of  such  a  government  as  authority  here,  is  to  prove  that  a  Senator  is 
hard  run  for  arguments.  The  unfortunate  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  used  the  sus 
pensive  veto  power  conferred  upon  him  by  the  first  French  Constitution, 
upon  more  than  one  occasion ;  but  he  used  it  not  to  enforce  the  will  of  the 
people  as  our  Presidents  have  done,  but  against  public  opinion,  which  was  at 
that  time  omnipotent  in  France.  These  vetoes  proved  but  a  feeble  barrier 
against  the  tremendous  torrent  of  the  Revolution,  which  was  at  that  time 
overwhelming  all  the  corrupt  and  tyrannical  institutions  of  the  ancient  mon 
archy. 

The  Senator  has  referred  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  to  show  that 
the  exercise  of  this  veto  power  by  the  king  on  the  acts  of  the  colonial  legisla 
ture  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  Revolution.  In  that  instrument  he  is 
charged  with  having  "refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most  wholesome  and 
necessary  for  the  public  good."  In  those  days  a  douceur  was  presented,  in 
Pennsylvania,  to  the  proprietary  governor,  with  every  act  of  assembly  in  which 
the  people  felt  a  deep  interest.  I  state  this  fact  on  the  authority  of  Dr. 
Franklin.  After  the  act  was  approved  by  the  governor,  it  had  then  to  be 
sent  three  thousand  miles  across  the  Atlantic  for  the  approbation  of  a  heredi 
tary  sovereign,  in  no  manner  responsible  to  the  people  of  this  country.  It 
would  have  been  strange,  indeed,  had  not  this  povrer  been  abused  under 
such  circumstances.  This  was  like  the  veto  of  Augustus  after  he  had  usurped 
the  liberties  of  the  Roman  people,  and  made  himself  sole  tribune — not  like 
that  of  the  tribunes  annually  elected  by  the  Roman  people.  This  was  not  the 
veto  of  James  Madison,  Andrew  Jackson,  or  John  Tyler — not  the  veto  of  a 
freeman,  responsible  to  his  fellow-freemen  for  the  faithful  and  honest  exercise 
of  his  important  trust.  This  power  is  either  democratic  or  arbitrary,  as  the 
authority  exercising  it  may  be  dependent  on  the  people  or  independent  of 
them. 

But,  sir,  this  veto  power,  which  I  humbly  apprehend  to  be  useful  in  every 
State  government,  becomes  absolutely  necessary  under  the  peculiar  and  com 
plex  form  of  the  Federal  Government.  To  this  point  I  desire  especially  to 
direct  the  attention  of  the  Senate.  The  Federal  Constitution  was  a  work  of 


486  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

mutual  compromise  and  concession  ;  and  the  States  which  became  parties  to 
it,  must  take  the  evil  with  the  good.  A  majority  of  the  people  within  each 
of  the  several  States  have  the  inherent  right  to  change,  modify,  and  amend 
their  Constitution  at  pleasure.  Not  so  with  respect  to  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion.  In  regard  to  it,  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  can 
exercise  no  such  power.  And  why  ?  Simply  because  they  have  solemnly 
surrendered  it,  in  consideration  of  obtaining  by  this  surrender  all  the  blessings 
and  benefits  of  our  glorious  Union.  It  requires  two-thirds  of  the  representa 
tives  of  the  States  in  the  Senate,  and  two-thirds  of  the  representatives  of  the 
people  in  the  House,  even  to  propose  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution ; 
and  this  must  be  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  States  before  it  can  take 
effect.  Even  if  twenty-five  of  the  twenty-six  States  of  which  the  Union  is 
composed  should  determine  to  deprive  "  little  Delaware  "  of  her  equal  repre 
sentation  in  the  Senate,  she  could  defy  them  all,  whilst  this  Constitution  shall 
endure.  It  declares  that  "  no  State,  without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived 
of  its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate." 

As  the  Constitution  could  not  have  been  adopted  except  by  a  majority  of 
the  people  in  every  State  of  the  Union,  the  members  of  the  convention  be 
lieved  that  it  would  be  reasonable  and  just  to  require  that  three-fourths  of 
the  States  should  concur  in  changing  that  which  all  had  adopted,  and  to 
which  all  had  become  parties.  To  give  it  a  binding  force  upon  the  con 
science  of  every  public  functionary,  each  Senator  and  Representative,  whether 
in  Congress  or  the  several  State  legislatures,  and  every  executive  and  judicial 
officer,  whether  State  or  Federal,  is  bound  solemnly  to  swear  or  affirm  that 
he  will  support  the  Constitution. 

Now,  sir,  it  has  been  said,  and  said  truly  by  the  Senator,  that  the  will  of 
the  majority  ought  to  prevail.  This  is  an  axiom  in  the  science  of  liberty, 
which  nobody  at  the  present  day  will  dispute.  Under  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion,  this  will  must  be  declared  in  the  manner  which  it  has  prescribed ;  and 
sooner  or  later,  the  majority  must  and  will  be  obeyed  in  the  enactment  of 
laws.  But  what  is  this  majority  to  which  we  are  all  bound  to  yield  ?  Is  it 
the  majority  of  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress,  or  a  majority  of 
the  people  themselves  ?  The  fallacy  of  the  Senator's  argument,  from  begin 
ning  to  end,  consists  in  the  assumption  that  Congress,  in  every  situation  and 
under  every  circumstance,  truly  represents  the  deliberate  will  of  the  people. 
The  framers  of  the  Constitution  believed  it  might  be  otherwise,  and  therefore 
they  imposed  the  restriction  of  the  qualified  veto  of  the  President  upon  the 
legislative  action  of  Congress. 

What  is  the  most  glorious  and  useful  invention  of  modern  times  in  the 
science  of  free  government?  Undoubtedly,  written  constitutions.  For 
want  of  these,  the  ancient  republics  were  scenes  of  turbulence,  violence  and 
disorder,  and  ended  in  self-destruction.  And  what  are  all  our  constitutions, 
but  restraints  imposed,  not  by  arbitrary  authority,  but  by  the  people  upon 
themselves  and  their  own  representatives?  Such  throughout  is  the  character 
of  the  Federal  Constitution.  And  it  is  this  Constitution  thus  restricted,  which 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.       437 

has  so  long  secured  our  liberty  and  prosperity,  and  has  endeared  itself  to  the 
heart  of  every  good  citizen. 

This  system  of  self-imposed  restraints  is  a  necessary  element  of  our  social 
condition.  Every  wise  and  virtuous  man  adopts  resolutions  by  which  he 
regulates  his  conduct,  for  the  purpose  of  counteracting  the  evil  propensities 
of  his  nature,  and  preventing  him  from  yielding  under  the  impulses  of  sudden 
and  strong  temptation.  Is  such  a  man  the  less  free — the  less  independent, 
because  he  chooses  to  submit  to  these  self-imposed  restraints  ?  In  like  man 
ner,  is  the  majority  of  the  people  less  free  and  less  independent,  because  it 
has  chosen  to  impose  constitutional  restrictions  upon  itself  and  its  represanta- 
tives?  Is  this  any  abridgment  of  popular  liberty?  The  true  philosophy 
of  republican  government,  as  the  history  of  the  world  has  demonstrated,  con 
sists  in  the  establishment  of  such  counteracting  powers, — powers  always 
created  by  the  people  themselves, — as  shall  render  it  morally  certain  that  no 
law  can  be  passed  by  their  servants  which  shall  not  be  in  accordance  with 
their  will,  and  calculated  to  promote  their  good. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  a  senate  has  been  established  in  every  State  of 
the  Union  to  control  the  House  of  Representatives :  and  I  presume  there  is 
scarcely  an  individual  in  the  country  who  is  not  convinced  of  its  necessity. 
Fifty  years  ago,  opinions  were  much  divided  upon  this  subject,  and  nothing 
but  experience  has  settled  the  question.  In  France,  the  National  Assembly, 
although  they  retained  the  king,  rejected  a  senate  as  aristocratic,  and  our  own 
Franklin  was  opposed  to  it.  He  thought  that  the  popular  branch  was  alone 
necessary  to  reflect  the  will  of  the  people,  and  that  a  senate  would  be  but  a 
mere  incumbrance.  His  influence  prevailed  in  the  convention  which  framed 
the  first  constitution  for  Pennsylvania,  and  we  had  no  senate.  The  Doctor's 
argument  against  it  was  contained  in  one  of  his  homely  but  striking  illustra 
tions.  Why,  said  he,  will  you  place  a  horse  in  front  of  a  cart  to  draw  it  for 
ward,  and  another  behind  to  draw  it  back  ?  Experience,  which  is  the  wisest 
teacher,  has  demonstrated  the  fallacy  of  this  and  all  other  similar  arguments, 
and  public  opinion  is  now  unanimous  on  the  subject.  Where  is  the  man  who 
does  not  now  feel  that  the  control  of  a  senate  is  necessary  to  restrain  and 
modify  the  action  of  the  popular  branch  ? 

And  how  is  our  own  Senate  composed  ?  One-fourth  of  the  people  of  this 
Union,  through  the  agency  of  the  State  legislatures,  can  send  a  majority  into 
this  chamber.  A  bill  may  pass  the  House  of  Representatives  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  and  yet  be  defeated  here  by  a  majority  of  Senators  representing  but 
one-fourth  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  Why  does  not  the  Senator 
from  Kentucky  propose  to  abolish  the  Senate  ?  His  argument  would  be  much 
stronger  against  its  existence  than  against  that  of  the  veto  power  in  the  hands 
of  a  Chief  Magistrate,  who,  in  this  particular,  is  the  true  representative  of  the 
majority  of  the  whole  people. 

All  the  beauty,  and  harmony,  and  order  of  the  universe  arise  from  counter 
acting  influences.  When  its  great  Author,  in  the  beginning,  gave  the  planets 
their  projective  impulse,  they  would  have  rushed  in  a  straight  line  through 


488  L!FE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

the  realms  of  boundless  space,  had  he  not  restrained  them  within  their  pre 
scribed  orbits  by  the  counteracting  influence  of  gravitation.  All  the  valuable 
inventions  in  mechanics  consist  in  blending  simple  powers  together  so  as  to 
restrain  and  regulate  the  action  of  each  other.  Restraint — restraint — not  that 
imposed  by  arbitrary  and  irresponsible  power,  but  by  the  people  themselves, 
in  their  own  written  constitutions,  is  the  great  law  which  has  rendered  Demo 
cratic  Representative  Government  so  successful  in  these  latter  times.  The 
best  security  which  the  people  can  have  against  abuses  of  trust  by  their  public 
servants,  is  to  ordain  that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  one  class  of  them  to  watch 
and  restrain  another.  Sir,  this  Federal  Government,  in  its  legislative  attri 
butes,  is  nothing  but  a  system  of  restraints  from  beginning  to  end.  In  order 
to  enact  any  bill  into  a  law,  it  must  be  passed  by  the  representatives  of  the 
people  in  the  House,  and  also  by  the  representatives  of  the  sovereign  States 
in  the  Senate,  where,  as  I  have  observed  before,  it  may  be  defeated  by  Sena 
tors  from  States  containing  but  one-fourth  of  the  population  of  the  country. 
After  it  has  undergone  these  two  ordeals,  it  must  yet  be  subjected  to  that  of 
the  Executive,  as  the  tribune  of  the  whole  people,  for  his  approbation.  If  he 
should  exercise  his  veto  power,  it  cannot  become  a  law  unless  it  be  passed  by 
a  majority  of  two-thirds  of  both  Houses.  These  are  the  mutual  restraints 
which  the  people  have  imposed  on  their  public  servants,  to  preserve  their 
own  rights  and  those  of  the  States  from  rash,  hasty,  and  impolitic  legislation. 
No  treaty  with  a  foreign  power  can  be  binding  upon  the  people  of  this  coun 
try  unless  it  shall  receive  the  assent  of  the  President  and  two-thirds  of  the 
Senate;  and  this  is  the  restraint  which  the  people  have  imposed  on  the  treaty- 
making  power. 

All  these  restraints  are  peculiarly  necessary  to  protect  the  rights  and  pre 
serve  the  harmony  of  the  different  States  which  compose  our  Union.  It  now 
consists  of  twenty-six  distinct  and  independent  States,  and  this  number  may 
yet  be  considerably  increased.  These  States  differ  essentially  from  each  other 
in  their  domestic  institutions,  in  the  character  of  their  population,  and  even, 
to  some  extent,  in  their  language.  They  embrace  every  variety  of  soil, 
climate,  and  productions.  In  an  enlarged  view,  I  believe  their  interests  to  be 
all  identical;  although,  to  the  eye  of  local  and  sectional  prejudice,  they  always 
appear  to  be  conflicting.  In  such  a  condition,  mutual  jealousies  must  arise, 
which  can  only  be  repressed  by  that  mutual  forbearance  which  pervades  the 
Constitution.  To  legislate  wisely  for  such  a  people  is  a  task  of  extreme  deli 
cacy,  and  requires  much  self-restraining  prudence  and  caution.  In  this  point 
of  view,  I  firmly  believe  that  the  veto  power  is  one  of  the  best  safeguards  of 
the  Union.  By  this  power,  the  majority  of  the  people  in  every  State  have 
decreed  that  the  existing  laws  shall  remain  unchanged,  unless  not  only  a 
majority  in  each  House  of  Congress,  but  the  President  also,  shall  sanction  the 
change.  By  these  wise  and  wholesome  restrictions,  they  have  secured  them 
selves,  so  far  as  human  prudence  can,  against  hasty,  oppressive,  and  dangerous 
legislation. 

The  rights  of  the  weaker  portions  of  the  Union  will  find  one  of  their  great- 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.       489 

est  securities  in  the  veto  power.  It  would  be  easy  to  imagine  interests  of 
the  deepest  importance  to  particular  sections  which  might  be  seriously  en 
dangered  by  its  destruction.  For  example,  not  more  than  one-third  of  the 
States  have  any  direct  interest  in  the  coasting  trade.  This  trade  is  now  secured 
to  American  vessels,  not  merely  by  a  protective  duty,  but  by  an  absolute  pro 
hibition  of  all  foreign  competition.  Suppose  the  advocates  of  free  trade  run  mad 
should  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  Senators  and  Representatives  from  the  other 
two-thirds  of  the  States  against  this  comparatively  local  interest,  and  con 
vince  them  that  this  trade  ought  to  be  thrown  open  to  foreign  navigation. 
By  such  a  competition,  they  might  contend  that  the  price  of  freight  would  be 
reduced,  and  that  the  producers  of  cotton,  wheat,  and  other  articles  ought  not 
to  be  taxed  in  order  to  sustain  such  a  monopoly  in  favor  of  their  own  ship 
building  and  navigating  interest.  Should  Congress,  influenced  by  these  or 
any  other  consideration,  ever  pass  an  act  to  open  this  trade  to  the  competi 
tion  of  foreigners,  there  is  no  man  fit  to  fill  the  executive  chair  who  would 
not  place  his  veto  upon  it,  and  thus  refer  the  subject  to  the  sober  determina 
tion  of  the  American  people.  To  deprive  the  navigating  States  of  this  privi 
lege,  would  be  to  aim  a  deadly  blow  at  the  very  existence  of  the  Union. 

Let  me  suppose  another  case  of  a  much  more  dangerous  character.  In  the 
Southern  States,  which  compose  the  weaker  portion  of  the  Union,  a  species 
of  property  exists  which  is  now  attracting  the  attention  of  the  whole  civilized 
world.  These  States  never  would  have  become  parties  to  the  Union,  had 
not  their  rights  in  this  property  been  secured  by  the  Federal  Constitution. 
Foreign  and  domestic  fanatics — some  from  the  belief  that  they  are  doing 
G-od's  service,  and  others  from  a  desire  to  divide  and  destroy  this  glorious 
Republic — have  conspired  to  emancipate  the  Southern  slaves.  On  this  ques 
tion,  the  people  of  the  South,  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  States,  stand 
alone  and  unsupported  by  any  power  on  earth,  except  that  of  the  Northern 
Democracy.  These  fanatical  philanthropists  are  now  conducting  a  crusade 
over  the  whole  world,  and  are  endeavoring  to  concentrate  the  public  opinion 
of  all  mankind  against  this  right  of  property.  Suppose  they  should  ever  in 
fluence  a  majority  in  both  Houses  of  Congress  to  pass  a  law,  not  to  abolish 
this  property — for  that  would  be  too  palpable  a  violation  of  the  Constitution 
— but  to  render  it  of  no  value,  under  the  letter,  but  against  the  spirit  of  some 
one  of  the  powers  granted ;  will  any  lover  of  his  country  say  that  the  Presi 
dent  ought  not  to  possess  the  power  of  arresting  such  an  act  by  his  veto,  until 
the  solemn  decision  of  the  people  should  be  known  on  this  question,  involving 
the  life  or  death  of  the  Union  ?  We,  sir,  of  the  non-slaveholding  States, 
entered  the  Union  upon  the  express  condition  that  this  property  should  be 
protected.  Whatever  may  be  our  own  private  opinions  in  regard  to  slavery 
in  the  abstract,  ought  we  to  hazard  all  the  blessings  of  our  free  institutions — 
our  Union  and  our  strength — in  such  a  crusade  against  our  brethren  of  the 
South?  Ought  we  to  jeopard  every  political  right  we  hold  dear,  for  the  sake 
of  enabling  these  fanatics  to  invade  Southern  rights,  and  render  that  fair  por 
tion  of  our  common  inheritance  a  scene  of  servile  war,  rapine,  and  murder  ? 


490  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

Shall  we  apply  the  torch  to  the  magnificent  temple  of  human  liberty  which 
our  forefathers  reared  at  the  price  of  their  blood  and  treasure,  and  permit  all 
we  hold  dear  to  perish  in  the  con>flagration  ?  I  trust  not. 

It  is  possible  that  at  some  future  day  the  majority  in  Congress  may  attempt, 
by  indirect  means,  to  emancipate  the  slaves  of  the  South.  There  is  no  know 
ing  through  what  channel  the  ever  active  spirit  of  fanaticism  may  seek  to 
accomplish  its  object.  The  attempt  may  be  made  through  the  taxing  power, 
or  some  other  express  power  granted  by  the  Constitution.  God  only  knows 
how  it  may  be  made.  It  is  hard  to  say  what  means  fanaticism  may  not  adopt 
to  accomplish  its  purpose.  Do  we  feel  so  secure,  in  this  hour  of  peril  from 
abroad  and  peril  at  home,  as  to  be  willing  to  prostrate  any  of  the  barriers 
which  the  Constitution  has  reared  against  hasty  and  dangerous  legislation  ? 
No,  sir.  never  was  the  value  of  the  veto  power  more  manifest  than  at  the 
present  moment.  For  the  weaker  portion  of  the  Union,  whose  constitutional 
rights  are  now  assailed  with  such  violence,  to  think  of  abandoning  this  safe 
guard,  would  be  almost  suicidal.  It  is  my  solemn  conviction,  that  there  never 
was  a  wiser  or  more  beautiful  adaptation  of  theory  to  practice  in  any  govern 
ment  than  that  which  requires  a  majority  of  two-thirds  in  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress  to  pass  an  act  returned  by  the  President  with  his  objections,  under  all 
the  high  responsibilities  which  he  owes  to  his  country. 

Sir,  ours  is  a  glorious  Constitution.  Let  us  venerate  it — let  us  stand  by  it 
as  the  work  of  great  and  good  men,  unsurpassed  in  the  history  of  any  age  or 
nation.  Let  us  not  assail  it  rashly  with  our  invading  hands,  but  honor  it  as 
the  fountain  of  our  prosperity  and  power.  Let  us  protect  it  as  the  only  sys 
tem  of  government  which  could  have  rendered  us  what  we  are  in  half  a  cen 
tury,  and  enabled  us  to  take  the  front  rank  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
In  my  opinion,  it  is  the  only  form  of  government  which  can  preserve  the 
blessings  of  liberty  and  prosperity  to  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  secure 
the  rights  and  sovereignty  of  the  States.  Sir,  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
are  unwilling  that  it  shall  be  changed.  Although  the  Senator  from  Kentucky, 
to  whom  I  cannot  and  do  not  attribute  any  but  patriotic  motives,  has  brought 
himself  to  believe  that  a  change  is  necessary,  especially  in  the  veto  power,  I 
must  differ  from  him  entirely,  convinced  that  his  opinions  on  this  subject  are 
based  upon  fallacious  theories  of  the  nature  of  our  institutions.  This  view  of 
his  opinions  is  strengthened  by  his  declarations  the  other  day  as  to  the  illimi 
table  rights  of  the  majority  in  Congress.  On  that  point  he  differs  essentially 
from  the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  They  believed  that  the  people  of  the 
different  States  had  rights  which  might  be  violated  by  such  a  majority ;  and 
the  veto  power  was  one  of  the  modes  which  they  devised  for  preventing 
these  rights  from  being  invaded. 

The  Senator,  in  support  of  his  objections  to  the  veto  power,  has  used  what 
he  denominates  a  numerical  argument,  and  asks,  can  it  be  supposed  that  any 
President  will  possess  more  wisdom  than  nine  Senators  and  forty  Representa 
tives.  (This  is  the  number  more  than  a  bare  majority  of  each  body  which 
would  at  present  be  required  to  pass  a  bill  by  a  majority  of  two-thirds.)  To 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.  491 

this  question,  my  answer  is,  no,  it  is  not  to  be  so  supposed  at  all.  All  that 
we  have  to  suppose  is,  what  our  ancestors,  in  their  acknowledged  wisdom, 
did  suppose  ;  that  Senators  and  Representatives  are  but  mortal  men,  endowed 
with  mortal  passions  and  subject  to  mortal  infirmities  ;  that  they  are  suscepti 
ble  of  selfish  and  unwise  impulses,  and  that  they  do  not  always  and  under  all 
circumstances,  truly  reflect  the  will  of  their  constituents.  These  founders 
of  our  Government,  therefore,  supposed  the  possibility  that  Congress  might 
pass  an  act  through  the  influence  of  unwise  or  improper  motives ;  and  that 
the  best  mode  of  saving  the  country  from  the  evil  effects  of  such  legislation 
was  to  place  a  qualified  veto  in  the  hands  of  the  people's  own  representative, 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  by  means  of  which,  unless  two-thirds  of 
each  House  of  Congress  should  repass  the  bill,  the  question  must  be  brought 
directly  before  the  people  themselves.  These  wise  men  had  made  the  Presi 
dent  so  dependent  on  Congress  that  they  knew  he  would  never  abuse  this 
power,  nor  exert  it  unless  from  the  highest  and  most  solemn  convictions  of 
duty ;  and  experience  has  established  their  wisdom  and  foresight. 

As  to  the  Senator's  numerical  argument,  I  might  as  well  ask  him,  is  it  to 
be  supposed  that  we  are  so  superior  in  wisdom  to  the  members  of  the  House 
that  the  vote  of  one  Senator  ought  to  annul  the  votes  of  thirty-two  Repre 
sentatives?  And  yet  the  bill  to  repeal  the  bankrupt  law  has  just  been 
defeated  in  this  body  by  amnjority  of  one,  although  it  had  passed  the  House 
by  a  majority  of  thirty-two.  The  Senator's  numerical  argument,  if  it  be  good 
for  anything  at  all,  would  be  good  for  the  abolition  of  the  Senate  as  well  as 
of  the  veto ;  and  would  lead  at  once  to  the  investment  of  all  the  powers  of 
legislation  in  the  popular  branch  alone.  But  experience  has  long  exploded 
this  theory  throughout  the  world.  The  frarners  of  the  Constitution,  in  con 
summate  wisdom,  thought  proper  to  impose  checks,  and  balances,  and  restric 
tions  on  their  Governmental  agents;  and  woe  betide  us,  if  the  day  should 
ever  arrive  when  they  shall  be  removed. 

But  I  must  admit  that  another  of  the  Senator's  arguments  is  perhaps  not 
quite  so  easily  refuted,  though,  I  think,  it  is  not  very  difficult  to  demonstrate 
its  fallacy.  It  is  undoubtedly  his  strongest  position.  He  says  that  the  ten 
dency  of  the  veto  power  is  to  draw  after  it  all  the  powers  of  legislation ;  and 
that  Congress,  in  passing  laws,  will  be  compelled  to  consult,  not  the  good  of 
the  country  alone,  but  to  ascertain,  in  the  first  instance,  what  the  President 
will  approve,  and  then  regulate  their  conduct  according  to  his  predetermined 
will. 

This  argument  presupposes  the  existence  of  two  facts,  which  must  be 
established  before  it  can  have  the  least  force.  First,  that  the  President  would 
depart  from  his  proper  sphere,  and  attempt  to  influence  the  initiatory  legisla 
tion  of  Congress :  and,  second,  that  Congress  would  be  so  subservient  as  to 
originate  and  pass  laws,  not  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  judgment, 
but  in  obedience  to  his  expressed  wishes.  Now,  sir,  does  not  the  Senator  per 
ceive  that  his  argument  proves  too  much  ?  Would  not  the  President  have 
precisely  the  same  influence  over  Congress,  so  far  as  his  patronage  extends,  as 


492  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

if  the  veto  had  never  existed  at  all?  He  would  then  resemble  the  King  of 
England,  whose  veto  power  has  been  almost  abandoned  for  the  last  hundred 
and  fifty  years.  If  the  President's  power  and  patronage  were  coextensive 
with  that  of  the  king,  he  could  exercise  an  influence  over  Congress  similar  to 
that  which  is  now  exerted  over  the  British  Parliament,  and  might  control 
legislation  in  the  same  manner. 

Thus,  sir,  you  perceive  that  to  deprive  the  President  of  the  veto  power, 
would  afford  no  remedy  against  executive  influence  in  Congress,  if  the  Presi 
dent  were  disposed  to  exert  it.  Nay,  more — it  would  encourage  him  to  inter 
fere  secretly  with  our  legislative  functions,  because,  deprived  of  the  veto 
power,  his  only  resource  would  be  to  intrigue  with  members  of  Congress  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  the  passage  of  measures  which  he  might  dis 
approve.  At  present  this  power  enables  him  to  act  openly  and  boldly,  and  to 
state  his  reasons  to  the  country  for  refusing  his  assent  to  any  act  passed  by 
Congress. 

Again :  does  not  the  Senator  perceive  that  this  argument  is  a  direct  attack 
upon  the  character  of  Congress  ?  Does  he  not  feel  that  the  whole  weight  of 
his  argument  in  favor  of  abolishing  the  veto  power,  rests  upon  the  wisdom, 
integrity,  and  independence  of  that  body  ?  And  yet  we  are  told  that  in  order 
to  prevent  the  application  of  the  veto,  we  shall  become  so  subservient  to  the 
Executive,  that  in  the  passage  of  laws  we  will  consult  his  wishes  rather  than 
our  own  independent  judgment.  The  venality  and  baseness  of  Congress  are 
the  only  foundations  on  which  such  an  argument  can  rest;  and  yet  it  is 
the  presumption  of  their  integrity  and  wisdom  on  which  the  Senator  relies 
for  the  purpose  of  proving  that  the  veto  power  is  wholly  unnecessary,  and 
ought  to  be  abolished. 

In  regard  to  this  thing  of  executive  influence  over  Congress,  I  have  a  few 
words  to  say.  Sir,  I  have  been  an  attentive  observer  of  Congressional  pro 
ceedings  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  have  watched  its  operations  with  an 
observing  eye.  I  shall  not  pretend  to  say  that  it  does  not  exist  to  some 
extent;  but  its  power  has  been  greatly  overrated.  It  can  never  become 
dangerous  to  liberty,  unless  the  patronage  of  the  Government  should  be 
enormously  increased  by  the  passage  of  such  unconstitutional  and  encroaching 
laws  as  have  hitherto  fallen  under  the  blow  of  the  veto  power. 

The  Executive,  indeed,  will  always  have  personal  friends,  as  well  as  ardent 
political  supporters  of  his  administration  in  Congress,  who  will  strongly  incline 
to  view  his  measures  with  a  favorable  eye.  He  will  also  have,  both  in  and 
out  of  Congress,  expectants  who  look  to  him  for  a  share  of  the  patronage  at 
his  disposal.  But,  after  all,  to  what  does  this  amount  ? 

Whilst  the  canvass  is  proceeding  previous  to  his  election,  the  expectations  of 
candidates  for  office  will  array  around  him  a  host  of  ardent  and  active  friends. 
But  what  is  his  condition  after  the  election  has  passed,  and  the  patronage 
has  been  distributed  ?  Let  me  appeal  to  the  scene  which  we  all  witnessed  in 
this  city,  at  and  after  the  inauguration  of  the  late  lamented  President.  It  is 
almost  impossible  that  one  office  seeker  in  fifty  could  have  been  gratified. 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.       493 

What  is  the  natural  and  necessary  result  of  such  numerous  disappointments  ? 
It  is  to  irritate  the  feelings  and  sour  the  minds  of  the  unsuccessful  applicants. 
They  make  comparisons  between  themselves  and  those  who  have  been  suc 
cessful,  and  self-love  always  exaggerates  their  own  merits  and  depreciates 
those  of  their  successful  rivals,  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  believe  themselves 
to  have  been  injured.  The  President  thus  often  makes  one  inactive  friend, 
because  he  feels  himself  secure  in  office,  and  twenty  secret  enemies  awaiting 
the  opportunity  to  give  him  a  stab  whenever  a  favorable  occasion  may  offer. 
The  Senator  greatly  overrates  the  power  of  executive  influence  either  among 
the  people  or  in  Congress.  By  the  time  the  offices  have  been  all  distributed, 
which  is  usually  done  between  the  inauguration  and  the  first  regular  meeting 
of  Congress  thereafter,  the  President  has  but  few  boons  to  offer. 

Again  :  it  is  always  an  odious  exercise  of  executive  power  to  confer  offices 
on  members  of  Congress,  unless  under  peculiar  circumstances,  where  the 
office  seeks  the  man  rather  than  the  man  the  office.  In  point  of  fact,  but 
few  members  can  receive  appointments ;  and  those  soliciting  them  are  always 
detected  by  their  conduct.  They  are  immediately  noted  for  their  sub 
serviency  ;  and  from  that  moment,  their  influence  with  their  fellow  members 
is  gone. 

By  far  the  greatest  influence  which  a  President  can  acquire  over  Congress, 
is  a  reflected  influence  from  the  people  upon  their  representatives.  This  is 
dependent  upon  the  personal  popularity  of  the  President,  and  can  never  be 
powerful,  unless,  from  the  force  of  his  character,  and  the  value  of  his  past 
services,  he  has  inspired  the  people  with  an  enthusiastic  attachment.  A 
remarkable  example  of  this  reflected  influence  was  presented  in  the  case  of 
General  Jackson ;  and  yet  it  is  a  high  compliment  to  the  independence,  if  not 
to  the  wisdom  of  Congress,  that  even  he  could  rarely  command  a  majority  in 
both  its  branches.  Still  it  is  certain,  notwithstanding,  that  he  presented  a  most 
striking  example  of  a  powerful  executive ;  and  this  chiefly  because  he  was 
deservedly  strong  in  the  affections  of  the  people. 

In  the  vicissitude  of  human  events,  we  shall  sometimes  have  Presidents 
who  can,  if  they  please,  exercise  too  much,  and  those  who  possess  too  little, 
influence  over  Congress.  If  we  witnessed  the  one  extreme  during  General 
Jackson's  administration,  we  now  have  the  other  before  our  eyes.  For  the 
sake  of  the  contrast,  and  without  the  slightest  disrespect  towards  the  worthy 
and  amiable  individual  who  now  occupies  the  Presidential  chair,  I  would  say 
that  if  General  Jackson  presented  an  example  of  the  strength,  the  present 
President  presents  an  equally  striking  example  of  the  feebleness,  of  executive 
influence.  I  ask  what  has  all  the  patronage  of  his  high  office  done  for  him  ? 
How  many  friends  has  it  secured  ?  I  most  sincerely  wish,  for  the  good  of  the 
country,  and  for  the  success  of  his  administration,  that  he  had  a  much  greater 
degree  of  influence  in  Congress  than  he  possesses.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
I  was  glad  to  observe,  a  few  days  ago,  some  symptoms  of  returning  favor  on 
this  (the  Whig)  side  of  the  house  towards  John  Tyler.  It  is  better,  much 
better,  even  thus  late,  that  they  should  come  forward  and  extend  to  him  a 


494  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

helping  hand,  than,  wishing  to  do  so,  still  keep  at  a  distance  merely  to  preserve 
an  appearance  of  consistency.  I  am  sorry  to  see  that  from  this  mere  affecta 
tion,  they  should  appear  so  coy,  and  leave  the  country  to  suffer  all  the 
embarrassments  which  result  from  a  weak  administration.  [Here  several  of 
the  Whig  Senators  asked  jocosely  why  the  Democrats  did  not  volunteer  their 
services  to  strengthen  the  Government.]  Oh!  said  Mr.  B.,  we  cannot  do 
that.  What  is  merely  an  apparent  inconsistency  in  the  Whigs,  would  be  a  real 
inconsistency  in  us.  We  cannot  go  for  the  Whig  measures  which  were 
approved  by  President  Tyler  at  the  extra  session.  We  cannot  support  the 
great  Government  Exchequer  Bank  of  discount  and  exchange,  with  its  three 
for  one  paper  currency.  I  think,  however,  with  all  deference,  that  my  Whig 
friends  on  this  side  of  the  House  ought  not  to  be  squeamish  on  that  subject.  I 
think  my  friend  from  Georgia  (Mr.  Berrien)  ought  to  go  heart  and  hand  for 
the  Exchequer  Bank.  It  is  in  substance  his  own  scheme  of  a  "  Fiscal  Cor 
poration,"  transferred  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  and  divested  of 
private  stockholders.  Let  me  assure  gentlemen  that  their  character  for  con 
sistency  will  not  suffer  by  supporting  this  measure. 

And  yet,  with  the  example  of  this  administration  before  their  eyes,  the 
Whigs  dread  executive  influence  so  much  that  they  wish  to  abolish  the  veto 
power,  lest  the  President  may  be  able  to  draw  within  its  vortex  all  the 
legislative  powers  of  Congress!  What  a  world  we  live  in! 

This  authentic  history  is  the  best  answer  to  another  position  of  the  Senator. 
Whilst  he  believes  that  there  have  been  no  encroachments  of  the  General 
Government  on  the  rights  of  the  States,  but  on  the  contrary  that  it  is  fast 
sinking  into  the  weakness  and  imbecility  of  the  Confederation,  he  complains  of 
the  encroachments  which  he  alleges  to  have  been  made  by  the  President  on 
the  legitimate  powers  of  Congress.  I  differ  from  him  entirely  in  both  these 
propositions,  and  am  only  sorry  that  the  subject  of  the  veto  power  is  one  so 
vast  that  time  will  not  permit  me  to  discuss  them  at  present.  This  I  shall, 
however,  say,  that  the  strong  tendency  of  the  Federal  Government  has,  in 
my  opinion,  ever  been  to  encroach  upon  the  rights  of  the  States  and  their 
people ;  and  I  might  appeal  to  its  history  to  establish  the  position.  Every 
violent  struggle,  threatening  the  existence  of  the  Union,  which  has  existed  in 
this  country  from  the  beginning,  has  arisen  from  the  exercise  of  constructive 
and  doubtful  powers,  not  by  the  President,  but  by  Congress.  But  enough  of 
this  for  the  present. 

The  Senator  from  Kentucky  contends  that,  whether  the  executive  be  strong 
or  weak,  Congress  must  conform  its  action  to  his  wishes,  and  if  they  cannot 
obtain  what  they  desire,  they  must  take  what  they  can  get.  Such  a  princi 
ple  of  action  is  always  wrong  in  itself,  and  must  always  lead  to  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  party  which  adopts  it.  This  was  the  fatal  error  of  the  Senator 
and  his  friends  at  the  extra  session.  He  has  informed  us  that  neither  <{  the 
Fiscal  Bank"  nor  "the  Fiscal  Corporation"  of  that  never  to  be  forgotten 
session  would  have  received  twenty  votes  in  either  House,  had  the  minds  of 
members  been  left  uninfluenced  by  the  expected  action  of  the  Executive. 


EEPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.  495 

This  was  the  most  severe  censure  which  he  could  have  passed  on  his  party 
in  Congress.  It  is  now  admitted  that  the  Whig  party  earnestly  advocated 
and  adopted  two  most  important  measures,  not  because  they  approved  them 
in  the  form  in  which  they  were  presented,  but  for  the  sake  of  conciliating 
Mr.  Tyler.  Never  was  there  a  more  striking  example  of  retributive  justice 
than  the  veto  of  both  these  measures.  Whether  it  be  the  fact,  as  the  Senator 
alleges,  that  the  Whigs  in  Congress  took  the  Fiscal  Corporation  bill,  letter  for 
letter,  as  it  came  from  the  President  to  them,  I  shall  not  pretend  to  decide. 
It  is  not  for  me  to  compose  such  strifes.  I  leave  this  to  their  own  file  leaders. 
Without  entering  upon  this  question,  I  shall  never  fail,  when  a  fit  opportunity 
offers,  to  express  the  gratitude  which  I  feel,  in  common  with  the  whole  coun 
try,  to  the  President  for  having  vetoed  those  bills,  which  it  now  appears 
never  received  the  approbation  of  any  person.  It  does  astonish  me,  how 
ever,  that  this  proceeding  between  the  President  and  his  party  in  Congress 
should  ever  have  been  made  an  argument  in  favor  of  abolishing  the  veto  power. 

This  argument,  if  it  prove  anything  at  all,  sets  the  seal  of  condemnation  to 
the  measures  of  the  late  extra  session,  and  to  the  extra  session  itself.  It  is  a 
demonstration  of  the  hasty,  inconsiderate,  and  immature  legislation  of  that 
session.  In  the  flush  of  party  triumph,  the  Whigs  rushed  it,  before  passion 
had  time  to  cool  down  into  that  calm  deliberation,  so  essential  to  the  wise 
and  harmonious  co-operation  of  the  different  branches  of  the  Government. 
They  took  so  little  time  to  consult  and  to  deliberate,  to  reconcile  their  con 
flicting  opinions  and  interests,  and  above  all  to  ascertain  and  fix  their  real 
political  principles  which  they  had  so  sedulously  concealed  from  the  public 
eye  throughout  the  contest,  that  none  but  those  who  were  heated  and  excited 
beyond  the  bounds  of  reason  ever  anticipated  any  result  but  division,  disaster, 
and  defeat,  from  the  extra  session.  The  party  first  pursued  a  course  which 
must  have  inevitably  led  to  the  defeat  which  they  have  experienced ;  and 
would  then  revenge  themselves  for  their  own  misdeeds  by  assailing  the  veto 
power. 

The  lesson  which  we  have  received  will  teach  Congress  hereafter  not  to 
sacrifice  its  independence  by  consulting  the  executive  will.  Let  them  honestly 
and  firmly  pass  such  acts  as  they  believe  the  public  good  requires.  They  will 
then  have  done  their  duty.  Afterwards  let  the  Executive  exercise  the  same 
honesty  and  firmness  in  approving  these  acts.  If  he  vetoes  any  one  of  them, 
he  is  responsible  to  the  people,  and  there  he  ought  to  be  left. 

Had  this  course  been  pursued  at  the  extra  session,  Congress  would  have 
passed  an  act  to  establish  an  old-fashioned  Bank  of  the  United  States,  which 
would  have  been  vetoed  by  the  President.  A  fair  issue  would  thus  have  been 
made  for  the  decision  of  their  common  constituents.  There  would  then  have 
been  no  necessity  for  my  friends  on  this  side  of  the  house  to  submit  to  the 
humiliation  of  justifying  themselves  before  the  people,  on  the  principle  that 
they  were  willing  to  accept  something  which  they  knew  to  be  very  bad, 
because  they  could  not  obtain  that  which  they  thought  the  public  good 
demanded. 


496  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

This  whole  proceeding,  sir,  presents  no  argument  against  the  veto  power ; 
although  it  does  present,  in  a  striking  light,  the  subserviency  of  the  Whig  party 
in  Congress  to  executive  dictation.  We  may,  indeed,  if  insensible  to  our  own 
rights  and  independence,  give  an  undue  influence  to  the  veto  power ;  but  we 
shall  never  produce  this  effect  if  we  confine  ourselves  to  our  own  appropriate 
duties,  and  leave  the  Executive  to  perform  his.  This  example  will  never,  I 
think,  be  imitated  by  any  party  in  the  country,  and  we  shall  then  never  again 
be  tempted  to  make  war  on  the  veto  power. 

To  show  that  this  power  ought  to  be  abolished,  the  Senator  has  referred 
to  intimations  given  on  this  floor,  during  the  administration  of  General  Jack 
son,  that  such  and  such  acts  then  pending  would  be  vetoed,  if  passed.  Such 
intimations  may  have  been  in  bad  taste;  but  what  do  they  prove?  The 
Senator  does  not  and  cannot  say  that  they  ever  changed  a  single  vote.  In 
the  instances  to  which  he  refers,  they  were  the  declaration  of  a  fact  which 
was  known,  or  might  have  been  known,  to  the  whole  world.  A  President 
can  only  be  elected  by  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  several  States.  Through 
out  the  canvass,  his  opinions  and  sentiments  on  every  leading  measure  of 
public  policy,  are  known  and  discussed.  The  last  election  was  an  exception 
to  this  rule ;  but  another  like  it  will  never  again  occur  in  our  day.  If,  under 
such  circumstances,  an  act  should  pass  Congress,  notoriously  in  violation  of 
some  principle  of  vital  importance,  which  was  decided  by  the  people  at  his 
election,  the  President  would  be  faithless  to  the  duty  which  he  owed  both  to 
them  and  himself,  if  he  did  not  disapprove  the  measure.  Any  person  might 
then  declare,  in  advance,  that  the  President  would  veto  such  a  bill.  Let  me 
imagine  one  or  two  cases  which  may  readily  occur.  Is  it  not  known  from 
one  end  of  the  Union  to  the  other,  and  even  in  every  log  cabin  throughout  its 
extent,  that  the  Senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Benton]  has  an  unconquerable 
antipathy  to  a  paper  currency,  and  an  equally  unconquerable  predilection  for 
hard  money  ?  Now,  if  he  should  be  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency, — and 
much  more  unlikely  events  have  happened  than  that  he  should  be  a  successful 
candidate — would  not  his  election  be  conclusive  evidence  that  the  people  were 
in  favor  of  gold  and  silver,  and  against  paper  ?  Under  such  circumstances, 
what  else  could  Congress  anticipate  whilst  concocting  an  old-fashioned  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  but  that  he  would  instantly  veto  the  bill  on  the  day  it 
was  presented  to  him,  without  even  taking  time  to  sit  down  in  his  Presi 
dential  chair?  (Great  laughter,  in  which  Mr.  Benton  and  Mr.  Clay  both 
joined  heartily.)  Let  me  present  a  reverse  case.  Suppose  the  distinguished 
Senator  from  Kentucky  should  be  elected  President,  would  he  hesitate,  or, 
with  his  opinions,  ought  he  to  hesitate,  a  moment  in  vetoing  an  Independent 
Treasury  bill,  should  Congress  present  him  such  a  measure  ?  And  if  I,  as  a 
member  of  the  Senate,  were  to  assert,  in  the  first  case  which  I  have  supposed, 
whilst  the  bank  bill  was  pending,  that  it  would  most  certainly  be  vetoed,  to 
what  would  this  amount  ?  Would  it  be  an  attempt  to  bring  executive  influ 
ence  to  bear  on  Congress  ?  Certainly  not.  It  would  only  be  the  mere  asser 
tion  of  a  well  known  fact.  Would  it  prove  anything  against  the  veto  power  ? 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.  497 

Certainly  not ;  but  directly  the  reverse.  It  would  prove  that  it  ought  to  be 
exercised — that  the  people  had  willed,  by  the  Presidential  election,  that  it 
should  be  exercised — and  that  it  was  one  of  the  very  cases  which  demanded 
its  exercise. 

An  anticipation  of  the  exercise  of  the  veto  power,  in  cases  which  had 
already  been  decided  by  the  people,  ought  to  exercise  a  restraining  influence 
over  Congress.  It  should  admonish  them  that  they  ought  not  to  place  them 
selves  in  hostile  array  against  the  Executive,  and  thus  embarrass  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  Government  by  the  adoption  of  a  measure  which  had  been 
previously  condemned  by  the  people.  If  the  measure  be  right  in  itself,  the 
people  will,  at  the  subsequent  elections,  reverse  their  own  decision,  and  then, 
and  not  till  then,  ought  Congress  to  act.  No,  sir ;  when  we  elect  a  Presi 
dent,  we  do  it  in  view  of  his  future  course  of  action,  inferred  from  his  known 
opinions  •  and  we  calculate,  with  great  accuracy,  what  he  will  and  what  he 
will  not  do.  The  people  have  never  yet  been  deceived  in  relation  to  this 
matter,  as  has  been  abundantly  shown  by  their  approbation  of  every  important 
veto  since  the  origin  of  the  Government. 

This  veto  power  was  conferred  upon  the  President  to  arrest  unconstitu 
tional,  improvident,  and  hasty  legislation.  Its  intention  (if  I  may  use  a  word 
not  much  according  to  my  taste)  was  purely  conservative.  To  adopt  the 
language  of  the  Federalist,  "  it  establishes  a  salutary  check  upon  the  legisla 
tive  body,  calculated  to  guard  the  community  against  the  effects  of  faction, 
precipitancy,  or  of  any  impulse  unfriendly  to  the  public  good,  which  may 
happen  to  influence  a  majority  of  that  body "  (Congress).  Throughout  the 
whole  book,  whenever  the  occasion  offers,  a  feeling  of  dread  is  expressed,  lest 
the  legislative  power  might  transcend  the  limits  prescribed  to  it  by  the  Consti 
tution,  and  ultimately  absorb  the  other  powers  of  the  Government.  From 
first  to  last,  this  fear  is  manifested.  We  ought  never  to  forget  that  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people  are  not  the  people  themselves.  The  practical  neglect 
of  this  distinction  has  often  led  to  the  overthrow  of  republican  institutions. 
Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty;  and  the  people  should  regard  with  a 
jealous  eye,  not  only  their  Executive,  but  their  legislative  servants.  The 
representative  body,  proceeding  from  the  people,  and  clothed  with  their  confi 
dence,  naturally  lulls  suspicion  to  sleep;  and,  when  disposed  to  betray  its 
trust,  can  execute  its  purpose  almost  before  their  constituents  take  the 
alarm. 

It  must  have  been  welt  founded  apprehensions  of  such  a  result  which 
induced  Mirabeau  to  declare,  that,  without  a  veto  power  in  the  king,  who 
was  no  more,  under  the  first  constitution  of  France,  than  the  hereditary  chief 
executive  magistrate  of  a  republic,  he  would  rather  live  in  Constantinople 
than  in  Paris.  The  catastrophe  proved  his  wisdom ;  but  it  also  proved  that 
the  veto  was  no  barrier  against  the  encroachment  of  the  Legislative  Assem 
bly  ;  nor  would  it  have  saved  his  own  head  from  the  block,  had  he  not  died 
at  the  most  propitious  moment  for  his  fame. 

I  might  appeal  to  many  passages  in  the  history  of  the  world  to  prove  that 

I.— 32 


498  LJFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

the  natural  tendency  of  legislative  power  has  always  been  to  increase  itself; 
and  the  accumulation  of  this  power  has,  in  many  instances,  overthrown 
republican  institutions. 

Our  system  of  representative  Democracy,  Heaven's  last  and  best  political 
gift  to  man,  when  perverted  from  its  destined  purpose,  has  become  the  instru 
ment  of  the  most  cruel  tyranny  which  the  world  has  ever  witnessed.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  best  things,  when  perverted,  become  the  worst.  Witness  the 
scenes  of  anarchy,  confusion,  and  blood,  from  which  humanity  and  reason 
equally  revolt,  which  attended  the  French  Revolution,  during  the  period  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly  and  National  Convention.  So  dreadful  were  these 
scenes,  all  enacted  in  the  name  of  the  people,  and  by  the  people's  own  repre 
sentatives,  that  they  stand  out  in  bold  relief,  from  all  the  records  of  time,  and 
are,  by  the  universal  consent  of  mankind,  denominated  "  the  reign  of  terror." 
Under  the  government  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety — a  committee  of 
the  National  Convention — more  blood  was  shed  and  more  atrocities  com 
mitted,  than  mankind  had  ever  beheld  within  the  same  space  of  time.  And 
yet  all  this  was  done  in  the  name  of  liberty  and  equality.  And  what  was 
the  result  ?  All  this  only  paved  the  way  for  the  usurpation  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte ;  and  the  people  sought  protection  in  the  arms  of  despotism  from 
the  tyranny  and  corruption  of  their  own  representatives.  This  has  ever  been 
the  course  in  which  republics  have  degenerated  into  military  despotisms.  Let 
these  sacred  truths  be  ever  kept  in  mind  :  that  sovereignty  belongs  to  the 
people  alone,  and  that  all  their  servants  should  be  watched  with  the  eyes  of 
sleepless  jealousy.  The  Legislative  Assembly  and  the  National  Convention 
of  France  had  usurped  all  the  powers  of  the  government.  They  each,  in 
their  turn,  constituted  the  sole  representative  body  of  the  nation,  and  no  wise 
checks  and  barriers  were  interposed  to  moderate  and  restrain  their  action. 
The  example  which  they  presented  has  convinced  all  mankind  of  the  necessity 
of  a  senate  in  a  republic ;  and  similar  reasons  ought  to  convince  them  of  the 
necessity  of  such  a  qualified  veto  as  exists  under  our  Constitution.  The 
people  cannot  interpose  too  many  barriers  against  unwise  and  wicked  legisla 
tion,  provided  they  do  not  thereby  impair  the  necessary  powers  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  I  know  full  well  that  such  scenes  as  I  have  just  described  cannot 
occur  in  America ;  but  still  we  may  learn  lessons  of  wisdom  from  them  to. 
guide  our  own  conduct. 

Legislative  bodies  of  any  considerable  number  are  more  liable  to  sudden 
and  violent  excitements  than  individuals.  This  we  have  all  often  witnessed ; 
and  it  results  from  a  well  known  principle  of  human  nature.  In  the  midst  of 
such  excitements,  nothing  is  more  natural  than  hasty,  rash,  and  dangerous 
legislation.  Individual  responsibility  is,  also,  diminished,  in  proportion  to  the 
increase  of  the  number.  Each  person,  constituting  but  a  small  fractional  part 
of  the  whole  mass,  thinks  ho  can  escape  responsibility  in  the  midst  of  the 
crowd.  The  restraint  of  the  popular  will  upon  his  conduct  is  thus  greatly 
diminished,  and  as  one  of  a  number  he  is  ready  to  perform  acts  which  he 
would  not  attempt  upon  his  own  individual  responsibility.  In  order  to  check 


KEPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.  499 

such  excesses,  the  Federalist  tells  us  that  this  veto  power,  or  reference  of  the 
subject  to  the  people,  was  granted. 

Again,  sir,  highly  excited  political  parties  may  exist  in  legislative  assemblies, 
so  intent  upon  grasping  or  retaining  power,  that  in  the  struggle  they  will 
forget  the  wishes  and  the  interests  of  the  people.  I  might  cite  several 
examples  of  this  kind  in  the  history  of  our  own  legislation ;  but  I  merely 
refer  to  the  odious  and  unconstitutional  alien  and  sedition  laws.  Led  on  by 
ambitious  and  eloquent  men  who  have  become  highly  excited  in  the  contest, 
the  triumph  of  party  may  become  paramount  to  the  good  of  the  country,  and 
unconstitutional  and  dangerous  laws  may  be  the  consequence.  The  veto 
power  is  necessary  to  arrest  such  encroachments  on  the  rights  of  the  States 
and  of  the  people. 

But  worst  of  all  is  the  system  of  "  log-rolling"  so  prevalent  in  Congress 
and  the  State  legislatures,  which  the  authors  of  the  Federalist  do  not  seem  to 
have  foreseen.  This  is  not  a  name,  to  be  sure,  for  ears  polite ;  yet,  though 
homely,  it  is  so  significant  of  the  thing,  that  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  its  use. 
Now,  sir,  this  very  system  of  log-rolling  in  legislative  bodies  is  that  which  has 
involved  several  of  the  States  in  debts  for  internal  improvements,  which  I  fear 
some  of  them  may  never  be  able  to  pay.  In  order  to  carry  improvements 
which  were  useful  and  might  have  been  productive,  it  was  necessary  to  attach 
to  them  works  of  an  opposite  character.  To  obtain  money  to  meet  these 
extravagant  expenditures,  indulgence  was  granted  to  the  banks  at  the  expense 
of  the  people.  Indeed,  it  has  been  a  fruitful  source  of  that  whole  system  of 
ruinous  and  disastrous  measures  against  which  the  Democracy  have  been 
warring  for  years.  It  has  produced  more  distress  in  the  country  than  can  be 
repaired  by  industry  and  economy  for  many  days  to  come.  And  yet  how 
rarely  has  any  Executive  had  the  courage  to  apply  the  remedy  which  the  veto 
power  presents  ? 

Let  us,  for  a  moment,  examine  the  workings  of  this  system.  It  is  the  more 
dangerous,  because  it  presents  itself  to  individual  members  under  the  garb  of 
devotion  to  their  constituents.  One  has  a  measure  of  mere  local  advantage  to 
carry,  which  ought,  if  at  all,  to  be  accomplished  by  individual  enterprise,  and 
which  could  not  pass  if  it  stood  alone.  He  finds  that  he  cannot  accomplish 
his  object,  if  he  relies  only  upon  its  merits.  He  finds  that  other  members 
have  other  local  objects  at  heart,  none  of  which  would  receive  the  support  of 
a  majority  if  separately  considered.  These  members,  then,  form  a  combination 
sufficiently  powerful  to  carry  the  whole  ;  and  thus  twenty  measures  may  be 
adopted,  not  one  of  which  separately  could  have  obtained  a  respectable  vote. 
Thanks  to  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  General  Jackson,  this  system  of  local 
internal  improvements  which  threatened  to  extend  itself  into  every  neighbor 
hood  of  the  nation,  and  overspread  the  land,  was  arrested  by  the  veto  power. 
Had  not  this  been  done,  the  General  Government  might,  at  the  present  day, 
have  been  in  the  same  wretched  condition  with  the  most  indebted  States. 

But  this  system  of  "  log-rolling  "  has  not  been  confined  to  mere  local 
affairs,  as  the  history  of  the  extra  session  will  testify.  It  was  then  adopted  in 


500  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

regard  to  important  party  objects,  and  was  called  the  "  great  system  of 
measures  of  the  Whig  party."  It  was  openly  avowed  that  the  majority  must 
take  the  system  in  mass,  although  it  is  well  known  that  several  of  the 
measures,  had  they  stood  alone,  would  have  been  rejected  in  detail.  We  are 
all  perfectly  aware  that  this  was  the  vital  principle  of  the  extra  session.  By 
means  of  "  log-rolling  "  the  system  was  adopted.  That  the  passage  of  the 
Distribution  bill  was  the  price  paid  for  the  Bankrupt  bill,  was  openly  avowed 
on  this  floor.  By  what  mutual  compensations  the  other  measures  were  carried 
we  are  left  to  infer,  and  therefore  I  shall  not  hazard  the  expression  of  any 
opinion  in  this  place  on  the  subject.  The  ingredient,  which  one  member  could 
not  swallow  alone,  went  down  easily  as  a  component  part  of  the  healing  dose. 
And  what  has  been  the  consequence  ?  The  extravagant  appropriations  and 
enormous  expenses  of  the  extra  session  have  beggared  the  Treasury. 

It  is  to  check  this  system,  that  the  veto  power  can  be  most  usefully  and 
properly  applied.  The  President  of  the  United  States  stands  "solitary  and 
alone,"  in  his  responsibility  to  the  people.  In  the  exercise  of  this  power,  he  is 
emphatically  the  representative  of  the  whole  people.  He  has  the  same  feeling 
of  responsibility  towards  the  people  at  large,  which  actuates  us  towards  our 
immediate  constituents.  To  him  the  mass  of  the  people  must  look  as  their 
especial  agent ;  and  human  ingenuity  cannot  devise  a  better  mode  of  giving 
them  the  necessary  control  than  by  enabling  him  to  appeal  to  themselves  in 
such  cases,  by  means  of  the  veto  power,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  they  will  sanction  the  acts  of  their  representatives.  He  can  bring 
each  of  those  measures  distinctly  before  the  people  for  their  separate  con 
sideration,  which  may  have  been  adopted  by  log-rolling  as  parts  of  a  great 
system. 

The  veto  power  has  long  been  in  existence  in  Pennsylvania,  and  has  been 
often  exercised,  and  yet,  to  my  knowledge,  it  has  never  been  exerted  in  any 
important  case,  except  in  obedience  to  the  public  will,  or  in  promotion  of  the 
interests  of  the  people.  Simon  Snyder,  whose  far-seeing  sagacity  detected 
the  evils  of  our  present  banking  system,  whilst  they  were  yet  comparatively 
in  embryo,  has  rendered  himself  immortal  by  his  veto  of  the  forty  banks. 
The  system,  however,  was  only  arrested,  not  destroyed,  and  we  are  now  suf 
fering  the  evils.  The  present  governor  has  had  the  wisdom  and  courage 
repeatedly  to  exercise  the  veto  power,  and  always,  I  believe,  with  public 
approbation.  In  a  late  signal  instance,  his  veto  was  overruled,  and  the  law 
passed  by  a  majority  of  two-thirds  in  both  Houses,  although  I  am  convinced 
that  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  people  of  the  State  are  opposed  to  the 
measure. 

In  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  we  regard  the  veto  power  with  peculiar 
favor.  In  the  convention  of  1837,  which  was  held  for  the  purpose  of  propos 
ing  amendments  to  our  Constitution,  the  identical  proposition  now  made  by 
the  Senator  from  Kentucky  was  brought  forward,  and  was  repudiated  by  a 
vote  of  103  to  14.  This  convention  was  composed  of  the  ablest  and  most 
practical  men  in  the  State,  and  was  almost  divided  between  the  two  great 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO  POWER.  501 

rival  parties  of  the  country ;  and  yet,  in  that  body,  but  fourteen  individuals 
could  be  found  who  were  willing  to  change  the  Constitution  in  this  particular. 

Whilst  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  thought,  and  thought  wisely,  that  in 
order  to  give  this  power  the  practical  effect  they  designed,  it  was  necessary 
that  any  bill  which  was  vetoed  should  be  arrested,  notwithstanding  a  majority 
of  Congress  might  afterwards  approve  the  measure  ;  on  the  other  hand,  they 
restrained  the  power,  by  conferring  on  two-thirds  of  each  House  the  authority 
to  enact  the  bill  into  a  law,  notwithstanding  the  veto  of  the  President.  Thus 
the  existence,  the  exercise,  and  the  restraint  of  the  power  are  all  harmoniously 
blended,  and  afford  a  striking  example  of  all  the  mutual  checks  and  balances 
of  the  Constitution,  so  admirably  adapted  to  preserve  the  rights  of  the  States 
and  of  the  people. 

The  last  reason  to  which  I  shall  advert  why  the  veto  power  was  adopted, 
and  ought  to  be  preserved,  I  shall  state  in  the  language  of  the  seventy-third 
number  of  the  Federalist : 

"  This  propensity  (says  the  author)  of  the  legislative  department  to  intrude 
upon  the  rights,  and  to  absorb  the  powers  of  the  other  departments,  has  been 
more  than  once  suggested.  The  insufficiency  of  a  mere  parchment  delinea 
tion  of  the  boundaries  of  each,  has  also  been  remarked  upon,  and  the  necessity 
of  furnishing  each  with  constitutional  arms  for  its  own  defence,  has  been 
inferred  and  proved.  From  these  clear  and  indubitable  principles  results  the 
propriety  of  a  negative,  either  absolute  or  qualified,  in  the  Executive,  upon 
the  acts  of  the  legislative  branches." 

The  Executive,  which  is  the  weaker  branch,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Feder 
alist,  ought  not  be  left  at  the  mercy  of  Congress,  "but  ought  to  possess  a 
constitutional  and  effectual  power  of  self-defence."  It  ought  to  be  able  to 
resist  encroachments  on  its  constitutional  rights. 

I  admit  that  no  necessity  has  ever  existed  to  use  the  veto  power  for  the 
protection  of  the  Executive,  unless  it  may  possibly  have  been  in  a  single  in 
stance;  and  in  it  there  was  evidently  no  intention  to  invade  his  rightful 
powers.  I  refer  to  the  "  Act  to  appoint  a  day  for  the  annual  meeting  of  Con 
gress."  This  act  had  passed  the  Senate  by  a  majority  of  34  to  8 ;  but  when  it 
was  returned  to  this  body  by  General  Jackson  with  his  objections,  the  majority 
was  reversed,  and  the  vote  stood  but  16  in  favor  to  23  against  its  passage. 

The  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  this  veto  power,  as  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  foresaw,  has  doubtless  exerted  a  restraining  influence  on  Con 
gress.  That  body  have  never  attempted  to  invade  any  of  the  high  Executive 
powers.  Whilst  such  attempts  have  been  made  by  them  to  violate  the  rights 
of  the  States  and  of  the  people,  and  have  been  vetoed,  a  sense  of  justice,  as 
well  as  the  silent  restraining  influence  which  proceeds  from  a  knowledge  that 
the  President  possesses  the  means  of  self-protection,  has  relieved  him  from 
the  necessity  of  using  the  veto  for  this  purpose. 

Mr.  President,  I  did  not  think,  at  the  time  of  its  delivery,  that  the  speech  of 
the  distinguished  Senator  from  Kentucky  was  one  of  great  power;  though 
we  all  know  that  nothing  he  can  utter  is  devoid  of  eloquence  and  interest.  I 


502  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

mean  only  to  say  that  I  did  not  then  believe  his  speech  was  characterized  by 
his  usual  ability ;  and  I  was  disposed  to  attribute  this  to  the  feeble  state  of  his 
health  and  consequent  want  of  his  usual  buoyancy  of  spirit.  Since  I  have 
seen  it  in  print,  I  have  changed  my  opinion ;  and  for  the  first  time  in  my  life 
I  have  believed  that  a  speech  of  his  could  appear  better  and  more  effective  in 
the  reading  than  in  the  delivery.  I  do  not  mean  to  insinuate  that  anything 
was  added  in  the  report  of  it;  for  I  believe  it  contains  all  the  arguments  used 
by  the  Senator  and  no  more ;  but  I  was  astonished  to  find,  upon  a  careful  ex 
amination,  that  every  possible  argument  had  been  urged  which  could  be  used 
in  a  cause  so  hopeless.  This  is  my  apology  for  having  detained  the  Senate  so 
long  in  attempting  to  answer  it. 

[Mr.  Clay  observed  that  he  never  saw  the  speech,  as  written  out  by  the 
reporter,  till  he  read  it  in  print  the  next  morning ;  and,  although  he  found 
some  errors  and  misconceptions,  yet,  on  the  whole,  it  was  very  correct,  and, 
as  well  as  he  could  recollect,  contained  all  the  arguments  he  did  make  use  of, 
and  no  more.] 

Mr.  Buchanan.  I  did  not  intend,  as  must  have  been  evident  to  the  Sena 
tor,  to  produce  the  impression  that  anything  had  been  added.  My  only  pur 
pose  was  to  say  that  it  was  a  better  speech  than  I  had  supposed,  and  thus  to 
apologize  to  the  Senate  for  the  time  I  had  consumed  in  answering  it. 

I  shall  briefly  refer  to  two  other  arguments  urged  by  the  Senator,  and  shall 
then  take  my  seat.  Why,  says  he,  should  the  President  possess  the  veto 
power  for  his  protection,  whilst  it  is  not  accorded  to  the  judiciary  ?  The 
answer  is  very  easy.  It  is  true  that  this  power  has  not  been  granted  to  the 
judiciary  in  form  ;  but  they  possess  it.  in  fact  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
the  President.  The  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  and  his  associates, 
sitting  in  the  gloomy  chamber  beneath,  exercise  the  tremendous  and  irre 
sponsible  power  of  saying  to  all  the  departments  of  the  Government, 
"  hitherto  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther."  They  exercise  the  prerogative  of 
annulling  laws  passed  by  Congress,  and  approved  by  the  President,  whenever 
in  their  opinion,  the  legislative  authority  has  transcended  its  constitutional 
limits.  Is  not  this  a  self-protecting  power,  much  more  formidable  than  the 
veto  of  the  President  ?  Two-thirds  of  Congress  may  overrule  the  Executive 
veto ;  but  the  whole  of  Congress  and  the  President  united,  cannot  overrule 
the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Theirs  is  a  veto  on  the  action  of  the 
whole  Government.  I  do  not  say  that  this  power,  formidable  as  it  may  be, 
ought  not  to  exist :  on  the  contrary,  I  consider  it  to  be  one  of  the  wise  checks 
which  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  have  provided  against  hasty  and  uncon 
stitutional  legislation,  and  is  a  part  of  the  great  system  of  mutual  restraints 
which  the  people  have  imposed  on  their  servants  for  their  own  protection. 
This,  however,  I  will  say,  and  that  with  the  most  sincere  respect  for  the  indi 
vidual  judges;  that  in  my  own  opinion,  the  whole  train  of  their  decisions 
from  the  beginning  favors  the  power  of  the  General  Government  at  the 
expense  of  State  rights  and  State  sovereignty.  Where,  I  ask,  is  the  case  to 
be  found  upon  their  records,  in  which  they  have  ever  decided  that  any  act  of 


REPLY  TO  CLAY  ON  THE  VETO   POWER.  5Q3 

Congress,  from  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  until  the  present  day,  was  uncon 
stitutional,  provided  it  extended  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government  ? 
Truly  they  are  abundantly  able  to  protect  their  own  rights  and  jurisdiction 
against  either  Congress  or  the  Executive,  or  both  united. 

Again :  the  Senator  asks,  why  has  not  the  veto  been  given  to  the  Presi 
dent  on  the  acts  of  conventions  held  for  the  purpose  of  amending  our  Consti 
tutions  ?  If  it  be  necessary  to  restrain  Congress,  it  is  equally  necessary,  says 
he,  to  restrain  conventions.  The  answer  to  this  argument  is  equally  easy.  It 
would  be  absurd  to  grant  an  appeal,  through  the  intervention  of  a  veto,  to  the 
people  themselves,  against  their  own  acts.  They  create  conventions  by  virtue 
of  their  own  undelegated  and  inalienable  sovereignty;  and  when  they  speak, 
their  servants,  whether  legislative,  executive,  or  judicial,  must  be  silent. 
Besides,  when  they  proceed  to  exercise  their  sovereign  power  in  changing 
the  forms  of  their  Government,  they  are  peculiarly  careful  in  the  selection  of 
their  delegates — they  watch  over  the  proceedings  with  vigilant  care,  and  the 
Constitution  proposed,  by  such  a  convention,  is  never  adopted  until  after  it 
has  been  submitted  to  the  vote  of  the  people.  It  is  a  mere  proposition  to  the 
people  themselves,  and  leaves  no  room  for  the  action  of  the  veto  power. 

[Here  Mr.  Clay  observed,  that  Constitutions,  thus  formed,  were  not  after 
wards  submitted  to  the  people.] 

Mr.  Buchanan.  For  many  years  past,  I  believe  that  this  has  always  been 
done,  as  it  always  ought  to  be  done,  in  the  States :  and  the  Federal  Constitu 
tion  was  not  adopted  until  after  it  had  been  submitted  to  a  convention  of  the 
people  of  every  State  in  the  Union. 

So  much  in  regard  to  the  States.  The  Senator's  argument  has  no  applica 
tion  whatever  to  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  has  provided  the  mode  of 
its  own  amendment.  It  requires  two-thirds  of  both  Houses,  the  very  majority 
required  to  overrule  a  Presidential  veto,  even  to  propose  any  amendment; 
and  before  such  an  amendment  can  be  adopted,  it  must  be  ratified  by  the 
legislatures,  or  by  conventions,  in  three-fourths  of  the  several  States.  To 
state  this  proposition,  is  to  manifest  the  absurdity,  nay,  the  impossibility  of 
applying  the  veto  power  of  the  President  to  amendments,  which  have  thus 
been  previously  ratified  by  such  an  overwhelming  expression  of  the  public 
will.  This  Constitution  of  ours,  with  all  its  checks  and  balances,  is  a  wonder 
ful  invention  of  human  wisdom.  Founded  upon  the  most  just  philosophical 
principles,  and  the  deepest  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  man,  it  produces  har 
mony,  happiness,  and  order,  from  elements  which,  to  the  superficial  observer, 
might  appear  to  be  discordant. 

On  the  whole,  I  trust  not  only  that  this  veto  power  may  not  be  destroyed, 
but  that  the  vote  on  the  Senator's  amendment  may  be  of  such  a  character  as 
to  settle  the  question,  at  least  during  the  present  generation.  Sir,  of  all  the 
executive  powers,  it  is  the  one  least  to  be  dreaded.  It  cannot  create ;  it  can 
originate  no  measure;  it  can  change  no  existing  law;  it  can  destroy  no  exist 
ing  institution.  It  is  a  mere  power  to  arrest  hasty  and  inconsiderate  changes, 
until  the  voice  of  the  people,  who  are  alike  the  masters  of  Senators,  Repre- 


504  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

sentatives  and  President,  shall  be  heard.  When  it  speaks,  we  must  all  bow 
with  deference  to  the  decree.  Public  opinion  is  irresistible  in  this  country. 
It  will  accomplish  its  purpose  by  the  removal  of  Senators,  Representatives,  or 
President,  who  may  stand  in  its  way.  The  President  might  as  well  attempt 
to  stay  the  tides  of  the  ocean  by  erecting  mounds  of  sand,  as  to  think  of  con 
trolling  the  will  of  the  people  by  the  veto  power.  The  mounting  waves  of 
popular  opinion  would  soon  prostrate  such  a  feeble  barrier.  The  veto  power 
is  everything  when  sustained  by  public  opinion  ;  but  nothing  without  it. 

What  is  this  Constitution  under  which  we  live,  and  what  are  we  ?  Are 
we  not  the  most  prosperous,  the  most  free,  and  amongst  the  most  powerful 
nations  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ?  Have  we  not  attained  this  pre-eminence, 
in  a  period  brief  beyond  any  example  recorded  in  history,  under  the  benign 
influence  of  this  Constitution,  and  the  laws  which  have  been  passed  under  its 
authority  ?  Why,  then,  should  we,  with  rude  hands,  tear  away  one  of  the 
cords  from  this  wisely  balanced  instrument,  and  thus  incur  the  danger  of  im 
pairing  or  destroying  the  harmony  and  vigorous  action  of  the  whole  ?  The 
Senator  from  Kentucky  has  not,  in  my  opinion,  furnished  us  with  any  suffi 
cient  reasons. 

And  after  all,  what  harm  can  this  veto  power  ever  do  ?  It  can  never  delay 
the  passage  of  a  great  public  measure,  demanded  by  the  people,  more  than 
two,  or  at  the  most,  four  years.  Is  it  not  better,  then,  to  submit  to  this  pos 
sible  inconvenience,  (for  it  has  never  yet  occurred,)  than  to  destroy  the  power 
altogether?  It  is  not  probable  that  it  ever  will  occur;  because  if  the  Presi 
dent  should  disregard  the  will  of  the  people  on  any  important  constitutional 
measure  which  they  desired,  he  would  sign  his  own  political  death  warrant. 
No  President  will  ever  knowingly  attempt  to  do  it ;  and  his  means  of  knowl 
edge,  from  the  ordeal  through  which  he  must  have  passed  previous  to  his 
election,  are  superior  to  those  of  any  other  individual.  He  will  never,  unless 
in  cases  scarcely  to  be  imagined,  resist  the  public  will  when  fairly  expressed. 
It  is  beyond  the  nature  of  things  to  believe  otherwise.  The  veto  power  is 
that  feature  of  our  Constitution  which  is  most  conservative  of  the  rights  of 
the  States  and  the  rights  of  the  people.  May  it  be  perpetual  1 


It  was  during  the  summer  of  1842  that  the  treaty  negotia 
ted  at  Washington,  between  Mr.  Webster  and  Lord  Ashburton, 
settled  various  long  standing  and  somewhat  perilous  controver 
sies  between  the  United  States  and  England,  for  which  Mr. 
Webster  had  remained  in  office  under  President  Tyler.  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  one  of  those  who  opposed  the  ratification  of  this 
treaty  when  it  came  before  the  Senate,  in  August,  1842.  His 
speech  in  the  secret  session  was  very  elaborate  in  its  criticisms 
upon  the  whole  negotiation,  but  it  does  not  need  to  be  repro 
duced  now. 


TREATY  WITH  ENGLAND.  505 

The  debates  on  the  treaty  were  not  published  until  the  fol 
lowing  session  of  Congress,  which  began  in  December,  1842. 
In  February,  1843,  Mr.  Buchanan  received  the  following  letter 
from  Mr.  Jared  Sparks,  the  distinguished  historian :  * 

[jARED    SPARKS    TO    M,R.   BUCHANAN.] 

CAMBRIDGE,  Feb.  llth,  1843. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  received  the  copy  of  your  speech,  which  you  were  so  kind  as  to 
send  me,  and  for  which  I  beg  you  will  accept  my  thanks.  I  have  read  it  with 
much  interest,  for  although  I  am,  on  the  whole,  a  treaty  man,  yet  there  are 
two  sides,  and  you  have  presented  one  of  them  in  a  striking  and  forcible 
light.  I  am  not  well  satisfied  with  the  way  in  which  the  Caroline  affair  is 
allowed  to  subside.  It  was  a  gross  outrage,  in  spite  of  all  the  soft  words 
about  it,  and  it  demanded  a  round  apology.  I  could  wish  also  that  there  had 
been  some  express  declaration  of  the  sense  of  the  Government  against  the 
pretended  right  of  search.  It  is  idle  to  dally  on  such  a  subject.  There  is  no 
such  right,  there  nover  was  and  there  never  ought  to  be ;  and  I  should  be  glad 
to  have  the  point  settled,  in  regard  to  the  United  States,  by  a  positive  declar 
ation,  in  a  formal  manner,  that  it  can  in  no  case  be  admitted. 

I  observe  that  you  deal  out  heavy  blows  upon  my  poor  Paris  map.  I  can 
assure  you  that  it  has  not  been  by  my  knowledge  or  good  will  that  it  has 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Senate.  The  information  came  accidentally  into 
my  possession,  and,  after  much  reflection,  I  thought  it  a  duty  to  communicate 
it  to  the  Department  of  State  ;  but  I  never  anticipated  for  a  moment  that  I 
was  thus  running  the  hazard  of  having  my  name  bandied  about  in  the  Sen 
ate  ;  nor  did  it  occur  to  me  that  any  public  use  could  be  made  of  it.  I  do 
not  complain  of  the  result,  but  I  consider  it  unfortunate  to  me  personally^ 
and  I  wish  it  could  have  been  avoided. 

You  have  made  a  slight  mistake  in  regard  to  the  character  of  this  map. 
You  represent  it  as  an  old  map,  with  old  boundary  lines  marked  upon  it. 
This  is  not  a  true  description.  It  is  a  map  of  "North  America,"  with  no 
boundary  line  marked  upon  it  between  Canada  and  the  English  colonies. 
The  red  mark  is  drawn  by  hand, — manuscript  mark, — not  following  any 
engraved  line.  It  is  drawn  with  remarkable  precision  and  distinctness, 
around  the  United  States,  even  running  out  to  sea  and  following  the  windings 
of  the  coast  from  the  St.  Mary's  to  the  St.  Croix.  There  are  no  other  col 
ored  lines  on  the  map.  It  carries  with  it  the  evidence  of  having  been  drawn 
with  great  care ;  and  from  the  head  of  the  St.  Croix  to  the  mountains 
north  of  the  sources  of  the  Penobscot  it  winds  along  with  an  evident  caution 

*  The  history  of  this  treaty  and  of  the  controversy  relating  to  the  maps  is  given  in  the 
author's  Life  of  Mr.  Webster,  vol.  II,  chap.  28. 


506  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

to  separate  the  head  waters  of  the  streams  which  flow  into  the  St.  John's 
from  those  which  run  to  the  south.  I  am  here  only  stating  facts,  having  no 
theory  on  the  subject,  nor,  least  of  all,  any  desire  to  weaken  our  claim,  which, 
till  lately,  has  seemed  to  me  unassailable.  This  map  answers  fully  to  that 
described  in  Franklin's  letter ;  and  if  he  actually  drew  the  line,  it  does  seem 
to  settle  the  question,  for  he  could  not  be  mistaken,  at  that  time,  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  commissioners. 

The  copy  of  Mitchell's  map,  obtained  from  Baron  Steuben's  library,  has  a 
manuscript  boundary  line  drawn  in  exact  accordance  with  this  supposed  line 
of  Franklin.  But  I  do  not  see  any  allusion  to  this  map  in  the  debates.  There 
is  a  tradition  that  it  once  belonged  to  Mr.  Jay,  but  I  believe  no  evidence  of 
this  fact  has  been  adduced. 

But,  after  all,  the  thing  which  has  weighed  the  most  heavily  on  my  mind 
as  adverse  to  our  claim,  is  the  perfect  silence  of  Mr.  Jay  and  Mr.  John 
Adams  on  the  subject.  Both  these  commissioners  lived  many  years  after  the 
treaty  of  Ghent.  Why  should  they  not  have  declared,  by  some  formal  and 
public  instrument,  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  confirmed  our  claim,  if  they  knew 
it  to  be  just  ?  Such  a  declaration  would  have  been  conclusive,  even  with  an 
arbiter;  and  it  would  almost  seem  to  have  been  a  duty  to  their  country  to 
make  it,  of  their  own  accord,  when  they  saw  such  vast  interests  at  stake.  But 
no  record  of  their  opinion  has  ever  been  brought  to  light. 

Mr.  Woodbury  has  fallen  into  the  same  mistake  as  yourself,  in  regard  to 
my  unfortunate  Paris  map.  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  show  him  this 
letter ;  and  believe  me,  with  sincere  respect  and  regard, 

Your  friend  and  most  obedient  servant, 

JARED  SPARKS. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  1842,  Mr.  Buchanan  addressed  the  Sen 
ate  in  opposition  to  a  measure  advocated  by  the  Whigs,  which 
proposed  to  pledge  and  appropriate  the  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  and  principal  of  the  public 
debt.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  speech  was  made  under 
very  peculiar  circumstances,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  repro 
duce  it. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1844,  it  seemed  that  the  old  story 
of  "  bargain  and  corruption  "  in  the  election  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  in  1825  was  about  to  be  revived.  General  Jackson  had 
again  become  excited  on  this  subject  by  persons  who  wished  at 
once  to  injure  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Buchanan.  The  following 
letter  from  Governor  Letcher  of  Kentucky,  an  ardent  admirer 
of  Mr.  Clay,  informed  Mr.  Buchanan  of  what  was  impending : 


LETTER    FROM    GOVERNOR    LETCHER.  507 

[GOVERNOR  LETCHER  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  FRANKFORT,  June  20,  1844. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

Mr.  Clay  is  very  much  provoked  with  General  Jackson  and  other  malicious 
persons  for  attempting  to  revive  against  him  that  old  vile,  miserable  calumny 
of  "  bargain  and  sale."  It  is,  I  must  confess,  as  you  and  I  both  know,  a  most 
villanous  outrage,  and  well  calculated  to  excite  the  ire  of  any  man  upon 
earth.  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  he  should  feel  indignant  upon  the  occa 
sion. 

I  am  told  he  is  resolved  upon  "  carrying  the  war  into  Africa.''  Indeed  I 
saw  him  for  a  few  minutes  shortly  after  he  returned  from  "Washington,  when 
he  alluded  in  some  such  terms  to  the  subject.  He  was  quite  unwell  at  the 
time,  and  the  conversation  was  very  brief.  It  seems  now  (I  was  so  informed 
an  evening  or  two  ago)  he  threatens  to  make  a  publication  in  vindication  of 
his  own  character.  What  else  he  may  do  or  say,  I  do  not  know.  This  much 
I  learn,  he  will  call  upon  me  to  give  a  statement  of  the  conversation  which 
took  place  between  you  and  himself  in  my  room  in  reference  to  the  contest 
then  pending  between  Adams  and  Jackson. 

I  shall  regret  exceedingly  if  any  such  call  is  made  upon  me.  Many  years 
ago,  as  you  remember,  a  similar  call  was  made,  and  on  my  part  refused.  I 
do  not  at  present  perceive  any  good  reason  why  I  should  change  my  opinion. 
The  truth  is,  if  my  recollection  serves  me,  after  several  interviews  with  you 
in  regard  to  the  matter,  I  told  you  explicitly  I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  give 
the  conversation  alluded  to,  and  would  not  do  so  under  any  circumstances, 
without  your  express  permission.  Am  I  not  right  in  my  recollection  ? 

I  do  not  think  I  shall  or  can  be  convinced  that  my  decision  as  heretofore 
made  is  not  perfectly  correct. 

With  great  regard, 

R.  P.  LETCHER. 

How  Mr.  Clay  proposed  "  to  carry  the  war  into  Africa,"  is 
to  be  explained  by  an  occurrence  which  took  place  in  January, 
1825,  at  the  lodgings  of  Mr.  Letch er  in  Washington,  he  being 
then  a  member  of  Congress  from  Kentucky.  The  persons  pres 
ent  were  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Letcher,  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  Mr.  Sloan 
of  Ohio.  The  subject  of  the  election  of  a  President  by  the 
House  of  Representatives  was  talked  of  jocosely ;  but  in  the 
course  of  the  conversation  Mr.  Buchanan  expressed  his  convic 
tion  that  General  Jackson  would  be  chosen,  adding,  that  "  he 
would  form  the  most  splendid  cabinet  the  country  has  ever 
had."  Mr.  Letcher  asked :  "  How  could  he  have  one  more 
distinguished  than  that  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  which  were  both 


508  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Madison  and  Gallatin  ?  Where  would  he  be  able  to  find  equally 
eminent  men?"  Buchanan  replied,  looking  at  Mr.  Clay,  "I 
would  not  go  out  of  this  room  for  a  Secretary  of  State."  Clay 
playfully  retorted  that  he  "  thought  there  was  not  timber  there 
fit  for  a  Cabinet  office,  unless  it  were  Mr.  Buchanan  himself."* 
This  familiar,  private  conversation,  held  in  the  unrestrained 
intercourse  of  a  casual  meeting,  could  have  been  of  no  use  to 
Mr.  Clay,  even  if  divulged,  in  "  carrying  the  war  into  Africa," 
unless  he  should  treat  it  as  an  occurrence  having  some  connec 
tion  with  the  conversation  between  Mr.  Buchanan  and  General 
Jackson,  which  is  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter.  The  result 
would  be  that  Mr.  Buchanan  would  stand  charged  by  Mr.  Clay 
on  the  one  hand,  as  an  emissary  of  General  Jackson  to  open  a 
negotiation  for  Mr.  Clay's  vote  in  the  House,  as  he  had  some 
years  before  been  charged  with  being  an  emissary  of  Mr.  Clay 
to  approach  General  Jackson  with  a  proposal  to  sell  his  vote  for 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  The  truth  manifestly  is,  that 
Buchanan  would  have  been  very  glad  to  have  had  Mr.  Clay 
appointed  Secretary  of  State  under  General  Jackson,  not  only 
because  he  had  great  admiration  for  Mr.  Clay's  splendid  abili 
ties,  but  for  public  and  patriotic  reasons ;  and  there  were  no 
such  strict  party  relations  at  that  time  as  would  have  rendered 
a  union  between  Jackson  and  Clay  in  any  degree  objectionable. 
But  neither  in  the  conversation  between  General  Jackson  and 
Mr.  Buchanan,  in  December,  1824,  nor  in  the  conversation 
between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Buchanan,  at  the  lodgings  of  Mr. 
Letcher,  in  January,  1825,  could  either  Jackson  on  the  one 
hand,  or  Clay  on  the  other,  have  had  the  slightest  reason  for 
claiming  that  on  the  former  occasion  Buchanan  was  acting  as  an- 
agent  of  Clay,  or  that  on  the  latter  occasion  he  was  acting  as  an 
agent  of  Jackson.  In  that  scene  of  excitement,  there  were 
persons  in  Washington  who  stood  in  much  closer  relations  with 
Jackson  than  Buchanan  did  at  that  time,  in  whose  efforts  to 
secure  the  votes  of  different  delegations  there  were  conversa 
tions  which,  construed  in  one  way,  approached  pretty  nearly  to 
a  tender  of  office  to  Mr.  Clay.  But  they  were  the  unauthorized, 
irresponsible  and  voluntary  expressions  by  partisans  of  what 

*  This  account  of  the  conversation  is  taken  from  a  memorandum  in  the  handwriting  of 
Mr.  Sloan. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GOVERNOR  LETCHER.          509 

they  believed  might  take  place,  in  case  Jackson  should  become 
President ;  and  if  they  were  ever  understood  in  any  other  sense 
by  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed,  it  is  apparent  that 
they  were  misunderstood. 

Governor  Letcher,  as  soon  as  he  learned  that  Mr.  Clay 
threatened  to  make  use  of  the  conversation  at  his  lodgings, 
resolutely  refused  to  be  a  party  to  the  disclosure.  Mr. 
Buchanan's  answer  to  his  letter  of  the  20th  of  June,  and  the 
further  correspondence  between  them,  are  all  that  it  is  needful 
to  add : 

[MR.     BUCHANAN    TO    GOV.    LETCHER.] 

(Private.)  LANCASTER,  June  27,  1844. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: —    . 

I  have  this  moment  received  your  very  kind  letter,  and  hasten  to  give  it 
an  answer.  I  cannot  perceive  what  good  purpose  it  would  subserve  Mr.  Clay 
to  publish  the  private  and  unreserved  conversation  to  which  you  refer.  I  was 
then  his  ardent  friend  and  admirer ;  and  much  of  this  ancient  feeling  still  sur 
vives,  notwithstanding  our  political  differences  since.  I  did  him  ample  justice, 
but  no  more  than  justice,  both  in  my  speech  on  Chilton's  resolutions  and  in 
my  letter  in  answer  to  General  Jackson. 

I  have  not  myself  any  very  distinct  recollection  of  what  transpired  in  your 
room  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  but  doubtless  I  expressed  a  strong  wish  to 
himself,  as  I  had  done  a  hundred  times  to  others,  that  he  might  vote  for 
General  Jackson,  and  if  he  desired,  become  his  Secretary  of  State.  Had  he 
voted  for  the  General,  in  case  of  his  election  I  should  most  certainly  have 
exercised  any  influence  which  I  might  have  possessed  to  accomplish  this 
result;  and  this  I  should  have  done  from  the  most  disinterested,  friendly  and 
patriotic  motives.  This  conversation  of  mine,  whatever  it  may  have  been,  can 
never  be  brought  home  to  General  Jackson.  I  never  had  but  one  conversa 
tion  with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  then  pending  election,  and  that  upon 
the  street,  and  the  whole  of  it,  verbatim  et  literatim,  when  comparatively 
fresh  upon  my  memory,  was  given  to  the  public  in  my  letter  of  August, 
1827. 

The  publication  then  'of  this  private  conversation  could  serve  no  other 
purpose  than  to  embarrass  me,  and  bring  me  prominently  into  the  pending 
contest, — which  I  desire  to  avoid. 

You  are  certainly  correct  in  your  recollection.  You  told  me  explicitly  that 
you  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  give  the  conversation  alluded  to,  and  would  not 
do  so,  under  any  circumstances,  without  my  express  permission.  In  this  you 
acted,  as  you  have  ever  done,  like  a  man  of  honor  and  principle. 

With  every  sentiment  of  regard,  I  remain  sincerely, 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


510  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

[GOV.  LETCHER  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  FRANKFORT,  July  7,  1844. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : — 

I  have  received  your  answer  to  my  letters.  I  am  glad  your  recollection 
of  what  took  place  between  us  corresponds  so  exactly  with  mine. 

I  will  not  in  any  event  violate  my  promise,  and  shall,  indeed  did,  say  as 
much  to  my  distinguished  friend.  My  resolution  upon  this  point  is  firm  and 
decided ;  and  I  do  not  think  it  can  be  changed. 

Polk !  Great  God,  what  a  nomination !  I  do  really  think  the  Demo 
cratic  Convention  ought  to  be  damned  to  all  eternity  for  this  villanous  business. 
Has  Polk  any  chance  to  carry  Pennsylvania  ? 

I  write  you  very  hastily  to  get  my  letter  in  to-day's  mail.     More  hereafter. 

Your  sincere  friend, 

•    E.  P.  LETCHER. 

[GOV.  LETCHER    TO   MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

(Private.)  FRANKFORT,  July  19th,  1844. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : — 

I  have  not  seen  Mr.  Clay  since  I  wrote  you,  nor  have  I  heard  a  single 
word  more  about  that  threatened  publication.  I  hope  he  has  thought  better 
of  it.  I  told  him  when  I  did  see  him,  not  to  expect  from  me  any  statement 
of  what  took  place  in  my  room  between  you  and  him,  and  that  I  had  made 
up  my  mind  upon  that  subject  years  ago,  and  did  not  now  see  any  good 
reason  for  changing  it. 

I  hardly  think  he  will  make  a  publication  without  submitting  it  to  me ; 
indeed,  I  believe  he  said  so  expressly.  As  I  can  perceive  no  earthly  good 
growing  out  of  such  a  movement,  of  course  I  shall  continue  to  oppose  it  in 
every  possible  manner.  He  has  a  great  many  facts  now  in  his  possession,  and 
some  much  stronger  than  I  had  supposed  to  exist,  and,  no  doubt,  could  put 
forth  a  powerful  document,  but  he  shall  not  do  it  with  my  consent. 

I  had  a  short  chat  with  Colonel  Benton  a  few  days  ago.  If  you  remember, 
he  was  always  a  good  friend  of  mine,  and  having  the  fullest  confidence  in  my 
discretion,  he  talked  very  freely.  It  was  "  Multum  in  parvo  "  literally.  Well, 
the  truth  is,  your  party,  speaking  classically,  have  come  to  a  poor  pass. 
Polk  for  your  leader !  and  then  to  think  of  such  villanous  intrigues  to  get  him 
on  the  track,  and  such  old  warriors  as  Van  Buren,  Buchanan,  both  the  very 
fellows  who  were  so  rascally  cheated,  being  compelled  to  support  the  ucre- 
tur."  Why,  I  had  rather  die. 

The  fact  is,  both  Benton  and  yourself  are  hunted  down  daily  by  your  own 
dogs.  No  two  men  are  more  constantly  the  subjects  of  vituperation  by  your 
own  party,  and  I  would  see  them  at  the  devil  before  I  would  act  a  part  in 
such  a  miserable  play  as  they  are  now  getting  up.  Besides,  you  owe  it  to 
your  own  true  principles,  to  your  State,  to  your  country,  to  your  own  char- 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS.  511 

acter,  not  to  engage  in  the  dirty  job  of  trying  to  elect  such  an as  Polk 

to  the  greatest  office  in  the  world. 

Our  Whig  candidate  for  Governor  is  a  death  slow  nag,  as  they  tell  me ;  still 
he  is  a  very  worthy  gentleman,  and,  I  presume,  will  be  elected  very  easily, 
though  he  is  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  votes  weaker  than  Clay.  I  go  to  no 
public  gatherings,  but  shall  soon  be  let  loose,  thank  God. 

R.  P.  LETCHER. 

[BUCHANAN  TO  LETCHER.] 

LANCASTER,  July  27th,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  received  your  kind  favors  of  the  7th  and  19th  instant,  and  am 
rejoiced  to  learn  that  your  distinguished  friend  has  probably  thought  better  of 
the  publication.  You  have  ever  been  a  sagacious  man,  and  doubtless  think 
that  James  K.  Polk  is  not  quite  as  strong  an  antagonist  as  Andrew  Jackson, 
and  therefore  that  it  would  not  be  very  wise  to  drop  the  former  and  make  up 
an  issue  with  the  latter.  If  this  had  been  done,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
predict  the  result,  at  least  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  whole  affair  has  worried  me  much  from  first  to  last ;  and  yet  I  have 
been  as  innocent  as  a  sucking  dove  of  any  improper  intention.  First  to  have 
been  called  on  by  Jackson  as  his  witness  against  Clay,  and  then  to  be  vouched 
as  Clay's  witness  against  Jackson,  when,  before  Heaven,  I  can  say  nothing 
against  either,  is  a  little  too  much  to  bear  patiently.  I  have  got  myself  into 
this  scrape,  from  the  desire  which  I  often  expressed  and  never  concealed,  that 
Jackson,  first  of  all  things,  might  be  elected  President  by  the  House,  and  that 
Clay  might  next  be  his  Secretary  of  State. 

It  was  a  most  unfortunate  day  for  the  country,  Mr.  Clay,  and  all  of  us,  when 
he  accepted  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State  (under  J.  Q.  Adams).  To  be  sure, 
there  was  nothing  criminal  in  it,  but  it  was  worse,  as  Talleyrand  would  have 
said,  it  was  a  great  blunder.  Had  it  not  been  for  this,  he  would,  in  all  proba 
bility,  now  have  been  in  retirement,  after  having  been  President  for  eight  years  ; 
and  friends  like  you  and  myself,  who  ought  to  have  stood  together  through  life, 
would  not  have  been  separated.  But,  as  the  hymn  says,  I  trust  "  there's 
better  days  a  coming." 

You  ask : — Has  Polk  any  chance  to  carry  Pennsylvania  ?  and  I  answer,  I 
think  he  has.  Pennsylvania  is  a  Democratic  State  by  a  majority  of  at  least 
20,000 ;  and  there  is  no  population  more  steady  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Under  all  the  excitement  of  1840,  and  Mr.  Yan  Buren's  want  of  popularity, 
we  were  beaten  but  343  ;  and  ever  since  we  have  carried  our  State  elections 
by  large  majorities.  Besides,  Muhlenburg,  our  candidate  for  Governor,  is  a 
fast  horse,  and  will  certainly  be  elected ;  and  the  Governor's  election  will 
exercise  much  influence  on  the  Presidential.  But  your  people,  notwithstand 
ing,  are  in  high  hopes;  and,  after  my  mistake  in  1840,  I  shall  not  prophesy 
positively. 

I  was  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  any  portion  of  the  Democratic  party  were 


512  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

playing  the  part  of  Acteon's  dogs  towards  me.  I  stood  in  no  man's  way. 
After  my  withdrawal,  I  never  thought  of  the  Presidency,  and  the  few 
scattering  votes  which  I  received  at  Baltimore  were  given  to  me  against  my 
express  instructions,  at  least  so  far  as  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  were  con 
cerned.  The  very  last  thing  I  desired  was  to  be  the  candidate.  If  they 
desire  to  hunt  me  down  for  anything,  it  must  be  because  I  have  refused  to 
join  in  the  hue  and  cry  against  Colonel  Benton,  who  has  been  for  many 
years  the  sword  and  shield  of  Democracy.  Although  I  differed  from  him  on 
the  Texas  question,  I  believe  him  to  be  a  much  better  man  than  most  of  his 
assailants.  I  sincerely  hope  that  they  may  not  be  able  to  defeat  his  re-elec 
tion  to  the  Senate.  I  have  delayed  the  publication  of  my  Texas  speech  to 
prevent  its  use  against  him  in  the  approaching  Missouri  elections. 

It  is  neither  according  to  my  taste,  nor  sense  of  propriety  as  a  Senator  of 
the  United  States,  to  take  the  stump,  and  I  have  yet  resisted  all  importunities 
for  that  purpose.  Whether  I  shall  be  able  to  hold  out  to  the  end,  I  do  not 
know.  It  is  sincerely  my  desire,  and  I  owe  Muhlenburg  much  kindness,  and 
if  he  should  request  it,  I  could  not  well  refuse.  Should  I  enter  the  lists,  I 
shall  never  say,  as  I  never  have  said,  anything  which  could  give  the  most  fas 
tidious  friend  of  Mr.  Clay  just  cause  of  offence.  I  shall  go  to  the  Bedford 
Springs  on  Monday,  where  I  expect  to  remain  for  a  fortnight. 

As  I  grow  older,  I  look  back  with  a  mournful  pleasure  to  the  days  of 
"  auld  lang  syne.''  There  was  far  more  heart  and  soul  and  fun  in  our  social 
intercourse  than  exists  "  in  these  degenerate  days."  But,  perhaps,  to  think 
so  is  an  evidence  of  approaching  old  age.  Poor  Governor  Kent!  I  was 
forcibly  reminded  of  him  a  few  days  ago,  when,  at  the  funeral  of  a  friend,  I 
examined  his  son's  gravestone,  who  was  a  student  of  mine.  To  keep  it  in 
repair  has  been  for  me  a  matter  of  pious  duty.  I  loved  his  father  to  the  last. 


I  wish  I  could  have  you  with  me  for  a  few  days.  I  have  better  wine  than 
any  man  between  this  and  Frankfort,  and  no  man  in  the  world  would  hail 
you  with  a  heartier  welcome.  When  shall  we  meet  again  ? 

Ever  your  sincere  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[LETCHER  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

FRANKFORT,  August  3d,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

Your  very  interesting  favor  of  the  27th  ultimo  has  reached  me  and  I  have 
just  read  it  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure. 

I  have  not  seen  Mr.  Clay  since  I  wrote  you,  nor  have  I  heard  one  single 
word  further  in  regard  to  the  threatened  publication.  When  I  saw  him,  as  I 
believe  I  told  you,  he  had  the  full  benefit  of  my  opinion  upon  the  subject, 
expressed  in  terms  by  no  means  equivocal. 

You  know  my  warm,  and  strong,  and  long  attachment  to  the  man.     A 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  FRIENDS.  513 

better  and  a  greater  man,  take  him  altogether,  in  my  view,  has  never  lived  in 
any  age  or  country.  He  is  a  little  excitable,  and  under  that  state  of  feeling 
seems  to  raise  the  imperial  colors,  but  it's  mere  manner,  growing  out  of  his 
peculiar  organization.  He  is  not  a  malice  bearing  man,  and  never  was.  He 
never  disliked  you  in  his  life,  though  I  think  you  had  always  perhaps  an 
impression  to  the  contrary.  But  with  all  my  regard  for  the  man  personally, 
and  unbounded  confidence  in  his  political  worth,  I  cannot  be  prevailed  upon 
to  advise  him  to  make  a  publication,  however  strongly  his  feelings  may  be 
interested  in  the  matter,  of  the  character  of  the  one  alluded  to,  nor  am  I  at 
all  willing  to  be  referred  to  as  a  witness  to  anything  that  occurred  under  the 
sanctity  of  my  hospitality.  Unless  my  mind  undergoes  a  most  radical  change, 
I  never  will  consent.  And  although  I  flatter  myself  I  am  an  exceedingly 
amiable  man,  yet  I  am  as  firm,  and  as  decided,  and  as  unyielding  in  matters 
of  judgment  as  any  man  living. 

Our  election  comes  off  Monday  next.  The  Whig  candidate  for  governor 
is  not  considered  by  any  means  a  popular  man.  He  will  not  carry  the  entire 
Whig  vote,  according  to  the  estimate  of  the  knowing  ones,  by  10,000  votes. 
On  the  other  side  they  are  running  a  very  popular  man,  and  a  "  war  horse  at 
that."  The  party  lines  will  be  better  drawn  between  the  candidates  for 
lieutenant-governor,  as  I  am  told.  My  position  places  it  very  much  out  of 
my  power  to  see  exactly  the  progress  of  the  campaign. 

One  word  as  to  yourself.  Were  I  in  your  place,  I  would  not  take  the 
stump,  mark  that.  "  I  know  a  thing  or  two,"  and  if  I  know  anything,  it  is 
judging  accurately  "men  and  things."  My  opinion  upon  this  point  is  correct. 
Polk  has  no  more  chance  to  be  elected  than  if  he  were  now  dead,  and  Juried, 
and  damned,  as  he  will  be  in  due  time.  The  idea  of  his  being  a  tariff  man  is 
very  provoking. 

I  would  pay  Muhlenberg  at  a  more  convenient  season.  He  is  at  best,  a 
tricky  old  fellow ;  I  know  him  "  like  a  book."  We  shall  probably  meet  during 
the  next  spring,  if  we  live.  I  may  possibly  make  a  visit  to  Washington  after 
Clay  gets  under  way.  As  this  is  rather  an  interesting  topic  (and  as  you  pay 
no  postage),  I  will  explain  myself  to  you  more  fully. 

Mr.  Clay's  attachment  to  me,  I  have  no  doubt  about  I  am  fully  aware 
that  he  has  the  most  entire  confidence  in  my  integrity  and  (to  the  full  extent 
of  my  merits)  every  reasonable  confidence  in  my  judgment.  When  he 
comes  into  power,  he  will  be  surrounded  by  a  set  of  flatterers,  artful,  design 
ing,  and  cunning.  Of  course  a  man  in  that  condition,  will  at  once,  or  in  due 
time,  form  a  new  set  of  feelings  and  a  new  set  of  friends.  It  is  the  true 
course  of  human  nature,  and  all  history  proves  it.  He  may  offer  me  some 
thing,  but  that  may  not  be  at  all  agreeable  to  my  feelings.  On  this  subject  I 
have  never  had  the  first  word  with  him  or  anybody  else,  and  I  don't  intend  to 
have.  My  impression  has  been  all  along,  he  would  take  Crittenden  into  the 
cabinet,  should  he  be  inclined  to  take  a  place.  Oh  no,  when  my  friends  are 
in  trouble,  I  am  a  first  rate  doctor,  but  when  restored,  I  doubt  whether  there 
will  be  use  for  me.  The  impression  prevails  in  this  country,  that  I  can  get 

I.— 33 


514  LIFE    OF    JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

any  place  that  I  select.  Not  so.  I  tell  you  this  confidentially,  that  in  case 
we  live,  wo  may  see  how  accurately  we  understand  the  business.  But  in  fact 
there  is  no  place  I  have  set  my  heart  upon  in  the  slightest  degree,  and  I  do 
assure  you  now  that  I  am  not  expecting,  and  hope  that  I  shall  never  apply  for 
any  directly  or  indirectly.  Upon  a  moment's  reflection  I  doubt  whether  I  shall 
go  East  in  the  spring,  lest  it  might  be  supposed  I  was  seeking  place.  My 
time  is  almost  out  as  governor,  and  how  to  dispose  of  myself,  I  confess  I  know 
not,  but  I  would  rather  fly  to  a  saltpetre  cave,  and  work  for  a  living,  than  to 
solicit  office  from  friends  to  whom  I  have  adhered  for  upwards  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  True,  my  services  were  rendered  without  the  hopes  of  personal 
reward.  They  were  given  purely  for  what  I  deemed  the  good  of  the  country. 
This  is  a  strange  world,  I  can  tell  you.  I  often  hear  of  its  being  said,  if 
Letcher  was  out  of  the  way,  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  Mr.  Clay  could 
be  provided  for,  but  Letcher  will  have  a  controlling  influence,  etc.,  etc.  What 
miserable  stuff.  The  truth  is  I  shall  not  try  to  have  a  controlling  influence, 
and  do  not  wish  it,  and  will  not  have  it  if  I  could  get  it.  But  I  could  not 
have  it  if  I  wanted  it.  Now  give  me  just  as  long  a  love-letter  as  this. 
Don't  drink  up  all  that  good  wine,  but  wait  till  I  come. 

Ever  yours, 

E.  P.  LETCHER. 

The  whole  substance  of  what  Mr.  Clay  meant  about  "  carry 
ing  the  war  into  Africa  "  was  probably  this :  that  the  familiar 
conversation  at  Mr.  Letcher  a  room  in  January,  1825,  was  as 
good  evidence  of  Jackson's  effort  to  corrupt  him  as  the  con 
versation  between  Jackson  and  Buchanan  in  the  previous 
December  was,  of  a  purpose  on  his  (Clay's)  part,  to  induce 
Jackson  to  buy  his  vote  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
promising  to  make  him  (Clay)  Secretary  of  State.* 

*  General  Samuel  Houston,  an  intimate  friend  of  General  Jackson,  held  conversations  in 
the  winter  of  1824-5  with  the  members  of  the  Ohio  delegation,  in  which  he  took  it  upon  him, 
in  his  efforts  to  persuade  them  to  vote  for  Jackson,  to  say,  that  in  the  event  of  his  election, 
u  your  man  "  (Clay)  "  can  have  anything  he  pleases/'  All  this,  and  a  great  deal  more  of  the 
same  kind,  meant  only  an  expectation  and  belief  on  the  part  of  some  of  Jackson's  friends, 
that  a  political  union  between  him  and  Mr.  Clay  would  be  for  the  good  of  the  country,  and 
it  was  their  earnest  wish  to  see  it  take  place.  Some  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  supposed  that 
these  were  advances  made  to  him  with  General  Jackson's  knowledge  and  consent,  and  that, 
as  they  were  not  met  by  Clay,  the  indifierence  with  which  they  were  treated  caused  General 
Jackson's  subsequent  charge  of  "  bargain  and  corruption  "  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Adams.  This  and  many  similar  mistakes  were  the  natural  fruits  of  the  excitement  which 
prevailed  in  Washington  during  the  winter  of  18^1-5. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

1843—1844. 

BUCHANAN  ELECTED  TO  THE  SENATE  FOR  A  THIRD  TERM — EFFORTS  OF 
HIS  PENNSYLVANIA  FRIENDS  TO  HAVE  HIM  NOMINATED  FOR  THE 
PRESIDENCY — MOTIVES  OF  HIS  WITHDRAWAL  FROM  THE  CANVASS — 
THE  BALTIMORE  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION  OF  1844  NOMINATES  MR. 
POLK — THE  OLD  STORY  OF  " BARGAIN  AND  CORRUPTION" — PRIVATE 
CORRESPONDENCE. 

IT  was  a  natural  consequence  of  so  much  distinction  in  pub 
lic  life,  not  only  that  Mr.  Buchanan  should  be  a  third  time 
elected  to  the  Senate,  but  that  his  political  and  personal  friends 
in  Pennsylvania  should  be  anxious  to  have  him  made  the  Demo 
cratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency  by  the  next  national  con 
vention  of  that  party.  In  that  organization  there  was  no  man 
whose  party  and  public  services  and  personal  qualifications 
could  give  him  greater  claims  than  Buchanan's  to  the  consider 
ation  of  his  political  associates.  It  does  not  appear  to  me, 
judging  from  his  private  correspondence  at  this  period,  which 
lies  before  me  in  great  masses,  and  which  I  have  carefully 
examined,  that  he  was  specially  anxious  at  this  period  of  his 
life  to  become  President  of  the  United  States.  His  ambition, 
if  it  led  him  to  aim  at  that  position,  was  regulated  by  great 
prudence,  and  it  is  quite  apparent  that  he  was  just  and  consid 
erate  towards  others  whose  names  were  in  men's  mouths  or 
thoughts  as  wrell  as  his  own.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the 
entire  sincerity  with  which  he  addressed  the  following  letter  to 
the  Democratic  members  of  the  legislature,  who,  in  communi 
cating  to  him  his  re-election  to  the  Senate,  also  expressed  their 
desire  to  present  his  name  to  the  nominating  convention  of 
their  party  as  the  favorite  candidate  of  Pennsylvania  for  the 
Presidency. 


516  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 


[TO    B.    CRISPEN,    AND    H.    B.    WRIGHT,    ESQUIRES,    AND    OTHER   MEMBERS   OF 
THE    DEMOCRATIC   PARTY   IN   THE   LEGISLATURE    OF   PENNSYLVANIA.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  2d,  1843. 
GENTLEMEN  : — 

Your  letter  of  congratulation  on  my  recent  re-election  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States  has  inspired  me  with  feelings  of  profound  gratitude.  To 
have  been  thrice  elected  to  this  eminent  station  by  the  Democratic  senators 
and  representatives  of  my  native  State  is  an  honor  which  ought  to  satisfy  the 
ambition  of  any  man :  and  its  value  is  greatly  enhanced  by  your  assurance 
that  in  selecting  me  for  another  term,  you  but  acted  in  accordance  with  the 
united  voice  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Pennsylvania.  So  highly  do  I  prize 
their  good  opinion  that  I  can  declare  with  heart-felt  sincerity  I  would  not 
forfeit  this  for  all  the  political  honors  which  my  country  could  bestow.  Their 
unsolicited  and  continued  support  have  conferred  upon  me  whatever  of 
distinction  in  public  life  I  may  enjoy ;  and  if  it  were  possible  for  me  now  to 
desert  their  principles,  I  should  feel  that  I  deserved  a  traitor's  doom.  Instead 
of  being  elated,  I  am  humbled  by  the  consciousness  of  how  little  I  have  ever 
done  to  merit  all  their  unexampled  kindness. 

Of  all  the  political  parties  which  have  ever  existed,  the  Democratic  party 
are  the  most  indulgent  and  confiding  masters.  All  they  demand  of  any  pub 
lic  servant  is  honestly  and  faithfully  to  represent  their  principles  in  the  station 
where  they  have  placed  him ;  and  this  I  feel  proudly  conscious  that  I  have  done 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  according  to  my  best  ability.  I  can,  there 
fore,  offer  you  no  pledge  for  my  future  conduct  except  the  guarantee  of  the 
past. 

You  have  been  further  pleased  to  say  that  as  Pennsylvanians  you  desire  to 
see  me  "  elevated  to  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,"  and  you 
tender  me  "  to  the  Union  as  Pennsylvania's  favorite  candidate  for  the  next 
Presidency."  I  can  solemnly  declare  that  I  was  wholly  unprepared  for  such 
an  enunciation  from  the  Democratic  members  of  the  legislature,  having 
never  received  the  slightest  intimation  of  their  intention  until  after  their  letter 
had  been  actually  signed. 

Both  principle  and  a  becoming  sense  of  the  merit  of  others  have  hitherto 
prevented  me  from  taking  any,  even  the  least  part  in  promoting  my  own  ele 
vation  to  the  Presidency.  I  have  no  ambitious  longings  to  gratify,  conscibus 
as  I  am  that  I  have  already  received  more  of  the  offices  and  honors  of  my 
country  than  I  have  ever  deserved.  If  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  should  most 
freely  resign  any  pretensions  which  the  partiality  of  friends  has  set  up  for  me, 
if  by  this  I  could  purchase  harmony  and  unanimity  in  the  selection  of  a 
Democratic  candidate.  Besides,  however  proper  it  may  be  that  candidates 
for  inferior  offices  should  make  personal  efforts  to  secure  success,  I  am  deeply 
convinced  that  the  highest  office  under  heaven  ought  to  be  the  voluntary  gift 
of  the  only  free  people  upon  earth.  It  ought  to  be  their  own  spontaneous 


BUCHANAN  AGAIN  ELECTED  TO  THE  SENATE.  517 

gift  to  the  most  worthy ;  and  this  alone  can  render  it  the  crowning  glory  of  a 
well  spent  public  life.  This  alone  can  prevent  the  danger  to  our  institutions 
which  must  result  from  the  violent  struggles  of  personal  and  interested  parti 
sans.  The  principles  of  the  man,  whom  the  people  may  thus  delight  to  honor, 
ought  to  have  borne  the  test  of  long  and  severe  service,  and  ought  to  stand 
out  in  such  bold  relief  before  his  country  as  to  place  all  doubt  in  regard  to 
them  at  defiance.  In  my  opinion,  the  candidate  who  would  either  intrigue 
or  personally  electioneer  for  the  Presidency  raises  a  strong  presumption  that  he 
is  unworthy  of  it.  Whether  it  be  probable  that  a  man  resolved,  under  the 
blessing  of  Providence,  to  act  upon  these  principles,  will  ever  reach  the  Presi 
dency,  you  can  judge  better  than  myself.  I  ought  however  in  justice  to 
myself  to  observe,  that  whilst  this  is  my  fixed  purpose,  I  do  not  feel  the  less 
grateful  to  those  kind  and  partial  friends  who  have  deemed  me  worthy  of  the 
highest  office,  because  I  have  never  attempted  to  enlist  them  in  my  support. 

With  these  views  plainly  presented  before  the  Democracy  of  Pennsylvania, 
if  they  should  resolve  to  offer  my  name  to  the  National  Convention  as  a  can 
didate  for  the  Presidency  with  that  degree  of  unanimity  which  can  alone  give 
moral  force  to  their  recommendation,  I  feel  that  I  ought  not  to  counteract 
their  wishes.  Should  they  determine  differently,  this  will  not  be  to  me  a  cause 
of  the  slightest  mortification. 

One  remark  I  am  impelled  to  make  before  closing  this  letter.  The  princi 
ples  and  the  success  of  the  party  so  immeasurably  transcend  in  importance  the 
elevation  of  any  individual  that  they  ought  not  to  be  jeopardized  in  the  slight 
est  degree  by  personal  partiality  for  either  of  the  candidates.  Every  candi 
date  who  has  been  named,  and  hundreds  of  individuals  whose  names  have 
never  been  mentioned,  would  ably  and  faithfully  administer  the  Government 
according  to  these  principles.  No  good  Democrat,  therefore,  ought  to  suffer 
his  feelings  to  become  so  enlisted  in  favor  of  any  one  candidate,  that  he  could 
not  yield  his  cheerful  and  cordial  support  to  any  other  who  may  be  nominated 
by  the  National  Convention. 

With  sentiments  of  grateful  regard,  I  remain  yours  sincerely, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


It  soon  became  apparent  to  Mr.  Buchanan  that  if  he  per 
mitted  his  Pennsylvania  friends  to  make  him  a  candidate  for 
the  nomination,  he  would  encounter  the  pretensions  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  of  Colonel  Benton,  and  of  other  prominent  men  in  the 
party.  By  the  species  of  management  common  on  such  occa 
sions,  many  of  the  delegates  to  the  national  Democratic  con 
vention,  which  was  to  assemble  at  Baltimore,  on  the  2Yth  of 
May  (1844),  were  instructed  or  pledged  to  support  Mr.  Yan 
Buren.  Mr.  Buchanan  promptly  withdrew  his  name  from  the 
canvass,  in  a  public  letter.  His  private  feelings  on  the  whole 


518  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

matter  of  this  nomination  were  expressed  freely  in  the  following 
letter  to  one  of  his  lady  friends,  who  had  just  gone  to  Europe : 

[MR.  BUCHANAN   TO   MRS.  ROOSEVELT.*] 

WASHINGTON,  May  13th,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  MADAM: — 

I  shall  make  Colonel  King  the  bearer  of  this  despatch.  He  and  Doctor 
Martin  will  be  able  to  give  you  all  the  news  from  your  native  land.  I  fear 
that  his  appointment  to  the  French  mission  may  induce  you  to  remain  longer 
abroad  than  you  would  otherwise  have  done,  or  than  your  friends  would  wil 
lingly  tolerate.  Whilst  I  was  delighted  to  learn  the  attentions  which  you  had 
received,  and  which  you  can  everywhere  attract,  I  was  sorry  to  entertain  the 
apprehension  that  your  affections  might  be  alienated  from  your  own  country 
and  fixed  upon  the  aristocratic  society  of  Europe.  Do  not  suffer  such  a  feel 
ing  to  gain  possession  of  your  heart.  It  will  banish  content  from  your  bosom 
and  render  you  unhappy  in  the  land  where  Providence  has  cast  your  lot. 

I  can  give  you  but  little  news  of  the  gay  world  of  Washington.  I  have 
been  incessantly  occupied  during  the  session,  and  have  gone  very  little  into 
society.  How  changed  for  me  the  gay  world  has  been  since  you  left  us ;  and 
I  might  add  that  Mr.  Ingersoll  is  nearly  as  great  an  admirer  as  myself.  I  have 
not  seen  your  neighbor,  the  divine  Julia,  for  many  weeks,  nor  attended  any 
of  her  soirees  except  one.  With  all  her  follies  and  foibles,  she  is  a  lady,  and 
this  implies  much.  When  we  meet  she  always  talks  about  you,  and  no  sub 
ject  could  be  more  agreeable  to  me. 

As  you  doubtless  receive  all  the  gossip  of  this  city  from  your  lady  corres 
pondents,  and  as  Colonel  King  and  Doctor  Martin  will  be  able  to  supply  any 
deficiencies,  I  shall  communicate  the  political  intelligence. 

The  Whigs  have  held  their  national  convention  at  Baltimore,  and  consider 
Mr.  Clay  as  good  as  elected.  They  are  high  in  hope  and  burning  with  enthu 
siasm.  Nevertheless,  they  may  yet  have  cause  to  realize  the  truth  of  the 
saying  in  Scripture,  "  Let  not  him  that  putteth  on  his  armor  boast  as  he  who 
taketh  it  off."  It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  the  Democratic  party  are 
at  present  in  a  sad  condition.  Our  national  convention  will  meet  at  Balti 
more  on  this  day  two  weeks,  and  a  large  majority  of  the  delegates  have  been 
instructed  or  pledged  to  vote  for  Mr.  Yan  Buren ;  whilst  many  and  perhaps 
most  of  the  delegates  believe  that  if  nominated  he  will  be  defeated.  His 
letter  against  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  Union  has  mainly 
produced  this  effect,  though  he  was  not  popular  before.  Had  he  seized  the 
occasion  which  was  presented  to  him,  and  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
illustrious  predecessor,  by  coming  out  boldly  for  Texas,  he  might,  and  most 
probably  would,  have  been  elected  President ;  but  his  chances  of  ever  again 
reaching  this  elevated  station  are  now  gone  forever.  I  know  you  will  not 
break  your  heart  on  that  account,  and,  personally,  I  should  not ;  but,  politi- 

*  Wife  of  the  Hon.  James  J.  Roosevelt  of  New  York. 


HIS  WITHDRAWAL  FROM  THE  CANVASS.  519 

cally,  I  prefer  him  to  Mr.  Clay,  as  much  as  I  prefer  political  good  to  political 
evil,  though  I  like  the  Kentuckian. 

If  Mr.  Van  Buren  should  withdraw,  and  the  Democratic  party  could  unite 
on  any  man,  (and  I  think  they  could)  we  might  yet  elect  our  candidate.  I 
fear,  however,  that  he  will  not  pursue  this  course ;  and  should  another  be 
nominated  in  opposition  to  him,  this  will  only  make  confusion  worse  con 
founded,  for  such  a  nomination  would  involve  the  violation  of  instructions, — 
a  doctrine  always  odious  to  the  Democracy.  It  is  true  that  the  new  question 
of  Texas  has  arisen  since  the  instructions  were  voted,  and  this  would  be  the 
pretext  or  the  apology  for  his  abandonment;  but  many  would  not  consider 
this  a  sufficient  cause.  Colonel  Benton,  Mr.  Wright,  Mr.  Allen,  Mr.  Tappan, 
Mr.  Atherton,  and  probably  Mr.  Fairfield,  agree  with  Mr.  Van  Buren  on  the 
Texas  question.  The  remainder  of  the  Democratic  Senators  will  go  with 
u  Old  Hickory  "  for  immediate  annexation. 

You  regret  my  withdrawal,  and  to  me  it  is  a  source  of  sincere  pleasure  to 
believe  that  you  feel  an  interest  in  my  fate ;  but  I  confess  I  am  yet  fully  con 
vinced  that  I  pursued  the  wise  and  proper  course.  I  withdrew  because  a 
large  majority  of  the  delegates  had  been  instructed  to  support  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  and  I  wished  to  banish  discord  and  promote  harmony  in  our  ranks. 
Should  he  now  withdraw,  I  might,  with  honor,  resume  my  old  position ;  but, 
should  he  persist,  if  nominated,  I  should  be  defeated.  A  very  strong  party 
in  the  South  would  now  favor  my  nomination,  because  the  Texas  question  has 
absorbed  the  anti-tariff  feeling  there,  and  in  all  other  respects  I  should  be 
acceptable  to  that  portion  of  the  Union ;  but,  I  confess  that  if  I  should  ever 
run  for  the  Presidency,  I  would  like  to  have  an  open  field  and  a  fair  start. 
The  battle  has  already  been  more  than  half  fought  between  Clay  and  Van 
Buren  ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  for  any  new  man  to  recall  the  forces  which 
have  already  gone  over  to  the  enemy.  I  thus  manifest  the  unbounded  confi 
dence  which  I  have  in  your  discretion  and  friendship,  by  writing  to  you 
opinions  which  I  have  never  mentioned  freely  in  conversation  to  any  other 
person.  Should  little  Van  be  again  nominated,  he  shall  receive  my  active 
support. 

I  envy  Colonel  King  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you,  and  would  give  any 
thing  in  reason  to  be  of  the  party  for  a  single  week.  I  am  now  "  solitary  and 
alone,"  having  no  companion  in  the  house  with  me.  I  have  gone  a  wooing  to 
several  gentlemen,  but  have  not  succeeded  with  any  one  of  them.  I  feel  that 
it  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone;  and  should  not  be  astonished  to  find 
myself  married  to  some  old  maid  who  can  nurse  me  when  I  am  sick,  provide 
good  dinners  for  me  when  I  am  well,  and  not  expect  from  me  any  very 
ardent  or  romantic  affection. 

Colonel  King  takes  out  with  him  Mrs.  Ellis,  his  niece.  I  was  acquainted 
with  her  some  years  ago,  and  liked  her  very  much.  I  hope  you  will  be  of 
the  same  opinion. 

Please  to  remember  me  in  the  kindest  terms  to  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  to 
Jemmy,  who  will  remember  me  as  long  as  he  shall  remember  hickory  oil. 


520  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Believe  me  that  wherever  you  roam  my  kindest  regards  will  follow  you, 
and  no  friend  on  earth  will  greet  your  arrival  in  your  native  land  with  more 
joy  than  myself. 

Ever  your  friend,  most  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

On  the  eve  of  the  assembling  of  the  Baltimore  Convention, 
Mr.  Buchanan  addressed  the  following  letter  to  two  of  the 
Pennsylvania  delegates  : 

[TO   MESSRS.  FOSTER   AND    BREWSTER.] 

WASHINGTON,  May  25th,  1844. 
GENTLEMEN : — 

I  feel  no  hesitation  in  giving  your  questions  a  frank  and  explicit  answer. 

And  first.  Against  Mr.  Van  Buren,  I  cannot  be  a  candidate  before  the 
National  Convention.  After  a  large  majority  of  the  delegates  to  that  conven 
tion  had  either  been  instructed  or  pledged  to  support  him,  I  voluntarily  with 
drew  my  name  as  a  candidate  for  the  purpose  of  concentrating  the  strength, 
and  thus  securing  the  triumph  of  the  party.  In  consequence  of  this  act  of 
mine,  the  delegates  from  my  own  State  have  been  instructed  to  support  him, 
and  I  am  thus  placed  in  such  a  position  that  I  feel  myself  bound  both  in  honor 
and  principle  not  to  become  his  competitor. 

Second.  Should  Mr.  Van  Buren,  after  a  fair  trial,  either  be  withdrawn  by 
his  friends,  or  should  they  be  satisfied  that  he  cannot  obtain  the  nomination, 
and  the  delegates  from  Pennsylvania  be  thus  left  at  liberty  to  make  a  second 
choice,  in  that  event  I  should  feel  myself  restored  to  my  original  position,  and 
they  would  then  have  my  consent  to  present  my  name,  if  they  thought  proper, 
as  a  candidate  to  the  convention. 

From  your  friend,  very  respectfully, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

The  Baltimore  Convention  nominated  James  K.  Polk  of 
Tennessee  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
The  Whig  candidate  was  Mr.  Clay.  At  the  election,  which 
took  place  in  the  autumn  of  1844,  Mr.  Polk  received  170  elec 
toral  votes,  while  Mr.  Clay  obtained  but  105.  No  one  of  the 
leading  Democratic  statesmen  in  the  country  was  more  con 
spicuous,  or  exerted  greater  influence  in  bringing  about  this 
result,  than  Mr.  Buchanan. 

The  following  selections  from  his  private  correspondence  at 
this  exciting  period,  before  and  during  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk, 
are  all  that  can  find  space  in  this  chapter : 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    FRIENDS. 

[TO   THE   REV.  EDWARD    Y.  BUCHANAN.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  29,  1844. 
DEAR  EDWARD:  — 

I  have  received  your  very  acceptable  letter,  and  rejoice  to  learn  that  you 
and  the  family  have  enjoyed  uninterrupted  health  since  we  parted.  I  now 
begin  to  entertain  strong  hopes  that  Charlotte  may  outgrow  her  disease. 

This  city  is  now  covered  with  mourning.  Ere  this  can  reach  you,  you  will 
doubtless  have  heard  of  the  dreadful  accident  which  occurred  on  board  the 
Princeton  yesterday.  Among  the  killed  was  Governor  Gilmer,  the  recently 
appointed  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  He  and  I  were  bound  together  by  strong 
ties  of  friendship.  He  was  an  able,  honest,  clear-headed,  shrewd  and  patri 
otic  man,  who,  had  he  lived,  would,  at  no  distant  day,  have  become  still  more 
distinguished.  He  accepted  the  office  in  which  he  died  from  the  purest  and 
most  disinterested  motives,  and  the  country  has  lost  much  by  his  death.  His 
wife  was  on  board  the  Princeton,  and — how  mysterious  are  the  ways  of 
Providence ! — urged  her  husband  to  have  the  fatal  cannon  fired  once  more. 
She  is  almost  frantic.  She  is  an  excellent  woman,  and  is  now  left  with  nine 
children,  and  in  no  affluent  circumstances.  Colonel  Benton  was  at  the  breech 
of  the  gun  and  looking  along  the  barrel,  so  that  he  might  observe  the  course 
of  the  shot  when  the  explosion  took  place,  and  received  no  bodily  injury, 
except  from  the  concussion. 

I  was  not  on  board  myself,  and  am  disposed  to  consider  it  almost  provi 
dential.  I  received  no  invitation,  although  I  have  been  on  terms  of  intimate 
friendship  with  Capt.  Stockton  and  all  his  family  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  If  invited,  the  invitation  never  reached  me :  if  not,  it  is  perhaps 
still  more  remarkable.  Had  I  been  on  board,  the  probability  is  I  should  have 
been  with  those  who  were  around  the  gun  at  the  time  of  the  explosion. 

Although  with  a  straitened  income,  yet  you  must  be  a  happy  man,  if  you 
sincerely  believe  the  doctrines  which  you  preach  and  honestly  practise  them : 
and  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  either.  If  the  fleeting  life  of  man  be  but  a 
state  of  trial  for  another  world,  he  surely  acts  most  wisely  who  spends  his 
time  in  securing  the  things  which  pertain  to  his  everlasting  peace.  I  am  a 
believer ;  but  not  with  that  degree  of  firmness  of  faith  calculated  to  exercise  a 
controlling  influence  over  my  conduct.  I  ought  constantly  to  pray  "help 
thou  my  unbelief."  I  think  often  and  I  think  seriously  of  my  latter  end;  but 
when  I  pray  (and  I  have  preserved,  and  with  the  blessing  of  God  shall  pre 
serve,  this  good  habit  from  my  parents),  I  can  rarely  keep  my  mind  from 
wandering.  I  trust  that  the  Almighty  Father,  through  the  merits  and  atone 
ment  of  his  Son,  will  yet  vouchsafe  to  me  a  clearer  and  stronger  faith  than  I 
possess.  In  the  mean  time,  I  shall  endeavor  to  do  my  duty  in  all  the  relations 
of  life.  This  was  to  have  been  a  week  of  great  gayety  here.  There  was  to 
have  been  a  party  and  ball  at  the  President's  on  Friday  evening,  a  grand  dinner 
at  Mr.  Blair's  on  Saturday,  a  grand  diplomatic  dinner  at  the  French  minister's 
on  Sunday,  another  at  Mr.  Upshur's  on  Tuesday,  and  a  grand  ball  by  Mr. 


LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Wilkins  on  Thursday.  I  was  invited  to  them  all ;  but  promptly  declined  the 
invitation  for  Sunday,  having  too  much  regard  for  the  Sabbath  to  partake  of 
such  a  festivity  on  that  day.  Still  I  did  not  assign  this  as  my  reason,  because 
my  life  would  not  justify  me  in  taking  such  ground.  God  willing,  I  expect 
to  visit  Lancaster  about  the  1st  of  April,  and  pass  a  few  days  there.  I  then 
hope  to  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  all  in  good  health.  Give  my  love 
to  Ann  Eliza  and  the  family ;  and  remember  me  kindly  to  Dr.  Sample,  Joel 
Leighton,  W.  Conyngham  and  Mr.  Mussleman,  and  believe  me  ever  to  be  your 
affectionate  brother, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[FROM  THE  HON.  SILAS  WRIGHT.] 

CANTON,  September  23,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  see  you  are  in  the  field,  and  take  it  for  granted  that  you  can  have 

no  more  peace  nor  rest  until  after  your  State  election,  if  until  after  the  Presi 
dential  election.  You  will  have  noticed  that  I  have  been  forcibly  taken  from 
the  stump  for  promotion.  Never  has  any  incident  in  the  course  of  my  public 
life  been  so  much  against  my  interests,  and  feelings,  and  judgment  as  this 
proposed  change,  but  it  is  too  late  now  to  complain  of  it ;  the  people  may 
release  me  from  any  other  evil  to  result  than  a  defeat  at  the  election,  which 
personally  would  cause  the  least  apprehension  or  anxiety,  but  politically 
is  most  dreaded.  I  do  not  think,  however,  we  shall  be  beaten  in  this 
State  though  I  very  confidently  apprehend  that  success  will  most  effectually 
beat  me. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  however,  to  trouble  you  with  my  griefs,  but  to  tell 
you  that  all  the  information  I  receive,  and  my  correspondents  are  very  numer 
ous,  induces  the  very  confident  belief  that  we  shall  give  Polk  and  Dallas  the 
thirty-six  electoral  votes  of  this  State.  Never  have  I  witnessed  an  equal 
degree  of  enthusiasm  among  our  Democracy,  not  even  in  the  days  of  Gen 
eral  Jackson,  nor  have  I,  at  any  time,  known  greater  harmony,  activity  or 
confidence. 

I  rejoice  to  say  that  your  State  seems  to  be  surrendered  by  the  Whigs 
themselves,  and  to  be  considered  perfectly  safe  by  our  friends  in  all  quarters 
of  the  Union. 

Mrs.  Wright  joins  me  in  kindest  regards  and  bids  me  tell  you  she  sincerely 
hopes  the  Whig  governor  of  this  State  will  be  elected. 

In  much  haste,  I  am  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

SILAS  WRIGHT. 

[FROM  THE  HON.  JAMES  K.  POLK.] 

(Private.)  COLUMBIA,  TENN.,  August  3,  1844. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  thank  you  for  the  information  which  you  give  me  in  your  esteemed  favor 
of  the  23d  ultimo.  The  account  which  you  give  of  the  political  prospect  in 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  523 

Pennsylvania,  accords  with  all  the  information  which  I  have  received  from 
other  sources.  The  great  "Key  Stone  State"  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  continue 
to  be,  as  she  has  ever  been,  Democratic  to  the  core.  1  was  glad  to  hear  your 
opinion  of  the  probable  result  in  New  York  as  well  as  in  Pennsylvania, 
because  I  have  great  confidence  in  your  sober  judgment,  and  know  the  caution 
with  which  you  would  express  an  opinion.  I  received  a  letter  from  Governor 
Lumpkin,  of  Georgia,  yesterday,  giving  me  strong  assurances  that  that  State 
is  safe.  We  may  not  carry  a  majority  of  the  members  of  Congress  at  the 
election  which  takes  place  next  week,  because  of  the  peculiar  arrangements 
of  the  districts,  which  were  laid  off  by  a  Whig  legislature,  but  that  we  will 
have  a  decided  majority  of  the  popular  vote  he  has  no  doubt.  In  this  State 
our  whole  Democracy  were  never  more  confident  of  success.  It  is  true  we 
have  a  most  exciting  and  violent  contest,  but  I  think  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  the  State  will  be  Democratic  in  November.  A  few  weeks,  how 
ever,  will  put  an  end  to  all  speculation  in  the  State,  and  in  the  Union. 

The  State  elections  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  will  be  over  before 
this  letter  can  reach  you.  Will  you  do  me  the  favor  to  give  me  your  opinion 
whether  the  vote  in  these  elections  may  be  regarded  as  a  fair  and  full  test  of 
the  strength  of  parties  in  November  ? 

Thanking  you  for  your  very  acceptable  letter,  I  am,  very  sincerely, 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  K.  POLK. 


[TO    THE    HON.    JAMES   K.    POLK.] 

LANCASTER,  September  23,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  delayed  to  write  to  you  on  purpose  until  I  could  express  a  decided 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania.  I  was  so  much  deceived  in 
the  result  of  our  State  election  in  1840,  that  this  has  made  me  cautious.  We 
have  had  much  to  contend  against,  especially  the  strong  general  feeling  in 
favor  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  but  notwithstanding  all,  I  am  now  firmly  con 
vinced  that  you  will  carry  the  Keystone  by  a  fair  majority.  Your  discreet 
and  well  advised  letter  to  Mr.  Kane  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff  has  been  used 
by  us  with  great  effect. 

There  may,  I  fear,  be  some  falling  off  in  the  city  and  county  of  Phila 
delphia,  both  on  account  of  the  Native  American  feelings  and  for  some  other 
causes.  We  have  been  much  at  a  loss  for  an  able  and  influential  Democratic 
paper  there,  devoted  to  the  cause  rather  than  to  men.  The  Pennsylvania  is 
owned  by  a  clique  of  the  exclusive  friends  and  officeholders  of  Mr.  Yan 
Buren,  most  of  whom  are  obnoxious  to  the  mass  of  the  Democrats.  It  now 
does  pretty  well ;  but  it  harped  too  long  on  the  two-thirds  rule. 

I  have  had  several  times  to  assure  influential  individuals  in  that  city,  with 
out  pretensions,  however,  to  know  your  sentiments,  that  as  you  were  a 
new  man  yourself,  and  would  be  anxious  to  illustrate  your  administration  by 


524  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

popular  favor  as  well  as  sound  principle,  you  would  not  select  old  party  hacks 
for  office,  merely  because  they  had  already  held  office  under  Mr.  Van  Buren. 
By  the  by,  this  gentleman's  conduct  since  your  nomination  deserves  all  com 
mendation. 

In  my  late  political  tour  through  the  northern  counties  of  Pennsylvania,  I 
met  many  New  Yorkers  at  lowanda.  Among  the  rest  were  some  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  late  Syracuse  convention.  They  assured  me,  that  after  canvassing 
the  information  brought  by  the  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  they  had 
arrived  at  the  confident  conclusion  it  would  vote  for  Polk  and  Dallas.  I  have 
this  moment  received  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  Mr.  Hubbard  of  Bath,  in  that 
State,  a  member  of  the  present  Congress,  which  assures  me  that  we  shall 
carry  it  by  a  majority  of  from  15,000  to  20,000,  and  so  mote  it  be  1 

Please  to  remember  me  in  the  very  kindest  and  most  respectful  terms  to 
Mrs.  Polk.  Tell  her  that  although  I  have  nothing  to  ask  from  the.  President, 
I  shall  expect  much  from  the  President's  lady.  During  her  administration, 
I  intend  to  make  one  more  attempt  to  change  my  wretched  condition,  and 
should  I  fail  under  her  auspices,  1  shall  then  surrender  in  despair. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest  regard,  I  remain  your  friend  sincerely, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[TO  THE  HON.  JNO.  B.  STERIGERE.] 

LANCASTER,  July  17,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

It  was  both  pleasant  and  refreshing  to  receive  a  letter  under  your  well 
known  hand.  It  is  so  long  since  I  have  enjoyed  such  a  treat,  that  I  consider 
it  a  "  bonne  bouche."  I  hope  it  may  never  again  be  such  a  rarity. 

Nearly  half  my  time  is  now  occupied  in  writing  answers  to  mass,  county, 
township  and  association  meetings ;  and  many  of  them  are  not  satisfied  with 
a  single  answer.  I  scarcely  know  what  to  do.  If  I  once  begin,  to  which  I 
am  very  reluctant,  I  must  continue.  A  public  man  cannot  make  selections. 
Besides,  I  have  not  been  well  since  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  and  must  go 
to  Bedford  or  have  a  bilious  fever.  I  have  never  been  in  the  Northern  coun 
ties  of  the  State;  and  if  I  make  a  start  at  all,  I  shall  visit  there  in 
September.  Should  I  commence  earlier,  I  would  be  broken  down  long 
before  the  election.  I  would  thank  you,  therefore,  not  to  have  me  invited  to 
address  your  meeting.  Indeed,  it  is  very  uncertain  whether  I  can  attend. 

When  you  and  I  served  with  Mr.  Polk  in  Congress,  neither  of  us  probably 
supposed  that  he  would  ever  be  President.  He  has  since  greatly  improved. 
The  last  time  he  was  in  Washington  he  dined  and  passed  the  afternoon  with 
me ;  and  the  change  forcibly  impressed  itself  on  me.  Under  all  the  circum 
stances,  I  believe  no  better  selection  could  have  been  made.  I  think  there  is 
but  little  doubt  that  he  will  carry  Pennsylvania  and  be  elected,  even  without 
New  York  or  Ohio,  unless  we  have  been  greatly  deceived  by  our  Democratic 
friends  in  the  strength  of  the  Texas  question  in  the  South.  The  returns 
from  Louisiana  do  not  please  me. 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  535 

I  am  much  urged  to  attend  the  Nashville  meeting  on  the  15th  August ;  but 
the  thing  is  impossible.  I  fear  that  the  "  hot  bloods  "  of  the  South  may  say 
or  do  something  there  to  injure  us  in  the  North.  They  are  becoming  rabid 
again  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff.  I  have  written  to  Donelson  this  day, 
strongly  urging  caution  and  discretion  in  their  proceedings. 

Please  to  remember  me  very  kindly  to  my  friend  Slemmer,  and  believe  me 
ever  to  be,  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[TO  THE  HON.  JAMES  K.  POLK.] 

LANCASTER,  November  4,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  :— 

I  think  I  may  now  congratulate  both  yourself  and  the  country  on  your 
election  to  the  highest  and  most  responsible  office  in  the  world.  After  our 
glorious  victory  on  Friday  last,  I  can  entertain  no  doubt  of  the  final  result.  I 
feel  confident  that  New  York  will  follow  in  our  footsteps,  notwithstanding 
their  majority  may  be  greatly  reduced,  as  ours  has  been,  by  an  unholy  union 
'of  the  Native  Americans  with  the  Whigs. 

Never  have  there  been  such  exertions  made  by  any  party  in  any  State  as 
the  Whigs  have  made  since  our  Governor's  election  to  carry  the  Keystone. 
They  have  poured  out  their  money  like  water ;  but  our  Democracy  has  stood 
firm  everywhere,  except  the  comparatively  few  who  have  been  seduced  on 
the  tariff  question,  and  those  whom  the  Native  American  humbug  has  led 
away.  Immediately  after  the  first  election,  we  requested  our  honest  and 
excellent  Governor  elect  to  come  East  of  the  mountains  and  take  the  stump 
in  your  favor ;  and  this  was  no  sooner  said  than  done.  He  produced  a 
powerful  impression  wherever  he  went.  I  attended  two  mass  meetings  with 
him,  and  he  made  speeches  at  several  other  places.  In  "  Old  Bucks,"  he  gave 
it  to  them  both  in  Dutch  and  English  much  to  their  satisfaction. 

Whoever  has  observed  with  a  reflecting  eye  the  progress  of  parties  in  this 
country,  must  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  there  is  but  one  mode  of 
reuniting  and  invigorating  the  Democratic  party  of  the  Union  and  securing  its 
future  triumph,  and  that  is,  whilst  adhering  strictly  to  the  ancient  landmarks 
of  principle,  to  rely  chiefly  on  the  young  and  efficient  Democrats  who  have 
fought  the  present  battle.  These  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  in  the  distribution 
of  offices.  The  old  officeholders  generally  have  had  their  day,  and  ought  to 
be  content.  Had  Mr.  Van  Buren  been  our  candidate,  worthy  as  he  is,  this 
feeling,  which  everywhere  pervades  the  Democratic  ranks,  would  have  made 
his  defeat  as  signal  as  it  was  in  1840.  Clay  would  most  certainly  have  carried 
this  State  against  him  by  thousands ;  and  I  firmly  believe  the  result  would 
have  been  similar,  even  in  New  York.  The  Native  American  party  in  Phila 
delphia  never  could  have  become  so  strong  had  it  not  been  for  the  impression 
which,  to  some  extent,  prevailed  there,  that  your  patronage  would  be  dis 
tributed  in  that  city  amongst  those  called  the  Old  Hunkers  by  the  Democratic 
masses. 


526  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Yours  is  a  grand  mission ;  and  I  most  devoutly  trust  and  believe  that  you 
will  fulfil  it  with  glory  to  yourself  and  permanent  advantage  to  the  country. 
Democrats  have  been  dropping  off  from  their  party  from  year  to  year  on 
questions  not  essentially  of  a  party  character.  It  will  be  your  destiny  to  call 
home  the  wanderers  and  marshal  them  again  under  the  ample  folds  of  the 
Democratic  flag.  It  is  thus  that  the  dangerous  Whig  party  will  be  forever 
prostrated,  and  we  shall  commence  a  new  career  of  glory,  guided  under  the 
old  banner  of  our  principles. 

From  the  violence  of  the  Southern  papers  and  some  of  the  Southern  states 
men,  I  apprehend  that  your  chief  difficulty  will  be  on  the  question  of  the  tariff. 
They  seem  to  cling  with  great  tenacity  to  the  horizontal  ad  valorem  duty  of 
the  compromise  act,  which  would  in  practice  prostrate  the  Democracy  of  the 
Middle  and  Northern  States  in  a  single  year,  because  it  would  destroy  all  our 
mechanics  who  work  up  foreign  materials.  If  the  duty  on  cloth  and  ready- 
made  clothing  were  both  20  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  we  should  soon  have  no 
use  for  tailors  in  our  large  towns  and  cities.  So  of  shoemakers,  hatters,  etc. 
Foreigners  would  perform  the  mechanical  labor. 

The  tariff  ought  to  have  been  permanently  settled  in  1842.  That  was  the 
propitious  moment.  With  much  difficulty  I  have  prevented  myself  from 
being  instructed  that  I  might  be  free  to  act  according  to  my  own  discretion. 
I  then  proposed  to  our  Southern  friends  to  adopt  the  compromise  act  as  it 
stood  in  1839.  The  Treasury  required  fully  that  amount  of  duties;  whilst 
such  a  measure  would  have  saved  their  constituency.  For  some  time  I 
thought  they  would  have  gladly  embraced  this  proposition  which  was  pre 
sented  by  Mr.  Ingersoll  in  the  House ;  but  at  a  great  caucus  of  the  party 
several  of  the  ultras  opposed  the  measure,  and  the  consequence  has  been  the 
extravagant  tariff  of  1842.  Had  my  proposition  been  adopted  the  country 
would  have  been  just  as  prosperous  as  it  is  at  present,  and  this  would  have 
been  attributed  in  the  North  to  that  measure,  as  it  now  is  to  the  tariff  of 
1842;  you  would  then  have  received  a  majority  of  25,000  in  Pennsylvania. 

With  sentiments  of  the  highest  respect,  I  remain 

Sincerely  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[TO  GOVERNOR  SHTJNK.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  18,  1844. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  do  most  heartily  rejoice  that  those  who  communicated  to  me  expressions 
used  by  our  friend  Magraw  must  have  been  mistaken  in  the  inferences  which 
they  deduced  from  his  language.  He  was  much  in  the  company  of  my  deadly 

enemy   who   is   's   most  unscrupulous  tool,  and  of  . 

That  he  did  use  some  unguarded  language  is  beyond  a  doubt;  but  all  this 
shall  be  as  if  it  never  had  been.  I  venerated  his  deceased  father,  and  have 
always  been  so  much  attached  to  him,  that  it  almost  unmanned  me,  when 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  527 

I  learned  that  he  had  spoken  unkindly  of  myself.  Please  to  say  nothing  to 
him  of  what  my  former  letter  contained. 

The  income  tax  of  England  has  never  been  resorted  to  except  in  cases  of 
extreme  necessity.  That  tax  at  present  in  existence  imposes  seven  pence  per 
pound  upon  the  annual  rent  of  land  and  houses,  upon  the  income  from  titles, 
railways  and  canals,  mines  and  iron-works ;  also  upon  the  income  of  tenants 
or  renters  of  land,  upon  public  lands  and  securities,  dividends  on  bank  stock, 
Indian  stock,  and  foreign  stock  payable  in  England,  upon  the  profits  of  trades 
and  professions,  upon  the  income  of  public  officers,  salaries,  etc.  All  incomes 
under  £150  sterling  per  annum  are  exempt  from  this  tax.  Under  the  British 
government,  they  have  adopted  the  means  necessary  to  secure  a  just  return 
of  all  incomes ;  under  ours,  this,  in  many  cases,  would  prove  almost  impossi 
ble,  without  resorting  to  an  inquisition  unknown  to  our  form  of  government. 
Indeed,  as  far  as  I  know,  our  present  taxes  on  income  are  eluded  to  a  most 
shameful  extent.  The  income  tax  has  always  been  odious  in  England;  and  it 
would  prove  to  be  so,  if  carried  to  anything  like  the  same  extent,  in  this  coun 
try.  The  more  I  reflect  upon  the  subject  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  your 
"  inaugural "  should  not  specifically  recommend  any  new  mode  of  taxation.  I 
know  that,  in  common  with  myself,  you  entertain  a  horror  of  repudiation, 
either  express  or  implied,  and  this  might  be  expressed  in  the  strongest  terms, 
together  with  a  willingness  on  your  part  to  concur  with  the  legislature  in 
adopting  any  measures  necessary  to  prevent  so  disgraceful  a  catastrophe; 
leaving  to  your  administration,  after  it  shall  get  fairly  under  way,  to  adopt 
the  necessary  measures  to  redeem  the  faith- of  the  State. 

In  regard  to  your  selection  for  secretary  of  state,  I  entertain  the  same 
opinion,  more  strongly  now  than  ever,  which  I  have  held  from  the  beginning. 
Your  attorney-general  ought  to  be  a  Muhlenberg  man,  and  such  an  one  as 
will  be  satisfactory  to  that  branch  of  the  party.  After  his  appointment,  I 
hope  to  hear  no  more  of  these  distractions ;  and  I  trust  that  then  we  shall 
all  be  united  under  the  broad  banner  of  Democracy  in  support  of  your  admin 
istration. 

I  know  John  M.  Read  well ;  and  I  also  know,  that  he  enjoyed  and  deserved 
the  confidence  of  Mr.  Muhlenberg  and  his  friends  in  an  eminent  degree. 
After  his  death,  Mr.  Read's  conduct  towards  you  was  worthy  of  all  praise. 
There  are  few  lawyers,  if  any,  in  Philadelphia,  his  superiors ;  and  he  is  a  man 
of  such  firmness,  energy,  and  industry,  that  he  will  always  be  found  an  effi 
cient  supporter  in  the  hour  of  need.  He  holds  a  ready  and  powerful  political 
pen,  and  is  a  gentleman  of  the  strictest  honor  and  integrity.  I  know  you 
would  be  safe  with  him.  Of  both  Mr.  Brewster  and  Mr.  Barr,  I  also  entertain 
a  high  opinion ;  and  I  think  the  appointment  of  either  would  give  satisfaction 
to  the  friends  of  Muhlenberg.  I  confess  I  do  not  like  Mr.  Kane's  political 
associations ;  but  he  is  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  honor. 

There  is  one  subject  to  which  I  desire  to  direct  your  attention.  I  know, 
from  various  quarters,  that  Porter  is  making  a  desperate  effort  to  be  elected 
United  States  Senator.  He  calculates  upon  seducing  a  sufficient  number  of 


528  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Democrats  from  their  allegiance  to  the  party,  which,  when  united  with  the 

Whigs,  would  constitute  a  majority.      and  have  both  been 

here,  and,  on  several  occasions,  expressed  their  confident  belief  in  his  success. 
From  the  conversation  of  the  Whigs  here  and  elsewhere,  I  think  they  will  be 
mistaken  as  to  the  votes  of  their  members ;  but  this  I  know,  that  it  is  of  the  last 
importance  to  you  to  maintain  the  caucus  system.  Should  it  be  broken  down 
at  the  commencement  of  your  administration,  it  is  easy  to  predict  the  conse 
quences  which  may  follow.  I  would,  therefore,  most  respectfully  advise  that 
you  should  be  at  Harrisburg  at  the  commencement  of  the  session,  not  to  take 
any  part  in  favor  of  any  candidate  for  the  Senate,  but  to  express  your  opinion 
strongly  and  decidedly  in  favor  of  an  adherence  to  caucus  nominations. 

We  have  no  authentic  news  here  from  President  Polk;  all  is  as  yet  con 
jecture.  His  path  will  be  beset  by  many  difficulties.  The  first  which  will 
present  itself,  is  Mr.  Calhoun.  To  remove  him  will  give  great  offence  to  many 
of  the  Southern  gentlemen,  who  were  mainly  influential  in  procuring  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Polk ;  to  retain  him,  will  exasperate  Colonel  Benton  and 
that  wing  of  the  party.*  It  is  hoped  that  he  may  retire,  or  consent  to  accept 
the  mission  to  England.  Then  there  are  the  Texas  and  tariff  questions, 
which  it  will  be  difficult  to  settle  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  party.  Colonel 
Polk  has  a  cool  and  discreet  head  himself,  and  he  will  be  surrounded  by  cool 
and  discreet  friends. 

Philadelphia  is  now  in  a  state  of  office-hunting  excitement,  never  known 
before.  The  office-hunters  have  taken  it  into  their  heads  that  Mr.  Dallas,  be 
cause  he  has  been  elected  Vice  President,  can  procure  them  all  offices,  and 
they  are  turning  his  head  with  their  incense.  /  venture  to  predict  that  they 
will  prove  to  be  greatly  mistaken.  The  moment  they  discover  this,  their  plans 
will  be  directed  to  some  other  divinity. 

You  ask  my  advice  in  regard  to  recommendations  from  you  to  President 
Polk.  I  think  you  ought  to  be  cautious  in  giving  them,  if  you  desire  that 
they  shall  produce  the  effect  your  recommendations  well  deserve.  I  hope, 
however,  to  meet  you  at  the  inauguration. 

I  have  sat  up  until  a  late  hour  to  write  you  this  long  letter.  I  receive  at 
the  rate  of  about  thirty  letters  a  day ;  and  between  important  private  calls 
and  public  business,  I  have  found  time  to  answer  very  few  of  them. 

Please  remember  me  most  kindly  and  respectfully  to  Mrs.  Shunk  and  the 
young  ladies,  and  believe  me  to  be  sincerely  and  devotedly 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


Before  the  following  letters  were  written,  Mr.  Folk's  nomina 
tion  to  the  Presidency  had  occurred. 


*  Mr.  Calhoun  was  Secretary  of  State  under  President  Tyler. 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  529 

[FROM  MRS.  CATRON.*] 

NASHVILLE,  July  4,  1844. 
DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  received  your  kind  letter  of  the  23d  of  June,  and  I  feel  a  just  appre 
ciation  of  the  compliment,  in  being  selected  from  the  number  of  your  many 
fair  and  accomplished  friends,  as  the  companion  of  your  solitude.  I  know 
"  it  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,"  and  if  you  could  but  take  time  to 
remember  the  sage  advice  I  have  often  given  you  to  the  contrary  of  such 
an  unchristian  and  vain  attempt,  you  would  now  be  basking  in  the  charms  of 
some  blooming  widow,  and  not  be  driven  to  the  humble  necessity  of  seeking 
stray  rays  of  comfort  from  the  "  old  head  on  young  shoulders  "  of  other  men's 
wives.  As,  however,  you  are  brought  to  the  sad  predicament — and  strange 
to  say,  I  am  but  little  better  off  during  the  court, — and  as  nothing  I  just  now 
think  of  affords  me  more  pleasure  than  to  add  a  crumb  of  support  to  your  for 
lorn  condition  by  boarding  with  you  next  session  of  Congress,  and  as  Mr. 
Catron  is  the  most  generous  of  husbands  to  risk  such  dangerous  associations, 
he  will  write  to  Mr.  Carroll  to  engage  us  a  house. 

N.  B. — The  court  and  Congress  now  meet  at  the  same  time,  and  Polk 
runs  for  President  only  once — positively  only  once — and  all  anti-annexation 
men  are  dead  and  buried.  So  /  think,  and  that  you  know  is  law  to  you,  as  in 
Miss  Gardiner's  case,  of  whose  ambitious  aspirations  I  don't  believe  one  word. 
In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  say  that  on  this  occasion  I  have  availed  myself 
of  your  once  offered  kindness  of  the  liberty  of  speech. 

Most  truly  your  friend, 

M.  CATRON. 

The  Hon.  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[TO  MRS.  CATRON.] 
MY  DEAR  MADAM: — 

I  sincerely  thank  you  for  having  taken  compassion  on  my  forlorn  and 
destitute  condition.  I  can  assure  you  that  I  greatly  prefer  the  stray  rays  of 
comfort  from  yourself  to  a  basking  in  the  charms  of  any  blooming  widow  " 
in  the  land.  I  do  not  like  everlasting  sunshine,  or  too  much  of  a  good 
thing : — and  as  to  widow?,  "  I'll  none  of  them.  Comparisons  are  odoriferous," 
as  Dogberry  says. 

Ere  this  you  have  learned  that  with  all  your  shrewdness  you  were  mis 
taken.  The  President  is  the  most  lucky  man  that  ever  lived.  Both  a  belle 
and  a  fortune  to  crown  and  to  close  his  Presidential  career.t 

I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  give  Polk  Tennessee.  All  appearances  indicate 
his  signal  triumph  in  the  Keystone  State.  His  tariff  letter  to  Kane  was  a 

*  Wife  of  Mr.  Justice  Catron  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
+  President  Tyler's  marriage  to  Miss  Gardiner  is  the  event  here  alluded  to.    The  letter  is 
without  date. 

L— 34 


530  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

good  thing  for  us.  Under  the  circumstances,  I  do  not  think  a  better  nomina 
tion  could  have  been  made ;  and  as  I  had  the  honor  of  being  Mrs.  Folk's 
candidate  I  feel  myself  bound  both  in  gallantry  and  in  gratitude  to  do  my 
best  for  the  election  of  her  husband. 

When  she  becomes  the  lady  of  the  White  House,  as  I  believe  she  will  be, 
I  shall  both  expect  and  desire  to  be  a  favorite.  As  to  yourself  you  stand  fair 
under  all  administrations. 

Remember  me  most  kindly  to  the  judge,  and  believe  me  ever  to  be  sin 
cerely  and  respectfully 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

1842—1849. 

HARRIET   LANE. 

FROM  all  "  the  heady  currents  of  a  fight "  of  politics,  from 
the  toils  of  statesmanship  and  the  objects  of  ambition,  the 
reader  can  now  turn  to  the  sweet  charities  of  domestic  and  social 
life;  for  these,  notwithstanding  his  bachelor  state,  were  not 
wanting  to  the  public  man  whose  life  is  traced  in  these  volumes. 
A  biography  of  Mr.  Buchanan  would  be  exceedingly  imperfect 
without  mention  of  that  member  of  his  family  who,  for  the  last 
twenty-five  years  of  his  life,  stood  in  a  very  intimate  domestic 
relation  with  him.  It  is  a  delicate  matter  to  write  of  a  living 
lady ;  but  the  name  of  Harriet  Lane  will  recall  to  many  read 
ers  one  who  occupied  with  singular  grace  positions  in  her 
uncle's  household  that  were  almost  public,  and  whose  domestic 
connection  with  him  formed  a  most  important  element  in  his 
private  happiness.  Mr.  Buchanan  discharged  with  great  fidel 
ity  all  his  duties  to  the  various  members  of  his  family  who 
could  be  said  to  have  any  claims  upon  him.  Of  that  family  he 
was  always  regarded  as  the  head ;  and  when,  in  consequence  of 
the  death  of  one  of  his  sisters  and  her  husband,  the  care  of  four 
orphans  devolved  upon  him,  the  youngest  was  at  such  an  age 
that  he  could  form  her  as  he  wished,  and  his  wish  was  guided 
by  the  nicest  sense  of  what  belongs  to  the  highest  female 
excellence. 

His  sister,  Mrs.  Lane,  wife  of  Elliott  T.  Lane,  died  at  Mer- 
cersburg,  in  the  year  1839.  Her  husband  survived  her  for  only 
two  years.  They  left  four  children :  James  Buchanan,  Elliott 
Eskridge,  Mary  Elizabeth  Speer,  and  Harriet  Rebecca.*  They 

*Mary  married  George  W.  Baker,  and  died  in  San  Francisco  in  1855,  while  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  Minister  to  England.  Eskridge  died  in  1857;  James  in  1862.  Harriet 
dropped  the  name  of  Rebecca  after  she  had  grown  up,  and  was  always  known  as  Miss  Lane, 
or  Miss  Harriet  Lane. 


532  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

each  inherited  from  their  parents  a  moderate  property.  After 
the  death  of  her  father,  Harriet,  the  youngest  of  the  four 
orphans,  was  brought  to  Lancaster,  and  resided  in  her  uncle's 
house,  when  he  was  at  home  in  that  city.  During  his  absences 
in  Washington,  she  occasionally  lived  with  two  ladies  in  Lan 
caster,  friends  of  her  uncle, — the  Misses  Crawford.  For  a  few 
years  she  attended  a  school  in  Lancaster,  and  also  had  private 
teachers.  She  and  her  sister  Mary  were  then  placed  at  a 
boarding-school  in  Charlestown,  Virginia,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  some  of  their  father's  relatives.  Harriet's  education  was 
finished  at  the  \vell-known  Roman  Catholic  convent  at  George 
town,  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  present  superintendent 
of  that  institution  was  one  of  her  school-mates. 

To  direct  the  education  of  this  young  girl,  to  form  her  re 
ligious  and  moral  principles,  to  guard  her  against  the  tempta 
tions  that  beset  an  impulsive  temperament,  and  to  develop  her 
into  the  character  of  a  true  woman,  became  one  of  the  chief 
objects  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  busy  life.  At  first  there  was  danger 
that  the  hoyden  might  become  a  "fast"  and  dashing  young 
lady.  There  was  an  exuberance  of  animal  spirits,  the  accom 
paniment  of  a  fine  physical  organization  and  a  healthy  youth. 
There  was  an  abundance  of  the  generous,  frank  and  joyous 
qualities  of  the  female  heart,  along  with  its  delicacy  and  pur 
ity.  Such  a  nature  required  much  discipline  and  a  careful 
training ;  and  it  might,  perhaps,  be  thought  that  an  old-bach 
elor  uncle,  absorbed  in  public  life,  wras  not  exactly  the  person 
to  undertake  this  duty ;  that,  after  spoiling  the  child  as  a  pet, 
he  would  leave  her  to  take  her  chances  as  a  woman.  But  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  a  man  in  whom  authority  and  affection  could 
be  most  happily  blended.  He  knew  just  how  to  exercise  the 
one  and  to  bestow  the  other.  He  knew  the  girl  whom  he  had 
to  influence,  and  he  had  a  perfectly  true  sense  of  what  a  woman 
and  a  lady  should  be. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  or  according  to  my  taste,  to  enlarge  on 
my  own  estimate  of  the  results  which  he  produced.  The  methods 
by  which  they  were  attained  wTill  sufficiently  exhibit  themselves 
in  what  I  am  to  give  to  the  reader  ;  and  what  is  widely  known 
of  the  lady  who  is  unavoidably  the  subject  of  these  observa 
tions,  attests  that  a  beautiful  \voman,  whom  flattery  and  adula- 


HARRIET    LANE.  533 

tion  could  not  injure,  and  who  became  alike  an  ornament  to 
society  and  a  model  of  the  domestic  virtues,  was  formed  by  one 
of  the  busiest  statesmen  of  our  time,  without  a  mother's  aid 
and  a  mother's  love.  There  is  rarely  to  be  met,  in  any  literature 
of  real  life  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  a  more  interesting  and 
instructive  picture  of  a  wise  man's  care  for  a  woman's  education, 
manners,  deportment,  and  inner  character,  than  is  to  be  traced 
in  Mr.  Buchanan's  charming  letters  to  his  niece.  They  began 
when  she  was  a  school-girl,  were  continued  when  she  became  the 
companion  of  his  age  and  the  friend  of  his  declining  years  ;  and 
they  did  not  cease  when  he  gave  her  to  the  husband  of  her 
choice.  They  are  so  numerous  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  the 
selections  to  which  my  space  confines  me.  After  Miss  Lane 
had  grown  up,  whenever  she  was  absent  from  her  uncle,  he 
wrote  to  her  almost  daily.  But  his  affection  for  her  was  un 
selfish.  He  never  failed  to  let  her  know  how  welcome  would 
be  her  return,  but  he  never  exacted  from  her  an  abridgment  of 
her  pleasures,  unless  it  was  for  her  good  that  they  should  be 
interrupted.  He  could  guide  her,  when  she  was  away  from  him, 
by  a  dozen  written  word?,  just  as  infallibly  as  if  she  were  under 
his  eye  and  within  the  sound  of  his  voice.  One  of  her  letters 
to  him,  which  has  come  into  my  hands  among  the  great  mass 
of  his  papers,  shall  be  given  in  its  proper  place,  as  an  artless 
proof  that  he  had  his  reward,  and  knew  that  he  had  it.  I 
shall  make  many  extracts  from  this  correspondence,  because 
nothing  that  has  come  within  my  reach  can  so  well  reveal  a 
beautiful  side  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  character,  of  which  the  world, 
as  yet,  knows  very  little.  One  is  reminded  by  these  letters 
of  many  well-known  instances  of  such  a  tender  care  for  a 
young  relative,  evinced  by  a  series  of  letters.  Lord  Eldon's 
letters  to  his  grandson  and  heir  will  occur  to  the  reader; 
but  the  chancellor  was  always  a  stiff  and  formal  writer, 
although  his  letters  to  his  young  kinsman  are  admirably  wise. 
Lord  Chatham's  letters  to  his  son  William  afford  delightful 
reading;  but  even  in  his  expressions  of  affection,  the  "  Great 
Commoner  "  could  not  be  otherwise  than  stately,  classical,  and 
a  little  dramatic.  Lord  Chesterfield's  letters  to  his  son,  although 
written,  like  everything  that  came  from  his  pen,  with  the  utmost 
correctness  of  a  marvellous  grace,  lack,  of  course,  the  religious 


534  LIFE  OF  JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

and  moral  basis  of  all  sound  philosophy  of  life.  Madame  De 
Sevigne's  lively  letters  to  her  adored  daughter,  Burke's  to  the 
son  whom  he  strangely  over-estimated,  are  among  the  treas 
ures  that  the  world  would  not  willingly  lose.  But  I  should 
omit  a  very  interesting  part  of  my  duty  in  this  work,  if  I  did 
not  place  before  the  reader  as  many  of  the  letters  of  Presi 
dent  Buchanan  to  his  niece  as  I  can  find  room  for  ;  and 
although  they  are  not  to  be  ranked  in  all  respects  side  by 
side  with  the  most  renowned  specimens  of  the  class  to  which 
they  belong,  they  seem  to  me  to  exhibit  a  happy  union  of  the 
tenderest  affection,  deep  religious  principle,  sound  inculcation, 
minute  direction  of  conduct,  playfulness,  vivacity,  and  an 
abounding  confidence  in  the  person  to  whom  they  were  written. 
They  are  unique  also  in  this — that  they  wTere  written  to  a  female 
relative,  whom  Providence  had  cast  upon  the  care  of  an  unmar 
ried  uncle,  intensely  occupied  with  the  pursuits  and  interests  of 
a  statesman. 

But  by  way  of  preface  to  such  of  these  letters  as  can  be 
quoted,  it  will  be  well  to  inform  the  reader  that  until  the  year 
1848,  Mr.  Buchanan,  when  at  home  in  Lancaster,  resided  in  a 
bachelor  establishment,  at  the  head  of  which,  as  housekeeper, 
was  a  lady  who  was  always  called  "Miss  Hetty."  I  am 
indebted  to  his  nephew,  Mr.  James  Buchanan  Henry,  for  the 
following  description  of  their  domestic  circle  : 

In  consequence  of  the  death,  in  1840,  of  my  surviving  parent,  the  youngest 
sister  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  I  became  a  member  of  his  immediate  family.  He 
was  executor  of  my  mother's  will,  and  by  it  he  was  appointed  my  guardian. 
I  was  then  seven  years  old.  Mr.  Buchanan  at  that  time  lived  in  a  spacious 
brick  house  in  the  quiet  inland  city  of  Lancaster,  on  the  principal  street, 
called  East  King  Street.  This  ancient  town — one  of  the  oldest  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  still  retained  the  loyal  names  of  colonial  times,  its  best  streets  being 
named  King,  Queen,  Duke,  Orange,  etc.  At  that  date,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in 
the  Senate,  and  of  course  much  of  his  time  was  passed  in  "Washington ;  but 
during  the  recess  of  Congress  he  resided  in  Lancaster,  where  he  was  much 
honored  and  beloved  by  its  citizens ;  and  this  personal  attachment  continued 
in  a  marked  degree  until  his  death.  At  the  time  of  which  I  speak,  his  family 
consisted  of  a  housekeeper,  Miss  Parker,  always  called  "Miss  Hetty,"  myself 
and  his  servants.  At  a  little  later  period,  my  cousin,  Harriet  Lane,  after  the 
death  of  her  parents,  also  became  a  member  of  our  uncle's  household.  This 
little  family  circle  continued  unbroken,  excepting  during  the  temporary  absences 


HARRIET    LANE.  535 

of  my  uncle  in  Washington,  or  on  other  public  duty,  or  when  my  cousin  and 
I  were  at  boarding  school  or  college,  until  my  marriage  in  1860,  and  until  my 
cousin's  departure  for  her  new  home  in  Baltimore,  after  her  marriage.  No 
father  could  have  bestowed  a  more  faithful  and  judicious  care  upon  his  own 
children,  than  this  somewhat  stern  but  devoted  bachelor  uncle  of  ours 
bestowed  upon  us.  While  I  was  at  school,  in  the  little  Moravian  town  of 
Litiz  near  by,  when  I  was  eleven  years  old,  he  required  me  to  write  to  him 
once  every  month  with  great  exactitude,  and  to  each  boyish  letter  he  would 
write  a  prompt  reply,  carefully  but  kindly  criticizing  every  part  of  it ;  and  if  I 
had  been  careless  in  either  penmanship  or  spelling,  he  would  give  me  sharp 
reproof,  which,  coming  from  the  hero  of  my  youthful  worship,  made  an  im 
pression  which  I  remember  to  this  day. 

Miss  Hetty  Parker,  now  a  venerable  lady  of  seventy-eight,  residing  in 
Lancaster  in  a  comfortable  house  provided  for  her  by  my  uncle's  will,  belonged 
to  a  respectable  and  quite  "  well-to-do  "  family  in  Philadelphia.  She  became 
his  housekeeper,  I  think,  in  1834,  or  soon  after,  and  was,  by  him  and  all  of  us, 
treated  as  a  valued  member  of  the  family,  and  as  a  friend.  She  was  always 
present  at  the  table,  and  dispensed  the  hospitalities  of  my  uncle's  house  until 
my  cousin  had  grown  to  womanhood,  and  assumed  a  part  of  such  duties. 
"  Miss  Hetty  "  continued  to  be  one  of  the  family  circle,  and  to  perform  her 
duties  most  acceptably  to  Mr.  Buchanan  through  the  remainder  of  his  life.  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  it  was  largely  owing  to  her  vigilant  care  of  his 
interests,  and  her  wise  economy,  that  his  moderate  private  fortune,  mainly 
earned  by  him  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  before  he  entered  public  life, 
not  only  proved  sufficient  for  his  wants,  but  slowly  increased,  amounting,  at 
his  death,  to  about  $300,000.*  Miss  Hetty  was  for  nearly  forty  years  his 
faithful  attendant  in  health  and  nurse  in  sickness;  and  he  was  so  much 
attached  to  her,  that  I  have  often  heard  him.  say  that  nothing  should  ever  part 
her  from  him  while  he  lived.  He  would  let  her  do  what  she  pleased,  and  say 
to  him  what  she  pleased,  and  even  scold  him,  without  rebuke ; — a  privilege  I 
never  knew  him  to  accord  to  any  one  else.  No  biography  of  Mr.  Buchanan 
would  be  complete  that  did  not  mention  this  humble,  unselfish  and  most 
faithful  companion,  who  was  so  well  known  to  the  frequenters  of  Wheatland, 
and  to  the  whole  circle  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  friends. 


Although  the  dates  of  the  following  letters  run  somewhat 
beyond  the  period  at  which  the  last  chapter  terminated,  they 
embrace  the  six  years  of  Miss  Lane's  school-girl  life  and  her 

*  In  these  days  of  millions,  such  a  fortune,  accumulated  by  a  man  who  had  been  in 
public  life  for  about  forty  years,  seems  moderate  indeed.  It  will  appear,  as  we  draw  near  the 
end  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  life,  that  he  did  not  enrich  himself  out  of  the  public,  and  that  such 
fortune  as  he  did  accumulate  must  have  been,  as  Mr.  Henry  says,  the  elow  increase  of  means 
honorably  acquired  and  carefully  husbanded.  Yet  he  was  not  a  parsimonious,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  he  was  a  generous  man. 


536  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

entrance  into  society,  and  I  therefore  do  not  separate  them. 
The  foot-notes  explain  the  public  positions  held  by  Mr. 
Buchanan  at  the  respective  dates,  and  some  of  the  allusions  to 
persons. 

[LETTERS  TO  MISS  LANE.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  16th,  1842. 
Mr  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

Your  letter  afforded  me  very  great  pleasure.  There  is  no  wish  nearer  my 
heart  than  that  you  should  become  an  amiable  and  intelligent  woman  :  and  I 
am  rejoiced  to  learn  that  you  still  continue  at  the  head  of  your  class.  You 
can  render  yourself  very  dear  to  me  by  your  conduct;  and  I  anticipate  with 
pleasure  the  months  which,  I  trust  in  Heaven,  we  may  pass  together  after 
the  adjournment  of  Congress.  I  expect  to  be  in  Lancaster  for  a  week  or  ten 
days  about  the  1st  of  April,  when  I  hope  to  see  you  in  good  health,  and 
receive  the  most  favorable  reports  of  your  behavior. 

Buck  Yates  is  now  a  midshipman  in  the  navy.*  He  is  now  at  Boston,  on 
board  of  the  John  Adams,  and  will  sail  in  a  few  days  for  the  Brazilian  station. 
He  may  probably  be  absent  for  two  or  three  years.  He  is  much  pleased  with 
his  situation,  and  I  trust  that  his  conduct  may  do  both  himself  and  his  friends 
honor.  When  he  left  Meadville  they  were  all  well,  except  your  aunt  Maria, 
who  still  complains  of  a  cough.  Elizabeth  is  better  than  she  has  been  for  years. 

I  send  you  $ ,  the  remains  of  poor  Buck's  money  when  he  arrived 

here.  It  was  of  no  use  to  him  and  would  be  of  no  use  to  me  here.  Please 
to  hand  it  to  your  brother  James,  and  tell  him  to  place  it  to  my  credit  for 
what  it  is  worth. 

When  you  write  to  your  sister  Mary,  give  her  my  kindest  and  best  love. 

Remember  me  affectionately  to  your  brother  James,  Miss  Hetty  and  the 
Miss  Crawfords,  and  believe  me  to  be  ever  your  affectionate  uncle.  May 
Heaven  bless  you. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

LANCASTER,  March  20,  1843. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

It  affords  me  sincere  pleasure  to  receive  your  letter.  It  is  one  of  the  first 
desires  oi  my  heart  that  you  should  become  an  amiable  and  a  good  girl. 
Education  and  accomplishments  are  very  important ;  but  they  sink  into 
insignificance  when  compared  with  the  proper  government  of  the  heart  and 
temper.  How  all  your  relatives  and  friends  would  love  you, — how  proud 
and  happy  I  should  be  to  acknowledge  and  cherish  you  as  an  object  of  deep 

*  James  Buchanan  Yates,  son  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  sister  Maria,  who  married  Dr.  Yates,  a 
physician  in  Meadvilie,  Pennsylvania. 


LETTERS  TO   HARRIET  LANE.  537 

affection,  could  I  say,  she  is  kind  in  heart,  amiable  in  temper,  and  behaves  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  secure  the  affection  and  esteem  of  all  around  her !  I 
now  cherish  the  hope  that  ere  long  this  may  be  the  case.  Endeavor  to  realize 
this  ardent  hope. 

What  a  long  list  of  studies  you  are  engaged  upon !  The  number  would  be 
too  great  for  any  common  intellect ;  but  it  would  seem  that  you  manage  them 
all  without  difficulty.  As  mythology  and  history  seem  to  be  your  favorites, 
I  shall  expect,  when  we  meet,  that  you  will  have  all  the  gods  and  heroes  of 
Greece  and  Rome  at  your  fingers'  ends.  At  a  dinner  table  at  Washington, 
during  the  last  session,  a  wager  was  made  that  no  person  at  the  table  could 
name  all  the  Muses ;  and  the  wager  was  won.  Had  you  been  one  of  the 
company,  the  result  would  doubtless  have  been  different.  I  presume  that 
the  Muses  and  Graces  are  great  favorites  with  you.  Attend  diligently  to 
your  studies ;  but  above  all,  govern  your  heart  and  your  conduct. 

Your  friends,  the  Miss  Crawfords,  are  about  to  move  to  a  much  more 
comfortable  house  ;  so  that  should  you  return  to  school  in  Lancaster,  you  may 
be  better  accommodated.  I  presume  your  partiality  still  continues  for  these 
good  ladies  •  but  to  be  serious,  you  must  acknowledge  that  you  did  not  treat 
them  as  they  deserve. 

Our  recent  news  from  poor  Elizabeth  is  very  discouraging.  Dr.  Yates, 
who  has  been  to  see  her,  considers  her  case  hopeless.  Poor  thing!  She 
seems  destined  to  tread  the  path  that  so  many  of  our  family  have  already 
trodden.  Her  husband  is  kind,  affectionate  and  attentive,  and  she  is  sur 
rounded  by  every  comfort.  She  is  in  full  communion  with  the  Episcopal 
church. 

I  know  of  no  news  here  which  would  interest  you.  Lancaster  has  been 
very  dull;  and  is  likely  so  to  continue.  Your  music  mistress,  Miss  Bryan, 
was  married  a  few  evenings  since  to  a  Mr.  Sterrett  of  Pittsburg.  Annie 
Reigart  and  Kate  Reynolds  will  take  their  degrees  in  a  fortnight,  and  enter 
the  world  as  young  ladies.  Judge  Hayes  has  removed  into  town. 

Miss  Hetty  says  that  both  Mary  and  yourself  promised  to  write  to  her, 
but  that  neither  of  you  has  written.  She  desires  me  to  give  her  love  to  you 
both.  Your  brother  James  is  well. 

Had  Mary  written  to  me  that  you  were  a  good  girl,  and  had  behaved 
yourself  entirely  well,  I  should  have  visited  you  during  the  Christmas  holi 
days.  Tell  her,  I  shall  expect  her  to  write  soon ;  and  as  I  rely  confidently 
that  she  will  not  deceive  me,  I  shall  most  heartily  rejoice  should  her  account 
of  you  be  favorable.  In  that  event,  God  willing,  I  intend  to  pay  you  a  visit. 

Remember  me  most  kindly  to  Mrs.  Kennedy,  whom  I  remember  with 
much  of  "  auld  lang  syne  ;  "  also  to  Miss  Annie. 

Give  my  kindest  love  to  Mary,  and  believe  me  to  be  yours, 

Most  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

P.  S.— Your  uncle  Edward  and  the  family  are  well  except  your  aunt. 


538  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

She  has  been  in  delicate  health  all  winter,  but  is  now  much  better.  Jessie 
Magaw  is  in  Baltimore,  but  will  return  home  to  Meadville  soon.  Your  letter 
is  without  date,  and  does  not  purport  to  come  from  any  particular  place. 

LANCASTER,  July  25th,  1843. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

I  enclose  you  a  letter  which  I  have  received  from  Buck  Yates,  as  your 
name  is  honorably  mentioned  in  it.  I  wrote  to  him  that  it  was  ungallant  for  a 
young  naval  officer  to  inform  a  "  lady  faire  "  that  he  would  answer  her  letters 
should  she  write,  and  that  he  should  himself  commence  the  correspondence. 

I  intend  to  leave  for  Bedford  Springs  in  a  day  or  two,  and  it  is  my  pur 
pose  to  return  by  Charleston,  after  two  or  three  weeks,  and  pass  a  day  with 
Mary  and  yourself.  Give  my  kindest  love  to  Mary,  and  believe  me  to  be 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

WASHINGTON,  July  17th,  1845.* 
Mr  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

Although  I  should  most  gladly  have  you  with  me,  yet  I  can  not  ask  you 
to  come  here  in  this  excessive  heat.  I  have  never  felt  the  heat  so  oppressive 
as  it  has  been  for  some  time  past ;  and  I  should  fear  you  might  become  sick 
were  you  to  visit  Washington.  Besides,  you  could  not  have  any  enjoyment. 
I  entertain  a  hope  that  I  may  be  able  to  visit  Bedford  about  the  first  of 
August.  In  that  event,  I  should  be  willing  to  take  you  along  with  me.  But 
whether  it  will  be  in  my  power  to  leave  this  city  is  still  uncertain.  Please  to 
write  to  me  how  you  intend  to  spend  your  vacation,  and  where  a  letter 
would  reach  you.  Should  the  heat  moderate,  I  still  hope  to  see  you  in 
Washington. 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


WASHINGTON,  July  27th,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

I  believe,  although  I  am  not  yet  quite  certain,  that  I  shall  be  able  to  leave 
here  for  the  Bedford  Springs  on  Thursday  next.  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will 
accompany  me.  Unless  you  hear  from  me  in  the  meantime,  you  may  be  at 
Harper's  Ferry  on  Thursday,  before  the  cars  pass  from  Baltimore  to  Cumber 
land.  If  I  should  not  be  able  to  go  on  that  day,  you  may  still  be  there.  Mrs. 
Pleasonton,t  Miss  Pleasonton  and  Mrs.  Bancroft  will  take  charge  of  you  to 
Bedford ;  and  there  you  will  find  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Plitt,  under  whose  care  I  will 
place  you  until  I  can  reach  the  Springs  myself.  Still,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  go 

*  Mr.  Buchanan  became  Secretary  of  State  under  President  Polk  in  March  of  this  year, 
t  Wife  of  the  Hon.  Stephen  Pleasonton,  for  very  many  years  Fifth  Auditor  of  the 
Treasury  Department.    He  possessed  the  entire  confidence  of  all  administrations. 


LETTERS  TO  HARRIET   LANE.  539 

on  Thursday.  Of  course  you  will  get  some  one  of  your  friends  to  accompany 
you  from  Charleston  to  Harper's  Ferry.  Please  to  write  to  me  immediately 
on  the  receipt  of  this. 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

WASHINGTON,  July  6th,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

Your  welcome  letter  has  been  received,  and  I  rejoice  to  learn 

I  trust  you  will  soon  be  well  enough I  think  of  all  places  for 

you  the  nunnery  at  Georgetown  would  be  the  best.  Your  religious  principles, 
are  doubtless  so  well  settled  that  you  will  not  become  a  nun. 

My  labors  are  great;  but  they  do  not  "way  "  me  down,  as  you  write  the 
word.  Now  I  would  say  "  weigh;  "  but  doctors  may  differ  on  this  point. 

I  hope  Mary  has  recovered  ere  this  from  her  bruises.  Give  my  love  to 
her,  and  tell  her  to  have  her  saddle  girthed  tighter  the  next  time  she  rides. 

It  will  be  easy  for  you  to  find  Dr.  Jackson's  remedy  in  any  hay-field  near 
Lancaster  at  this  season.  It  would  be  quite  romantic  and  interesting  to  wit 
ness  your  exploits  on  such  a  theatre. 

Your  friends,  Mrs.  Bancroft  and  the  Pleasontons,  often  inquire  for  you 
with  kindness.  They  have  given  you  somewhat  of  a  name  here ;  and  Mrs. 
Polk  and  Miss  Rucker,  her  niece,  have  several  times  urged  me  to  permit  you 
to  come  and  pass  some  time  with  them.  I  have  been  as  deaf  as  the  adder  to 
their  request,  knowing,  to  use  a  word  of  your  grandmother,  that  you  are  too 
"  outsetting "  already.  There  is  a  time  for  all  things  under  the  sun,  as  the 
wise  man  says,  and  your  time  will  yet  come. 

I  intend  to  go  to  the  Bedford  Springs  this  summer,  if  possible ;  but  as  Con 
gress  may  not  adjourn  until  the  10th  August,  the  fashionable  season  will  then 
be  over.  I  had  thought  of  giving  Mary  and  yourself  a  polite  invitation  to 
accompany  me  there ;  but  I  fear  it  will  be  too  late  in  the  season  for  Mary  to 
enact  the  character  of  a  belle,  and  you  are  quite  too  young  to  make  the  attempt. 

Miss  Hetty  requests  me  to  send  her  love  to  you,  and  to  say  that  she 

would  be  very  glad  to  see  you  in  Washington I  fear  she  might 

be  twice  glad,  once  on  your  arrival,  and  still  more  so  on  your  departure. 
She  will  be  in  Lancaster  in  September. 

James  Henry  is  here.*  I  intend  to  commence  with  him  to-morrow 
and  make  him  eat  vegetables,  or  he  shall  have  no  meat.  I  have  not  yet 
determined  upon  a  school  for  him. 

I  wish  you  to  embrace  the  first  opportunity  to  remember  me  very  kindly 
to  Mrs.  Franklin.  I  never  lived  beside  a  better  or  more  agreeable  neighbor. 
Give  my  love  to  Mary,  though  I  perceive  this  is  the  second  time,  and  Patt, 
and  believe  me  ever  to  be 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

*  James  Buchanan  Henry :  very  averse  as  a  boy  to  a  vegetable  diet. 


540  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

WASHINGTON,  July  19,  1847. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET  : — 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,*  with  his  mother-in-law,  Mrs.  Bache,  and 
Miss  Bache,  will  leave  here  for  Rockaway,  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of  sea-bathing, 
on  Thursday  morning  next.  I  know  of  no  other  opportunity  of  sending  you, 
and  this  will  be  an  excellent  one.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  accompany  you 
myself.  I  hope  that  the  good  sister  Cecilia  may  permit  you  to  leave  with 
them.  You  will  lose  but  a  few  days  by  this  arrangement.  Your  clothes,  if 
they  should  not  be  ready,  can  be  placed  in  order  at  Rockaway  under  the 
direction  of  Mrs.  Bache.  Besides,  it  is  uncertain  how  long  our  friends,  the 
Pleasontons,  may  remain  at  Oyster  Bay,  and  whether  they  will  like  it.  Mr. 
Walker  has  hired  a  cottage  at  Rockaway,  and  you  may  remain  with  his  fam 
ily  as  long  as  you  please. 

I  am  extremely  anxious  that  this  arrangement  should  be  made,  because  I 
know  of  no  other  means  by  which  you  can  reach  the  sea-shore.  If  possible, 
please  to  send  me  an  answer  by  the  bearer. 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


WASHINGTON,  July  8,  1848. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

I  suppose  you  will  now,  within  a  week  or  ten  days,  return  to  the  exhibi 
tion,  and  we  shall  all  be  happy  to  see  you.  If  you  should  not  have  good 
company  all  the  way  through,  I  could  meet  you  in  Baltimore  without  incon 
venience  almost  any  evening,  leaving  here  in  the  cars  at  5  o'clock  p.  M.  You 
would  arrive  in  Baltimore,  probably,  a  little  before  my  arrival ;  but  whoever 
might  accompany  you  to  Baltimore  could  take  you  to  Barnum's  until  my 
arrival.  If  you  should  adopt  this  course,  inform  me  certainly  of  the  day  you 
will  leave  Lancaster,  so  that  there  may  be  no  mistake. 

We  have  no  news  here  which  would  interest  you.  Everything  has  been 
quiet  since  you  left.  The  Pleasontons  and  others  often  inquire  of  your  health. 

I  am  glad  to  learn  that  Mary  has  turned  out  to  be  "  a  grand  housekeeper." 
You  could  not  have  given  me  any  more  agreeable  information.  If  she  had 
proved  to  be  idle  and  extravagant  in  youth,  the  promise  of  her  age  would 
have  been  poverty  and  dependence.  There  is  no  spectacle  more  agreeable  to 
me  than  that  of  a  young  married  woman  properly  sensible  of  the  important 
duties  of  her  station,  and  acting  upon  those  high  principles  which  add  lustre 
to  the  female  character.  Give  her  my  kindest  love,  with  my  best  respect  to 
Mr.  Baker. 

Remember  me  affectionately  to  James,  and  the  family,  and  believe  me  to  be 

Yours,  as  ever, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

*  The  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker  of  Mississippi,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  President 
Polk,  appointed  March  6,  1845. 


LETTERS  TO  HARRIET  LANE.  541 

WASHINGTON,  August  2,  1848. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

I  have  this  moment  received  your  letter  of  the  30th  ultimo,  and  hasten  to 
give  it  an  answer.  I  regret  very  much  that  you  are  not  pleased  with  Rocka- 
way.  You  went  there  for  the  benefit  of  your  health,  under  the  advice  of 
physicians,  and  I  should  be  very  sorry  you  should  leave  it  without  giving 
sea-bathing  a  fair  trial. 

It  is  certainly  out  of  the  question  for  me  to  accompany  you  on  a  tour  to 
West  Point,  Niagara,  Boston,  etc.  If  I  should  be  able  to  leave  Washington 
at  all,  I  cannot  go  to  any  place  from  which  I  could  not  immediately  return  in 
case  of  necessity.  I  require  rest  and  quiet.  Besides,  under  existing  circum 
stances,  which  I  need  not  explain,  I  could  not  visit  the  States  of  New  York 
and  Massachusetts,  unless  it  might  be  to  pass  through  them  quietly  and 
rapidly.  It  is  possible,  if  the  weather  should  be  suitable  towards  the  close  of 
August,  that  I  may  go  to  Saratoga  for  a  few  days ;  but  my  movements  are 
altogether  uncertain. 

I  am  much  gratified  that  you  have  acquitted  yourself  so  handsomely  as  to 
obtain  medals  and  premiums ;  and  under  other  circumstances,  I  should  cheer 
fully  accompany  you  on  your  travels.  It  is  possible  that  I  may  take  you  to 
West  Point. 

Miss  Hetty  is  gradually,  but  slowly,  recovering.  Please  to  remember  mo 
very  kindly  to  Mrs.  Bache,  Mrs.  Walker,  and  the  ladies,  and  believe  me  to  be 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


WASHINGTON,  August  22,  1848. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET: — 

I  have  this  moment  received  your  letter  of  the  20th  instant.  I  answered 
your  former  letter  very  soon  after  it  was  received,  and  am  sorry  that  my 
answer  miscarried. 

I  expect  sister  Maria  here  to-day  or  to-morrow,  and  of  course .* 

At  this  moment  I  was  interrupted  by  the  agreeable  information  that  she  had 
arrived,  and  I  have  just  seen  her.  It  is  now  four  years  since  I  enjoyed  that 
pleasure.  How  long  she  will  remain  I  do  not  know ;  but  it  will  be  impossi 
ble  to  leave  before  her  departure.  She  will  remain  until  James  t  shall  receive 
his  appointment  in  the  revenue  cutter  service,  which  was  kindly  promised 
him  by  Mr.  Walker,  but  which  cannot  be  conferred  until  after  the  President's 
return,  who  is  not  expected  until  this  day  week,  the  29th  instant.  From 
present  appearances  I  shall  not  be  able  to  leave  Washington  before  the  first 
of  September.  I  cannot,  therefore,  promise  positively  to  visit  Rockaway. 

I  hope  you  are  enjoying  yourself,  and  may  be  benefited  in  your  health  by 
the  sea-bathing. 

*  Mrs.  Yates.  t  James  Buchanan  Yates. 


542  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Should  I  go  to  New  York,  I  may  take  you  as  far  as  West  Point.     I  pre 
sume  the  season  will  be  too  late  for  the  Saratoga  Springs. 

Give  my  kindest  regards  to  Mrs.  Bache  and  the  ladies,  and  believe  me  to  be 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


WASHINGTON,  January  8,  1849. 
MY  DEAR  HARRIET  : — 

You  have  acted  wisely  in  controlling  your  inclinations  and  remaining  at 
home.  This  act  of  self-restraint  has  raised  you  in  my  estimation.  Let  nothing 
divert  you  from  your  purpose. 

Washington  now  begins  to  be  gay.  Mrs.  Walker  is  at  home  to-night, — 
the  first  assembly  will  be  held  to-morrow  evening.  Mrs.  Polk  gives  a  draw 
ing-room  on  Wednesday  evening;  and  on  Thursday  evening  Miss  Harris 
will  be  married,  and  there  will  be  a  party  at  Captain  McCauley's  at  the  Navy 
Yard.  I  now  give  dinners  myself  once  a  week.  I  rarely  go  out  to  evening 
parties.  I  have  had  my  day  of  such  amusement,  and  have  enjoyed  it.  Yours 
is  just  commencing,  and  I  hope  it  may  be  a  happy  one.  I  dare  say  Mr.  Sul 
livan*  will  be  inconsolable  when  he  learns  that  you  will  not  be  here  during 
the  present  winter. 

I  wish  now  to  give  you  a  caution.  Never  allow  your  affections  to  become 
interested  or  engage  yourself  to  any  person  without  my  previous  advice.  You 
ought  never  to  marry  any  man  to  whom  you  are  not  attached ;  but  you  ought 
never  to  marry  any  person  who  is  not  able  to  afford  you  a  decent  and  imme 
diate  support.  In  my  experience,  I  have  witnessed  the  long  years  of  patient 
misery  and  dependence  which  fine  women  have  endured  from  rushing  pre 
cipitately  into  matrimonial  connections  without  sufficient  reflection.  Look 
ahead,  and  consider  the  future,  and  act  wisely  in  this  particular. 

Mrs.  Pleasonton  of  Philadelphia  left  here  on  Saturday  morning  last.  I  saw 
her  and  her  two  daughters  on  Friday  evening.  They  all  inquired  for  you 
very  affectionately ;  and  the  Pleasontons  of  this  city  are,  I  believe,  sincerely 
anxious  that  you  should  pass  some  time  with  them.  At  a  proper  period  you 
may  enjoy  this  pleasure. 

It  may  be  that  I  shall  not  reach  Lancaster  until  the  first  of  April,  as  I  have 
some  business  to  attend  to  here  which  may  require  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks 
after  I  shall  be  relieved  from  office.  When  I  reach  there,  I  shall  be  happy  to 
have  you  with  me. 

Yours  affectionately, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

P.  S. — Give  my  love  to  Mary  and  all  the  rest. 

*  John  Sullivan,  Esq.,  an  Irish  gentleman  of  advanced  years,  long  a  resident  of  Washing 
ton,  famous  for  his  good  dinners. 


CHAPTEE    XIX. 

1844—1845. 

ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS— ELECTION  OP  PRESIDENT  POLK — THE  DEPARTMENT 
OF   STATE   ACCEPTED   BY  MR.   BUCHANAN. 

IK  the  Presidential  election  of  1844,  there  was  a  third  party 
in  the  field.  By  this  time,  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  in 
some  of  the  Northern  States  had  taken  the  form  of  a  political 
organization,  which  called  itself  the  "  Liberty  "  party,  and  was 
called  by  the  others  the  party  of  the  "  Abolitionists."  Their 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  was  Mr.  James  G.  Birney,  of  Ohio, 
a  gentleman  who  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  organizing  "  The 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society,"  and  was  at  this  time  its  secre 
tary.  He  had  never  held  a  public  office.  Texas,  which  had  in 
1836  made  itself  independent  of  Mexico,  had  been  for  more  than 
nine  years  a  slaveholding  country,  with  a  republican  form  of 
government.  Between  that  government  and  the  United  States 
a  secret  treaty  was  negotiated,  after  Mr.  Tyler  became  President, 
for  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  this  Union.  It  had  been  sub 
mitted  to  the  Senate,  and  had  been  rejected,  chiefly  because 
Texas  claimed  to  carry  her  western  boundary  to  the  Rio 
Grande  ;  and  to  incorporate  her  with  the  United  States  and  to 
adopt  that  claim  would,  it  was  supposed,  give  Mexico  a  just 
cause  for  war.  After  the  sudden  death  of  Mr.  Upshur,*  who 
became  Secretary  of  State  when  Mr.  "Webster  retired  from 
President  Tyler's  cabinet,  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  succeeded  him, 
took  up  and  carried  out  a  new  negotiation,  which  Mr.  Upshur 
had  begun,  for  making  Texas  a  part  of  the  United  States  by  the 
action  of  Congress.  This  project  was  pending,  and  more  or  less 
suspected,  or  believed  not  to  have  been  relinquished,  when  the 
three  parties  made  their  nominations  for  the  Presidency.  The 

*  Mr.  Upshur  was  killed  by  the  explosion  on  board  the  Princeton,  in  February,  1844. 
See  ante,  p.  521. 


544  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Democratic  party,  by  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Polk,  and  by  their 
avowed  declarations,  made  the  annexation  of  Texas  distinctly 
one  of  their  party  measures.  The  Whigs,  in  nominating  Mr, 
Clay,  selected  a  candidate  who  was  understood  to  oppose  the 
annexation,  not  because  Texas  was  a  slaveholding  country,  but 
because  it  might  lead  to  a  war  with  Mexico.  They  did  not 
proclaim  it  as  a  part  of  the  policy  of  their  party  to  prevent  the 
annexation  of  any  more  slave  territory.  This  was  one  of  the 
principal  reasons  why  Mr.  Birney  drew  many  votes  away  from 
Mr.  Clay.  As  Mr.  Polk  obtained  a  majority  of  sixty-five 
electoral  votes  over  Mr.  Clay,  and  as  six  of  the  States  which 
voted  for  him  were  Northern  and  non-si aveholding  States, 
including  both  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  the  Democratic 
party  claimed  a  right  to  say  that  the  country  had  pronounced 
for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  its  slavery  notwithstanding.  The 
correspondence  between  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
and  Texas  was  submitted  to  Congress  by  President  Tyler,  in 
December,  1844.  Joint  resolutions  for  the  annexation  of  Texas 
were  finally  adopted  by  Congress  on  the  1st  of  March,  1845. 
They  admitted  Texas  into  the  Union,  as  a  State  whose  consti 
tution  recognized  slavery,  and  they  also  pledged  the  faith  of  the 
United  States  to  allow  of  the  future  formation  of  four  more 
States  out  of  Texas,  and  to  admit  them  into  the  Union,  either 
with  or  without  slavery,  as  their  constitutions  might  require,  if 
formed  below  the  Missouri  compromise  line  of  36°  30',  but  if 
formed  above  that  line,  slavery  was  to  be  excluded.  In  the 
Senate,  there  were  twenty-seven  votes  for  the  admission  of  Texas 
on  these  conditions,  and  twenty-five  votes  against  it ;  of  the 
affirmative  votes,  thirteen  were  from  free  States,  and  four  of 
these  were  from  New  England.  The  Missouri  compromise  line 
was  extended  through  Texas ;  the  "  Wilmot  Proviso,"  which 
aimed  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  whole  of  this  newly  acquired 
region,  came  up  a  year  later. 

Mr.  Buchanan's  course  as  a  Senator,  on  these  resolutions,  can 
easily  be  inferred  from  what  has  already  appeared  in  regard  to 
his  sentiments  on  the  whole  subject  of  Texan  independence,  and 
the  relations  of  that  country  to  the  United  States.  But  the 
official  record  shows,  with  entire  distinctness,  that  against  the 
constitutional  objection  which  maintained  that  new  States  could 


545 


ANNEXATION  OF  TEXAS. 

not  be  admitted  into  the  Union  unless  they  had  lawfully  arisen 
within  the  United  States,  he  held  with  those  who  rejected  this 
restriction,  and  who  maintained  that  a  foreign  State  could  be 
made  a  member  of  the  Union.  After  the  joint  resolutions  had 
come  before  the  Senate  from  the  House  of  Representatives,  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  by  a  majority  report, 
recommended  their  rejection.  Mr.  Buchanan,  who  was  a  mem 
ber  of  that  committee,  did  not  make  a  minority  report,  but  on 
the  27th  of  February  (1845),  he  said : 


He  did  not  rise  to  debate  the  question.  He  had  heard  some  of  his 
respected  friends  on  this  side  of  the  Senate,  in  whose  sincerity  he  had 
the  most  entire  confidence,  observe  that  if  these  resolutions  should  pass 
the  Senate,  the  Constitution  would  receive  a  mortal  stab.  If  Mr.  B.  thought 
so,  great  as  was  the  acquisition  we  were  about  to  make,  he  should  be  the  last 
man  in  existence  to  acquire  the  richest  benefit  the  world  could  hold  out  to  our 
grasp  at  such  a  price. 

Mr.  B.  said  he  might  have  assumed  the  privilege  of  reply  which  belonged 
to  him  from  the  position  he  occupied  on  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations ; 
but  he  waived  it.  Not  because  the  arguments  on  the  other  side  had  not  been 
exceedingly  ingenious  and  plausible,  and  urged  with  great  ability;  but  because 
all  the  reasoning  in  the  world  could  not  abolish  the  plain  language  of  the  Con 
stitution,  which  declared  that  "  new  States  might  be  admitted  by  Congress 
into  the  Union."  But  what  new  States  ?  The  convention  had  answered  that 
question  in  letters  of  light,  by  rejecting  the  proposed  limitation  of  this  grant, 
which  would  have  confined  it  to  States  lawfully  arising  within  the  United 
States.  The  clause  was  introduced  with  this  limitation,  and,  after  full  discus 
sion,  it  ended  in  the  shape  it  now  held,  without  limitation  or  restriction  of  any 
kind.  This  was  a  historical  fact.  It  could  not  be  denied.  Planting  himself 
upon  that  fact,  and  having  heard  no  argument  which  shook  the  position — 
believing,  as  he  most  conscientiously  did  believe,  that  the  Constitution  would 
not  be  violated  in  the  least  by  the  adoption  of  the  pending  resolutions,  he  here 
entered  his  solemn  protest  against  the  solemn  protests  which  had  been  made 
on  the  other  side,  and  which  went  almost  the  length  of  implying  that  he,  and 
the  advocates  of  these  resolutions,  were  knowingly  and  of  design  violating  the 
Constitution  and  their  oaths,  to  secure  a  favorite  political  measure.  This  was 
the  greatest  public  act  in  which  Mr.  Buchanan  had  ever  had  the  honor  of 
taking  an  humble  part ;  he  should  do  it  cheerfully,  gladly,  gloriously,  because 
he  believed  that  his  vote  would  confer  blessings  innumerable  upon  his  fellow- 
men,  now,  henceforward,  and  forever. 

Mr.  Berrien  said  he  would  not  consent  that  this  debate  should  close  with 
the  declaration  of  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Buchanan),  that  the 
convention  had  not  determined  the  sense  of  the  term  "  new  States." 

I.— 35 


546  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Mr.  Buchanan  rose  to  explain.  What  the  Senator  from  Pennsylvania  did 
say  was,  that  at  first  the  clause  granting  power  to  Congress  to  admit  new 
States  into  the  Union  had  been  confined  to  States  arising  within  the  United 
States ;  but  that  after  debate  and  a  full  discussion,  the  Constitution  was  adopted 
with  the  clause  in  its  present  clear  unrestricted  form,  written  as  in  letters  of 
light 

After  some  further  remarks  from  other  Senators,  and  some 
attempts  to  amend  the  resolutions,  they  were  passed  and  en 
grossed  on  the  same  day.  President  Tyler,  on  the  3d  of 
March,  announced  by  special  message  to  the  Senate,  that  he  had 
approved  and  signed  them.* 

The  electoral  college  of  Pennsylvania,  when  the  votes  of  that 
State  were  given  to  Mr.  Polk,  united  in  a  strong  recommenda 
tion  to  him  to  make  Mr.  Buchanan  Secretary  of  State.  Mr. 
Buchanan  took  no  steps  to  influence  the  newly-elected  Presi 
dent  in  regard  to  this  or  any  other  cabinet  appointment.  He 
maintained  a  dignified  reserve  in  his  personal  relations  to 
Mr.  Polk,  both  during  and  after  the  election.  Certainly  there 
were  very  strong  reasons  of  fitness,  which  should  have  led 
Mr.  Polk  to  desire  that  Mr.  Buchanan  would  accept  the  De 
partment  of  State.  His  qualifications  for  it  were  far  greater 
than  those  of  any  other  public  man  in  the  Democratic  party ; 
and,  if  such  a  consideration  could  have  any  weight,  he  personally 
deserved  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Polk  all  that  a  President  could 
bestow  of  opportunity  to  render  further  service  to  the  country 
In  looking  back  over  Mr.  Buchanan's  public  life,  now  covering 
a  period  of  nearly  twenty-five  years,  one  can  perceive  the  in 
tellectual  growth  of  an  American  statesman,  who  had  not  been 
taken  suddenly  from  private  pursuits  to  fill  an  important  pub 
lic  position,  but  who  had  been  trained  by  the  regular  gradation^ 
of  office  for  the  affairs  of  government.  To  have  a  constituency 
who  can  appreciate  the  value  of  such  a  training,  and  can  sup 
port  a  public  servant  in  the  devotion  of  his  time  and  abilities 
to  the  public  service,  is  a  great  advantage.  This  advantage 
Mr.  Buchanan  had  enjoyed  for  twenty-five  years,  and  he 
had  well  repaid  the  devotion  of  his  friends.  The  people  of 
Pennsylvania  had  but  once  in  twenty  years  swerved  from  the 

*  Congressional  Globe,  Vol.  14,  pp.  240, 271,  362.  The  resolutions  may  be  found  at  page  332. 


APPOINTED    SECRETARY    OP    STATE.  547 

party  in  which  Mr.  Buchanan  was  a  distinguished  leader,  and 
they  had  now  returned  to  it.  His  experience,  his  aptitude  for 
public  life,  his  solid,  though  not  brilliant  abilities,  and  the 
weight  of  the  great  State  w^hich  had  kept  him  in  the  Senate, 
marked  him  as  the  fittest  person  to  be  at  the  head  of  Mr.  Folk's 
cabinet.  Mr.  Polk,  however,  while  conscious  of  the  propriety 
of  offering  this  position  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  and  while  he  felt  the 
need  of  his  services,  seems  to  have  had  a  fear  lest  his  adminis 
tration  might  be  disturbed  by  Mr.  Buchanan's  ambition  to  be 
come  his  successor.  He  took  the  somewhat  singular  step  of 
asking  from  Mr.  Buchanan  a  promise  that  he  would  retire  from 
the  cabinet,  if  he  should  be  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in 
1848.  There  is  no  good  reason  for  attributing  this  to  personal 
jealousy  of  Buchanan,  for  Mr.  Polk  did  not  expect  to  become  a 
candidate  for  re-election.  He  was  a  sagacious  man,  who  took 
a  just  view  of  his  own  situation.  He  knew  quite  well  that  he 
had  become  President  because  the  conflicting  claims  of  others 
had  rendered  it  necessary  to  compromise  upon  an  unexpected 
and  far  from  conspicuous  candidate.  But  he  desired,  and  wisely 
desired,  to  avoid  all  internal  difficulties,  by  freeing  his  adminis 
tration  from  complications  about  the  succession.  Every  one 
will  commend  the  spirit  of  the  following  letter,  and  every  one, 
it  should  seem,  will  commend  the  manner  in  which  it  was  met 
by  Mr.  Buchanan,  who  could  hardly  be  expected  to  say  that  he 
would  renounce  all  idea  of  becoming  a  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency  in  1848,  since  he  could  not  tell  what  his  public  duty 
might  require  of  him. 

[MR.  POLK    TO   MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  February  17,  1845. 
SIR:— 

The  principles  and  policy  which  will  be  observed  and  maintained  during 
my  administration  are  embodied  in  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Demo 
cratic  National  Convention  of  delegates,  assembled  at  Baltimore  in  Maryland, 
and  in  the  inaugural  address  which  I  propose  to  deliver  to  my  fellow-citizens 
on  assuming  the  duties  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  which  is  here 
with  handed  to  you  for  your  perusal. 

In  making  up  my  cabinet,  I  desire  to  select  gentlemen  who  will  agree 
with  me  in  opinion,  and  who  will  cordially  co-operate  with  me  in  carrying 
out  these  principles  and  policy. 


548  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

In  my  official  action  I  will  take  no  part  between  gentlemen  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  who  may  become  aspirants  or  candidates  to  succeed  me  in  the 
Presidential  office,  and  desire  that  no  member  of  my  cabinet  shall  do  so.  In 
dividual  preferences  it  is  not  expected  or  desired  to  limit  or  restrain.  It  is 
official  interference  by  the  dispensation  of  public  patronage  or  otherwise  that 
I  desire  to  guard  against.  Should  any  member  of  my  cabinet  become  a  can 
didate  for  the  Presidency  or  Vice  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  it  will  be 
expected  upon  the  happening  of  such  an  event,  that  he  will  retire  from  the 
cabinet. 

I  disapprove  the  practice  which  has  sometimes  prevailed,  of  cabinet  officers 
absenting  themselves  for  long  periods  of  time  from  the  seat  of  Government 
and  leaving  the  management  of  their  department  to  chief  clerks ;  or  other  less 
responsible  persons  than  themselves.  I  expect  myself  to  remain  constantly  at 
Washington,  unless  it  may  be  that  no  public  duty  requires  my  presence,  when 
I  may  be  occasionally  absent,  but  then  only  for  a  short  time.  It  is  by  con 
forming  to  this  rule  that  the  President  and  his  cabinet  can  have  any  assurance 
that  absences  will  be  prevented,  and  that  the  subordinate  executive  officers 
connected  with  them  respectively  will  faithfully  perform  their  duty. 

If  sir,  you  concur  with  me  in  these  opinions  and  views,  I  shall  be  pleased 
to  have  your  assistance  in  my  administration,  as  a  member  of  my  cabinet,  and 
now  tender  to  you  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  and  invite  you  to  take 
charge  of  that  department. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  K.  POLK. 


[MR.     BUCHANAN    TO   MR.    POLK.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  18,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  feel  greatly  honored  by  your  kind  invitation  to  accept  the  station  of 
Secretary  of  State  in  your  cabinet ;  and  I  cheerfully  and  cordially  approve  the 
terms  on  which  this  offer  has  been  made,  as  they  have  been  presented  in  your 
note  of  yesterday.  To  prevent,  however,  any  possible  misunderstanding 
between  us  hereafter,  I  desire  to  make  an  explanation  in  regard  to  that  por 
tion  of  your  letter  which  requires  that  any  member  of  your  cabinet  shall  retire 
upon  becoming  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 

Before  I  had  anticipated  that  you  would  do  me  the  honor  of  inviting  me  to 
a  seat  in  your  cabinet,  I  had  publicly  presented  my  views  on  the  subject  of 
agitating  the  question  of  the  next  Presidency  in  the  strongest  colors.  Both 
patriotism  and  policy,  the  success  of  the  party  as  well  as  that  of  your  admin 
istration,  require  that  we  should  have  repose  from  the  strife  of  making  Presi 
dents.  I  am,  therefore,  utterly  opposed  to  the  agitation  of  this  question  in 
any  shape  or  form,  and  shall  exercise  any  influence  which  I  may  possess  to  pre 
vent  it,  both  in  regard  to  myself  and  others.  Nay,  more,  I  think  the  welfare 
of  your  administration  requires  that  in  every  prudent  and  appropriate  manner 


LETTER    OF    ACCEPTANCE.  549 

this  principle  should  be  maintained  by  it ;  and  the  patronage  of  the  Govern 
ment  ought  to  be  dispensed,  not  to  favor  any  individual  aspirant,  but  solely  for 
the  good  of  the  country  and  the  Democratic  party. 

I  do  not  know  that  I  shall  ever  desire  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 
Most  certainly  I  never  yet  strongly  felt  such  an  inclination ;  and  I  have  been 
willing,  and  should  at  this  moment  be  willing,  to  accept  a  station  which  would, 
in  my  estimation  of  what  is  proper,  deprive  me  of  any  prospect  of  reaching 
that  office.  Still,  I  could  not,  and  would  not,  accept  the  high  and  honorable 
office  to  which  you  have  called  me,  at  the  expense  of  self-ostracism.  My 
friends  would  unanimously  condemn  me  were  I  to  pursue  this  course.  I  cannot 
proclaim  to  the  world  that  in  no  contingency  shall  I  be  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  in  1848 ;  nor  in  the  meantime  can  I  be  held  responsible  for  the 
action  of  occasional  county  meetings,  in  my  own  or  other  States,  preceding 
general  elections,  which,  without  my  previous  knowledge  or  consent,  might 
present  my  name  in  connection  with  this  office.  I  can  answer  for  myself  that 
as  I  have  never  yet  raised  a  finger  or  stirred  a  step,  towards  the  attainment 
of  this  station ;  so  I  never  shall  make  any  personal  exertions  for  that  purpose 
without  your  express  permission,  so  long  as  I  remain  a  member  of  your 
cabinet.  If,  however,  unexpectedly  to  myself,  the  people  should  by  a  State 
or  national  convention  present  me  as  their  candidate,  I  cannot  declare  in 
advance  that  I  would  not  accede  to  their  wishes ;  but  in  that  event  I  would 
retire  from  your  cabinet,  unless  you  should  desire  me  to  remain. 

I  do  not  deny  that  I  would  be  as  much  pleased  to  accept  the  station  of 
Secretary  of  State  from  yourself  as  from  any  man  living.  I  entertain  a  strong 
conviction  that  under  the  controlling  direction  of  your  wisdom,  prudence  and 
firmness,  I  might  be  useful  to  you  in  conducting  the  Department  of  State, 
and  I  know  from  your  established  character,  so  far  as  it  is  given  to  mortals  to 
know  anything,  that  our  social  and  personal  intercourse  would  be  of  the  most 
friendly  and  agreeable  character. 

If  under  these  explanations,  you  are  willing  to  confer  upon  me  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  State,  I  shall  accept  it  with  gratitude,  and  exert  my  best  efforts 
to  do  my  duty  to  the  country  and  to  yourself. 

"With  sentiments  of  the  highest  and  most  sincere  respect,  I  remain. 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


In  1858,  there  again  came  about  rumors  of  General  Jackson's 
hostility  to  Mr.  Buchanan.  The  following  letter  written  by  a 
citizen  of  Nashville  to  a  friend,  gives  decisive  evidence  on 
General  Jackson's  feelings  towards  Mr.  Buchanan,  at  the  time 
when  the  latter  became  Secretary  of  State. 


550  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

[MR.  JOHNSON    TO    GENERAL   ANDERSON.] 

NASHVILLE,  Oct.  6th,  1853. 
DEAR  SIR:— 

I  received  your  letter  of  the  5th  inst,  making  inquiries  of  my  recollection 
as  to  the  feelings  entertained  by  General  Jackson  towards  Mr.  Buchanan  at 
the  time  of  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Polk  and  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Buchanan 
as  Secretary.  I  do  not  remember  to  have  met  General  Jackson  after  the 
election  of  Mr.  Polk,  but  was  upon  the  most  intimate  terms  with  President 
Polk,  both  before  and  after  his  election.  General  Jackson  was  the  avowed 
and  open  friend  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  when  it  was  ascertained  that  Mr. 
Van  Buren  could  not  get  the  nomination,  he  expressed  himself  to  many 
friends  favorable  to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  as  the  true  and  proper 
course  of  the  Democratic  party,  before  Mr.  Polk's  name  was  known  to  be 
before  the  convention  for  the  Presidency.  This  I  have  heard  from  so  many 
sources  as  to  entertain  no  doubt  of  the  fact.  Mr.  Polk,  it  is  well  known, 
consulted  with  him  freely  as  to  the  individuals  who  should  compose  his  cabi 
net,  and  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Buchanan  as  Secretary  of  State  met  his 
decided  approbation,  as  did  all  the  other  individuals  composing  the  cabinet, 
excepting  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  had  some  misgivings  and  appre 
hensions  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  selection,  as  did  many  others  of  the  friends 
of  President  Polk. 

These  are  my  recollections  from  the  most  free  and  unreserved  intercourse 
with  President  Polk,  and  my  recollection  now  is  that  I  have  seen  letters 
from  General  Jackson  to  President  Polk  confirming  substantially  the  above 
statement. 

General  Jackson  was  known  to  have  strong  feelings — warm  towards  his 
friends,  bitter  towards  his  enemies — and  in  the  exciting  canvasses  for  the 
Presidency  may  have  used,  and  even  written,  harsh  expressions  about  many 
prominent  friends  of  his  own,  founded  upon  perversions  and  misrepresentations 
of  their  conduct  by  those  toadies  with  whom  he  was  beset,  and  often  deceived 
by  them  as  to  the  conduct  and  expressions  of  leading  and  prominent  men  in 

the  Democratic  party,  and  by  none  of  them  so  often  as  by and , 

who  never  deserved  his  confidence  or  merited  the  favors  bestowed  on  them. 

The  General,  however,  never  hesitated  to  do  justice  to  any  man  when  the 
truth  was  ascertained  as  to  his  conduct. 

From  the  whole  of  my  intercourse  with  General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Polk, 
after  the  second  election  of  General  Jackson,,!  never  had  reason  to  suppose 
that  he  ever  had  any  unkind  feelings  toward  Mr.  Buchanan.  On  the  contrary, 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  considered  in  the  Senate  one  among  his  most  active  and 
confidential  friends,  as  President  Polk  was  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Mr.  Polk,  or  Buchanan,  could  neither  be  used  nor  controlled  by  such  men 
as and  —  ,  and  hence  their  hostility  to  them  after  the  second  elec 
tion  of  General  Jackson,  which  was  manifested  in  various  ways  which  I  could 
specify.  I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

E.  JOHNSON. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

1845—1846. 

THE  OREGON  CONTROVERSY— DANGER  OP  A  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND— NEGO 
TIATION  FOR  A  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  BOUNDARY — PRIVATE  CORRE 
SPONDENCE. 

A  MONG  the  subjects  involved  in  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
J-^-  country,  when  Mr.  Buchanan  became  Secretary  of  State, 
and  which  demanded  his  immediate  attention,  one  of  the  most 
important  and  critical  was  the  title  to  the  territory  of  Oregon, 
that  had  long  been  in  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  The  northern  boundary  of  this  region  of  coun 
try,  which  should  have  separated  British  America  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  from  the  dominion  of  the  United  States,  had 
not  been  settled  by  the  treaty  negotiated  at  Washington  between 
the  twTo  powers  in  1842,  because  Lord  Ashburton  had  no 
instructions  to  deal  with  it.  As  far  back  as  the  administration 
of  President  Monroe,  an  extension  of  the  49th  parallel  of  lati 
tude  to  the  Pacific,  as  the  boundary,  was  offered  by  the  United 
States  to  England,  but  it  was  declined.  The  British  claim  was 
founded  on  the  assertion  that  the  title  of  the  United  States, 
which  was  derived  through  the  Louisiana  and  Florida  treaties, 
was  not  exclusive  as  to  any  part  of  the  territory ;  and  since  it 
was  for  the  interest  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  to  follow  the 
Columbia  River  to  the  ocean,  and  since  the  English  asserted  an 
actual  and  previous  occupation  as  well  as  the  Americans,  it 
became  desirable  for  England  to  have  a  right  of  joint  occupa 
tion  established,  until  the  boundary  between  the  two  national 
possessions  should  be  finally  settled.  A  convention  was  entered 
into  in  1827,  establishing  such  a  joint  occupation  until  notice 
of  its  termination  should  be  given  by  either  of  the  two  powers. 
This  concession  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  made  in  the 


552  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

interest  of  peace,  left  an  open  question  between  the  two  govern 
ments,  both  claiming  the  whole  territory.  But  what  was  u  the 
whole  "  of  Oregon  \  On  the  American  side  of  the  controversy, 
the  region  claimed  extended  to  a  line  that  would  be  marked  by 
the  parallel  of  54°  40'  north  latitude.  This  would  have  carried 
the  American  title  on  the  Pacific  coast  far  above  the  Strait  of 
Fuca  and  Vancouver's  Island,  and  would  have  made  an  irregu 
lar  boundary,  not  coinciding  in  latitude  with  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  claim  of  England  brought  her  down  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  which  has  its  source  nearly 
at  the  50th  parallel,  and  flows  in  a  circuitous  course  of  about 
eight  hundred  miles,  first  to  the  south,  and  then  to  the  west, 
until  it  reaches  the  Pacific.  The  joint  occupation  agreed  upon 
in  1827,  had  become  inconvenient,  and  indeed  dangerous  for 
both  nations.  A  very  uneasy  feeling  sprang  up  in  our  Western 
States  and  among  the  settlers  who  were  pushing  into  this  terri 
tory,  and  who  looked  to  the  United  States  for  titles  to  the  land, 
and  for  the  protection  due  from  the  sovereign  power.  Popular 
opinion  about  our  right  was  not  likely  to  be  founded  in  intelli 
gent  investigation,  but  it  was  sure  to  find  its  way  into  the 
political  action  of  the  Democratic  party.  The  political  body 
which  nominated  Mr.  Polk  as  its  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
proclaimed  our  title  to  be  "  clear  and  unquestionable."  Mr. 
Polk  considered  himself  as  elected  under  an  imperative  popular 
instruction  to  assert  this  claim,  and  in  his  inaugural  address  he 
put  it  forth  in  very  strong  terms  as  extending  to  the  parallel  of 
54°  40'.  This  was  the  attitude  of  the  matter  when  Mr.  Buchanan 
became  Secretary  of  State. 

Notwithstanding  the  strong  personal  convictions  of  the  Presi 
dent  and  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  validity  of  this  claim  as 
it  was  asserted  in  Mr.  Polk's  inaugural  address,  deference  for 
the  action  of  former  administrations  and  a  desire  to  avoid  a 
rupture  with  England,  led  the  President  to  authorize  Mr. 
Buchanan  to  offer  the  49th  parallel  as  the  boundary.  This 
offer  was  made  to  Mr.  Pakenharn,  the  British  Minister  at 
Washington,  on  the  16th  of  July,  1845.  Without  referring  this 
offer  to  his  own  government  and  awaiting  instructions,  Mr. 
Pakenkam  replied  on  the  30th  of  July,  that  "  after  this  expo- 


THE    ORE30N    CONTROVERSY.  553 

sition  of  the  views  entertained  by  the  British  government 
respecting  the  relative  value  and  importance  of  the  British  and 
American  claims,  the  American  Plenipotentiary  will  not  be 
surprised  to  hear  that  the  undersigned  does  not  feel  at  liberty 
to  accept  the  proposal  offered  by  the  American  Plenipotentiary 
for  the  settlement  of  the  question."  He  closed  his  note  by 
expressing  his  "  trust  that  the  American  Plenipotentiary  will 
be  prepared  to  offer  some  further  proposal  for  the  settlement  of 
the  Oregon  question,  more  consistent  with  fairness  and  equity, 
and  writh  the  reasonable  expectations  of  the  British  govern 
ment."  These  were  very  unfortunate  expressions,  since  they 
implied,  under  the  circumstances,  that  the  American  Govern 
ment  had  begun  the  negotiation  by  asserting  a  claim  that  was 
untenable,  and  had  followed  its  assertion  with  an  unfair  and 
inequitable  offer.  Had  this  language  of  the  British  plenipoten 
tiary  become  public  at  that  moment,  the  consequences  would 
have  been  an  uncontrollable  excitement  throughout  this  country. 
Careful,  however,  to  keep  open  the  door  for  mutual  concessions, 
Mr.  Buchanan,  before  he  answered  Mr.  Pakenham's  note, 
wrote  to  Mr.  McLane,  who  had  succeeded  Mr.  Everett  as  United 
States  Minister  in  London,  an  elaborate  despatch,  tracing  the 
diplomatic  history  of  the  Oregon  question,  and  suggesting,  with 
much  skill,  the  modes  in  which  an  unfortunate  result  might  be 
avoided.  Indefatigably  industrious,  and  employing  no  pen  but 
his  owTn,  he  gave  to  his  official  papers  a  polish,  the  marks  of 
which  remain  on  the  original  drafts,  attesting  the  extreme  care 
that  he  bestowed  upon  them.  Mr.  McLane  was  instructed  to 
make  known  the  contents  of  this  despatch  to  the  British 
ministry,  in  case  they  made  inquiries  of  him. 

The  offer  of  the  49th  parallel  having  been  withdrawn,  Mr. 
Buchanan,  on  the  30th  of  August,  addressed  a  note  to  Mr. 
Pakenham,  in  which  he  reasserted  the  American  claim  to 
what  he  regarded  as  "  the  whole  of  Oregon,"  and  made  an  elab 
orate  and  exhaustive  exposition  of  its  grounds.  There  are  few 
papers  on  the  diplomatic  records  of  our  Government  more 
able  and  searching  than  this  exposition  of  the  American  claim 
to  the  territory  of  Oregon.  Thoroughly  master  of  his  subject, 
and  fully  convinced  of  the  validity  of  the  claim  which  he  w^as 
asserting,  Mr.  Buchanan  wrote  this  paper  with,  a  dignified  force 


554  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

that  was  not  unlikely  to  command  the  assent  of  impartial  per 
sons,  when  the  document  should  become  public.  Writing  to 
Mr.  McLane  afterwards,  he  said :  "  this  note  of  Mr.  Pakenham 
(July  30th)  became  the  subject  of  grave  deliberation  by  the 
President.  Upon  a  full  consideration  of  the  whole  question, 
and  after  waiting  a  month,  he  deemed  it  to  be  a  duty  which  he 
owed  to  his  country  to  withdraw  his  proposition  (of  the  49th 
parallel),  which  he  had  submitted,  and  to  maintain  the  right  of 
the  United  States  to  the  whole  of  Oregon.  This  wTas  done  by 
my  note  to  Mr.  Pakenham  of  the  30th  of  August  last." 

But  the  note  of  August  30th  could  not  become  public  while 
the  negotiation  was  pending,  or  before  the  meeting  of  Congress 
in  December.  In  the  mean  time,  Mr.  Pakenham  endeavored 
to  have  the  American  offer  of  the  49th  parallel  restored. 
"  Judging  from  late  conversations  with  Mr.  Pakenham,"  Mr. 
Buchanan  again  writes  to  Mr.  McLane,  "  he  is  now  anxious 
that  this  withdrawal  should  be  withdrawn,  and  that  the  negotia 
tion  might  proceed  as  if  our  offer  were  still  in  force.  But  the 
President  will  not  consent  to  change  his  position  and  to  recall 
what  has  already  been  done.  He  will  not  renew  his  former 
offer,  nor  submit  any  new  proposition  ;  and  it  must  remain  for 
the  British  government  to  decide  what  other  or  further  steps,  if 
any,  they  may  think  proper  to  take  in  the  negotiation.  The 
President  has  adopted  this  determination  after  two  cabinet 
councils,,  and  he  deems  it  necessary  that  this  should  be  communi 
cated  to  you,  in  order  that  you  may  clearly  understand  his 
purpose." 

The  correspondence  was  submitted  by  the  President  to  Con 
gress,  in  December  (1845),  and  its  publication  was  immediately 
followed  in  this  country  by  a  considerable  change  of  feeling  in 
those  quarters  where  the  course  of  the  administration  was 
watched  with  most  jealousy,  and  where  war  was  most  dreaded. 
In  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  the  war  feeling  of  the 
Northwest  found  expression,  some  violent  speeches  were  made. 
In  the  Senate  there  was  a  moderate  tone,  but  steps  were  taken 
looking  to  the  termination  of  the  joint  occupation,  and  to  an 
inquiry  into  the  state  of  the  national  defences.  These  move 
ments  had  an  ominous  appearance.  In  the  diplomatic  depart 
ment,  however,  the  negotiation  went  on  quietly. 


THE    OREGON    CONTROVERSY.  555 

On  the  23d  of  December,  Mr.  Buchanan  made  the  following 
brief  minute  of  a  cabinet  consultation  held  on  that  day,  at 
which  the  President  said : 

If  Mr.  Pakenham  inquires  if  a  new  proposition  made  by  them  would  be 
respectfully  considered,  I  would  refer  him  to  the  correspondence — your  last 
note  of  the  30th  August,  and  say  it  has.  been  at  your  option,  with  a  perfect 
liberty  to  propose  any  proposition  you  thought  proper,  and  you  had  no  reason 
to  conclude  from  what  had  occurred  here  that  the  Government  would  not 
have  treated  such  a  proposition  with  respectful  consideration  when  made. 
You  have  made  no  new  proposition,  and  the  question,  therefore,  stands  on  its 
present  attitude. 

December  23,  1845. — I  took  down  the  foregoing  from  the  lips  of  the 
President,  in  the  presence  of  the  cabinet. 

Four  days  afterward  an  interview  took  place  at  the  State 
Department,  of  which  I  find  the  following  account  in  Mr. 
Buchanan's  hand- writing : 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  27th  of  December,  1845,  Mr.  Pakenham  called  at 
the  Department  of  State.  After  some  brief  preliminary  conversation  on 
other  topics,  he  informed  me  that  he  had  received  instructions  from  his  gov 
ernment  relative  to  the  Oregon  question;  without  at  the  time  informing 
me  what  they  were.  He  then  proceeded  to  express  his  desire  that  I  should 
recall  the  withdrawal  of  our  offer  to  settle  the  Oregon  question  by  the  49th 
parallel  of  latitude,  and  suffer  the  negotiation  to  proceed  on  that  basis, 
expressing  the  belief  that  it  might  then  result  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  I 
informed  him  that  he  had  made  one  proposition  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  which  had 
been  rejected;  that  I  had  made  a  proposition  which  had  been  rejected  by 
him  and  then  withdrawn ;  that  the  whole  negotiation  had  been  submitted  to 
Congress  with  the  President's  message ;  and  after  all  this,  it  was  too  late  to 
expect  that  the  President  would  now  retrace  his  steps.  That  what  had  been 
done  must  be  considered  as  done. 

He  then  said  that  if  he  were  now  to  make  a  new  proposition,  he  had  no 
means  of  knowing  whether  it  would  be  accepted  :  if  he  made  a  proposition 
it  might  be  rejected. 

I  replied  that  the  whole  field  was  open  to  him,  as  it  had  been  in  the 
beginning;  that  it  was  as  free  to  him  as  it  had  been  to  him  at  first,  or  was  to 
me  afterwards,  to  make  any  proposition  he  thought  proper ;  that  all  I  could 
say  was  that  any  proposition  he  might  make  would  be  respectfully  considered 
by  the  President ;  but  I  said  no  more. 

He  then  observed  that  as  I  was  not  willing  to  go  further  (as  I  understood 
him),  he  would,  under  his  instructions,  present  me  the  offer  of  the  British 
government  to  arbitrate  the  question.  He  said  it  was  drawn  up  chiefly  in 
the  very  language  of  Lord  Aberdeen. 


556  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN, 

I  then  received  the  communication  from  him,  and  read  it  over  carefully.  As 
soon  as  I  had  completed  its  perusal,  he  urged  its  acceptance  strongly;  ex 
pressed  his  great  desire  for  the  preservation  of  peace  between  the  two  countries, 
and  said  that  it  was  impossible  that  war  should  grow  out  of  such  a  question 
between  two  great  nations.  He  said  he  was  not  worth  much  m  the  world  ; 
but  would  give  half  what  he  was  worth  to  see  the  question  honorably  and 
amicably  adjusted  between  the  two  nations. 

I  stated  the  strong  desire,  both  on  the  part  of  the  President  and  myself, 
that  the  question  might  be  amicably  and  honorably  adjusted.  That  we  had 
every  disposition  that  this  result  might  be  attained.  I  observed,  however, 
that  if  ever  this  was  accomplished,  I  thought  it  must  be  by  negotiation,  and 
not  by  arbitration ;  and  especially  such  an  arbitration  as  he  proposed.  That 
both  the  President  and  myself  were  firmly  convinced  of  the  validity  of  our 
title  up  to  54°  40' ;  and  yet  his  proposition  to  arbitrate  assumed  the  right 
to  a  portion  of  the  territory  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  and  left  it  to 
the  arbitrator  alone  to  decide  in  what  manner  the  territory  should  be  divided 
between  the  parties.  That  this  alone,  I  thought,  would  be  a  sufficient  reason 
for  the  rejection  of  his  proposition,  even  if  others  did  not  exist,  of  which  he 
must  be  aware  from  our  previous  conversations  on  the  subject ;  but  I  would 
consult  the  President,  and  give  him  an  answer  with  as  little  delay  as  possible. 
He  intimated  rather  than  expressed  a  wish  that  his  answer  might  be  com 
municated  to  him  in  time  for  the  packet  (Monday).  I  told  him  that  a  proper 
respect  for  the  British  government  required  that  the  answer  should  be  well 
considered;  that  the  cabinet  would  not  meet  again  before  Tuesday,  and  I 
could  not  encourage  him  to  expect  the  answer  before  Saturday  next.  He 
said  he  had  no  doubt  my  answer  would  be  well  considered.  He  hoped  that 
in  it  I  would  not  assert  a  claim  to  the  whole  territory,  and  Saturday  next 
would  be  in  time. 

He  then  branched  off,  and  said  that  the  proposition  was  to  refer  the  ques 
tion  to  a  state  as  well  as  a  sovereign ;  he  said  that  this  had  been  done  on 
purpose  to  get  clear  of  the  objection  to  crowned  heads.  I  asked  him  to  whom 
he  thought  it  might  be  referred  if  not  to  a  sovereign.  He  suggested  the  Ke- 
public  of  Switzerland,  or  the  government  of  Hamburg  or  Bremen.  I  told 
him  that  whilst  my  own  inclinations  were  strongly  against  arbitration ;  if  I 
were  compelled  to  select  an  arbitrator,  it  would  be  the  Pope.  That  both 
nations  were  heretics,  and  the  Pope  would  be  impartial.  This  he  appeared  at 
first  to  take  seriously, — he  said  the  Pope  was  a  temporal  sovereign ;  but  I 
thought  he  was  disinclined  to  select  him  as  an  arbitrator.  He  perceived, 
however,  that  I  was  not  in  earnest,  and  suggested  that  the  reference  might 
be  made  to  commissioners  from  both  countries.  I  told  him  I  thought  it  was 
vain  to  think  of  arbitration ;  because,  even  if  the  President  were  agreed  to  it, 
which  I  felt  pretty  certain  he  was  not,  no  such  treaty  could  pass  the  Senate. 
That  the  pursuit  of  arbitration  would  only  involve  the  question  in  new  diffi 
culties.  He  then  suggested  the  mediation  of  a  third  power  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  question.  I  told  him  that  was  an  idea  which  he  had  never  suggested 


THE    OREGON    CONTROVERSY.  557 

before,  and  on  which  I  could  say  nothing.  He  observed  that  this,  together 
with  his  suggestion  of  commissioners,  came  from  himself  and  had  not  been 
embraced  in  his  instructions.  He  said  that  a  mediator  who  would  interfere 
might  share  the  fate  of  the  man  who  interfered  between  two  other  men  who 
were  fighting,  when  both  fell  upon  him  and  gave  him  a  sound  drubbing. 

He  remarked  that  the  affair  might  remain  just  where  it  was,  and  the 
British  government  would  not  disturb  it.  -  He  did  not  entertain  serious  appre 
hensions  of  war. 

He  then  told  me  that  he  had  met  Judge  Douglas  at  Mr.  Cox's  party  the 
other  evening,  and  had  a  good  deal  of  conversation  with  him  about  his 
bill. 

He  objected  to  a  promise  of  a  grant  of  lands  to  actual  settlers  in  Oregon, 
and  to  the  erection  of  forts  by  the  Government  within  it,  as  violations  of  the 
treaty.  I  told  him  I  had  formed  no  decided  opinion  as  to  the  promise  of 
grants  of  land  ;  but  as  to  the  forts,  it  was  very  clear,  in  my  opinion,  that  we 
had  a  right  to  erect  them.  We  did  not  purpose  to  erect  fortifications  capable 
of  enduring  a  siege  in  civilized  warfare ;  but  merely  stockade  forts  to  protect 
our  emigrants  from  the  savages.  That  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  erected 
many  such  forts,  and  we  surely  had  the  right  under  the  treaty  to  do  what 
they  had  done.  He  observed  that  the  settlers  might  do  this  themselves  as 
the  Company  had  done.  I  replied  that  they  were  too  poor ;  that  this  Com 
pany  had  the  entire  government  in  its  hands ;  and  surely  we  might  do  what 
they  had  done.  I  observed  that  this  was  ever  the  way  with  Great  Britain, 
she  was  always  fettered  by  monopolies;  and  if  it  were  not  for  the  Com 
pany  they  would  at  once  give  us  our  rights  to  the  whole  country  up  to 
54°  40'.  He  said  that  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  rights  in  Oregon 
which  must  be  protected ;  but  I  understood  him  to  admit  that  they  did  inter 
pose  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  settlement  of  the  question.  He  said  the 
British  government  would  be  glad  to  get  clear  of  the  question  on  almost  any 
terms ;  that  they  did  not  care  if  the  arbitrator  should  award  the  whole  terri 
tory  to  us.  They  would  yield  it  without  a  murmur.  I  said  I  had  no  doubt  of 
this.  They  never  played  the  part  of  the  fox :  but  always  of  the  lion.  They 
would  preserve  their  faith  inviolate.  He  said  they  wished  for  peace;  but 
intimated  that  this  was  not  our  wish.  I  asked  him  why  we  should  desire 
war.  Would  not  their  superiority  at  sea  give  them  command  of  the  coasts  of 
Oregon.  Yes,  he  said,  that  was  true,  but  the  war  would  not  be  confined  to 
that  region.  That  he  would  willingly  make  a  bargain  to  fight  it  out  with  us 
there,  if  we  would  agree  to  that. 

On  the  26th  of  February  (1846),  Mr.  Buchanan  addressed  an 
elaborate  official  despatch  to  Mr.  McLane,  explaining  fully  the 
reasons  which  had  led  the  President  to  decline  to  make  the 
boundary  of  Oregon  a  subject  of  arbitration,  and  suggesting 
what  it  would  be  practicable  for  the  President  to  agree  upon, 


558  LIFE    OF    JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

if  proposed  by  the  British  government.  Mr.  McLane  was  au 
thorized  to  make  known  to  Lord  Aberdeen  the  contents  of  this 
despatch ;  and  between  its  date  and  the  1st  of  June,  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  government  determined  to  send  to  Washington  the  pro 
ject  of  a  convention  which  is  described  in  a  despatch  addressed 
to  Mr.  J.  Randolph  Clay  on  the  13th  of  June,  and  which  is 
given  below.  The  despatch  of  February  26th,  to  Mr.  McLane, 
was  accompanied  by  a  private  letter  of  the  same  date.  On  the 
6th  of  June,  another  private  letter  to  Mr.  McLane  informed 
him  of  the  President's  purpose  to  submit  Lord  Aberdeen's  pro 
ject  to  the  Senate,  and  the  despatch  of  June  13th  to  Mr.  Clay 
gives  the  result. 

[MR.  BUCHANAN   TO   HON.  LOUIS  McLANE.] 

WASHINGTON,  Feb.  2G,  184|( 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

The  brief  space  left  to  me  before  the  departure  of  our  messenger  to  Boston 

shall  be  devoted  to  writing  you  a  private  letter By  my  despatch 

you  will  be  made  distinctly  acquainted  with  the  ground  which  the  President 
has  determined  to  maintain  on  the  Oregon  question  ;  and  I  do  not  perceive, 
after  what  has  passed,  how  he  could  do  more  than  submit  a  British  proposi 
tion,  based  on  the  parallel  of  49°,  to  the  Senate.  From  all  I  can  learn,  there 
is  not  the  least  doubt  but  that  either  of  the  two  propositions  specified  in  my 
despatch  would  receive  the  previous  sanction  of  a  constitutional  majority  of 
that  body.  I  say  the  previous  sanction,  for  reasons  which  I  have  not  the 
time  to  give  you.  All  that  I  apprehend  is,  that  the  British  government,  in 
their  offer,  may  insist  on  the  perpetual  free  navigation  of  the  Columbia.  This 
would  indeed  be  truly  embarrassing ;  and  all  your  diplomacy  should  be 
exerted  to  prevent  it.  The  President  would  not  present  such  a  proposition  to 
the  Senate,  unless  he  should  greatly  change  his  mind ;  and  if  he  should,  I  do 
not  believe  that  two-thirds  of  that  body  would  give  it  their  sanction. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  Oregon  question  is  rapidly  reaching  that  point 
when  it  must,  if  ever,  be  peaceably  settled.  Although  what  I  have  said  to 
you  of  the  present  disposition  of  the  Senate  is  strictly  true,  it  is  uncertain  how 
long  this  may  continue.  Public  opinion  on  this  subject  is  far  in  advance  of 
Congress.  I  am  convinced  that  if  the  question  should  remain  open  until  the 

Congressional  elections  next  fall,  this  would  be  clearly  evinced In 

Great  Britain  they  form  their  judgment  of  popular  opinion  from  what  they 
read  in  the  newspapers,  chiefly  Whig,  of  our  large  commercial  cities.  This 
you  know  to  be  a  mistake.  The  commercial  interest  which,  in  a  great  degree 
controls  these  papers,  has  a  direct  interest  in  the  preservation  of  peace,  and 
especially  with  Great  Britain.  The  strong  and  irresistible  public  opinion 


THE  OREGON  CONTROVERSY.  559 

throughout  the  vast  interior  of  our  country,  which  controls  the  action  of  the 
Government,  is  but  little,  if  at  all,  affected  by  the  considerations  which  influ 
ence  the  mercantile  community.  General  Cass  and  Mr.  Allen,  who  are  both 
candidates  for  popular  favor,  the  one  immediately  and  the  other  prospectively, 
will  not  consent  to  accept  the  parallel  of  49°.  The  two  Senators  from  Indi 
ana,  the  two  from  Illinois,  and  one  from  Missouri  (not  Colonel  Benton),  occupy 
the  same  ground. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  from  a  variety  of  circumstances,  came  to  the  Senate  with  a 
flush  of  popularity,  which  might  have  rendered  him  highly  useful,  both  to 
himself  and  to  his  country ;  but,  already,  it  is  nearly  all  gone.  He  at  once 
took  open  and  bold  ground  against  the  notice,  and  propagated  his  opinions 
with  that  degree  of  zeal  which  belongs  to  his  character.  He  succeeded  in 
inducing  a  small  number  of  Democrats  in  the  House,  chiefly  Virginians,  to 
vote  against  the  notice ;  and  such  is  now  the  weight  of  public  opinion  in  its 
favor,  that  it  is  said  he  would  vote  for  it  himself,  but  for  the  awkward  dilemma  /  " 
in  which  this  would  place  his  friends  in  the  House.  The  truth  is,  that  the 
discreet  friends  of  peace  clearly  perceive  that  the  question  must  be  settled 
peaceably  within  the  year,  or  war  may  be  the  consequence.  In  some  form  }  - 
or  other  it  will  pass  the  Senate  by  a  large  majority  ;  and  many  anticipate  an 
almost  unanimous  vote.  I  do  not  believe  this.  I  have  always  liked  Mr.  Cal 
houn  very  much,  and  am  truly  sorry  that  he  did  not  adopt  a  wiser  course.  He 
must  have  been  the  great  man  of  our  party  in  the  Senate.  Colonel  Benton's 
conduct  and  speech  on  the  Oregon  question  are  entitled  to  warm  commenda 
tion.  Your  son  Robert  is  winning  laurels  for  himself  in  the  Maryland  legis 
lature.  He  is  indeed  a  fine  fellow,  and  a  worthy  chip  of  the  old  block. 

I  have  for  years  been  anxious  to  obtain  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Su 
preme  Court.  This  has  been  several  times  within  my  power ;  but  circum 
stances  have  always  prevented  me  from  accepting  the  offered  boon.  I  cannot 
desert  the  President,  at  the  present  moment,  against  his  protestations.  If  the 
Oregon  question  should  not  be  speedily  settled,  the  vacancy  must  be  filled ; 
and  then  farewell  to  my  wishes. 

Please  to  remember  me  in  the  kindest  terms  to  Mrs.  McLane, 

and  believe  me,  as  ever,  to  be,  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[BUCHANAN  TO  MCLANE.] 

(Private  and  Confidential.)  WASHINGTON,  June  6,  1846. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  but  little  time  to  scribble  you  a  private  letter  before  the  closing  of 
the  mail  to  go  by  the  Great  Britain. 

The  President  has  determined  to  submit  Lord  Aberdeen's  project  to  the 
Senate.  He  had  no  alternative,  as  you  know,  between  this  and  its  absolute 
rejection. 


560  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

The  proviso  to  the  first  article  would  seem  to  render  it  questionable 
whether  both  parties  would  have  the  right  to  navigate  the  Strait  of  Fuca,  as 
an  arm  of  the  sea,  north  of  the  parallel  of  49° ;  neither  does  it  provide  that 
the  line  shall  pass  through  the  Canal  de  Arro,  as  stated  in  your  despatch. 
This  would  probably  be  the  fair  construction. 

The  article  relating  to  the  possessions  of  British  occupants  south  of  49°  is 
vague  and  indefinite;  and  in  order  to  prevent  disputes  between  the  two 
governments  hereafter,  as  to  the  extent  of  these  possessions,  it  would  seem 
to  be  a  prudent  precaution  to  provide  some  means  of  ascertaining  the  rights 
of  these  occupants  respectively.  There  is  no  reciprocal  provision  in  the  treaty 
for  American  settlers  north  of  49°.  There  may  be  none  there;  but  yet  such 
a  provision  would  give  the  convention  a  fairer  appearance. 

The  right  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  to  the  navigation  of  the  Columbia 
presents  the  important  difficulty.  It  is  considered  doubtful  by  the  President 
and  several  members  of  the  cabinet  whether  under  the  terms  of  the  projet 
this  right  would  not  expire  upon  the  termination  of  the  existing  charter  of 
that  company  in  1859. 

The  President's  message  will  reiterate  the  opinions  expressed  in  his  annual 
message  in  favor  of  our  title  to  54°  40';  but  in  consideration  of  and  in  defer 
ence  to  the  contrary  opinions  expressed  by  the  Senate,  his  constitutional 
advisers,  he  submits  the  projet  to  them  for  their  previous  advice.  He  may 
probably  suggest  some  modifications. 

What  the  Senate  may  do  in  the  premises  is  uncertain.  There  undoubtedly 
is  in  that  body  a  constitutional  majority  in  favor  of  settling  the  question  on 
the  parallel  of  49°  to  the  Straits  of  Fuca.  The  question  of  the  perpetual 
navigation  of  the  Columbia  is  and  ought  to  be  the  point  of  difficulty.  Should 
the  Senate  modify  this  article  so  as  to  limit  the  right  to  the  termination  of  the 
existing  charter  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  I  can  scarcely  suppose  that 
the  modification  would  be  rejected  by  the  British  government. 

I  sincerely  hope  that  you  may  not  think  of  leaving  London  until  the  ques 
tion  shall  be  finally  settled ;  and  I  am  happy  to  learn  from  Robert  that  your 
continuance  in  London  will  not  be  prejudicial  to  your  private  interest  at  home. 

With  my  kindest  respects  to  Mrs.  McLane,  I  remain  sincerely  and  respect 
fully  your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


[MR.  BUCHANAN  TO  JOHN  RANDOLPH  CLAY,  ESQ.] 

.  DEPARTMENT  OF 
WASHINGTON,  June  13,  1846 


DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE,      ) 
J 


SIR:— 

The  Oregon  question  may  now  be  considered  as  settled.  On  the  6th 
instant  Mr.  Pakenham  presented  to  me  the  project  of  a  convention  for  its 
adjustment :  and  the  President,  after  mature  deliberation,  determined,  in  pur 
suance  of  several  precedents  adopted  in  the  early  history  of  our  Government, 


THE  OREGON  CONTROVERSY.  561 

to  submit  it  to  the  Senate  for  their  previous  advice.     This  was  done  by  a  con- 
fidential  message  on  the  10th  instant,  of  which  I  transmit  you  a  copy. 

On  the  12th  instant  the  Senate  adopted  a  resolution  by  a  vote  of  37  to  12, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  copy  : 

"  Resolved  (two- thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concurring)  that  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  advised  to  accept  the  proposal 
of  the  British  government  accompanying  his  message  to  the  Senate,  dated  10th 
June,  1846,  for  a  convention  to  settle  boundaries,  etc.,  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  west  of  the  Rocky  or  Stony  Mountains." 

The  convention  will  be  signed  by  the  plenipotentiaries  on  Monday  next : 
and  in  the  course  of  the  next  week  will  doubtless  be  ratified  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

The  terms  are,  an  extension  of  the  49th  parallel  of  latitude  to  the  middle 
of  the  channel  which  separates  the  continent  from  Vancouver's  Island,  thence 
along  the  middle  of  this  channel  and  the  Strait  of  Fuca,  so  as  to  surrender  the 
whole  of  that  island  to  Great  Britain. 

The  navigation  of  the  Columbia  is  conceded,  not  to  British  subjects  gener 
ally,  but  to  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  those  trading  with  it.  To  this 
concession  there  is  no  express  limitation  of  time ;  but  it  was  believed  by  the 
Senate,  that  under  the  true  construction  of  the  projet  this  grant  will  expire 
on  the  30th  May,  1859,  the  date  of  the  termination  of  the  existing  license  to 
that  Company,  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  etc.,  on  the  North-west  Coast  of 
America. 

I  need  not  enumerate  the  other  less  important  particulars. 

I  am,  sir,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

While  in  December  1845  many  political  friends  and  oppo 
nents  in  all  parts  of  the  country  were  reading  with  approbation 
the  correspondence  on  the  Oregon  question,  so  far  as  it  had 
been  published,  an  approbation  which  appears  from  a  great 
multitude  of  private  letters  addressed  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  he  thus 
wrote  confidentially  to  Mr.  McLane : 

"  I  should  this  day  [December  13th]  have  been  on  the  bench  of  the  Su 
preme  Court,  had  it  not  been  for  the  critical  state  of  our  foreign  relations.  I 
very  much  desired  the  position,  because  it  would  have  enabled  me  to  spend 
the  remainder  of  my  days  in  peace.  I  have  now  been  on  the  stormy  deep 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Besides,  I  sincerely  wished,  if  possible,  to 
prevent  my  name  being  even  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  next  Presi 
dency." 

The  vacancy  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United   States   was   occasioned  by  the  death    of  Mr.  Justice 
I.— 36 


562  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

Baldwin.  According  to  an  invariable  custom  the  appointment 
should  be  made  from  the  Pennsylvania  circuit.  There  were 
persons  who  desired,  not  without  a  mixture  of  motives,  that  Mr. 
Buchanan  might  receive  it ;  for  his  transfer  to  the  bench  would, 
it  was  assumed,  bring  into  the  Department  of  State  a  gentleman 
whose  friends  were  exceedingly  anxious  to  have  him  in  that 
position.  Others  wished  Buchanan  to  be  out  of  the  cabinet, 
without  much  reference  to  the  question  of  who  was  to  be  his 
successor.  There  came  about  a  kind  of  intrigue,  to  produce  a 
public  belief  that  he  was  to  be  appointed  a  judge,  in  order  that 
it  might  be  considered  as  a  foregone  conclusion  and  appear  to 
be  called  for  by  the  general  voice.  Some  of  Mr.  Buchanan's 
friends,  of  both  political  parties,  believing  that  he  had  eminent 
qualifications  for  the  judicial  office,  urged  him  to  accept  the 
offer,  if  it  should  be  made  to  him ;  others,  who  had  just  as 
strong  convictions  that  he  would  be  a  great  acquisition  to  the 
bench,  were  not  willing  to  have  him  retire  from  political  life, 
and  were  earnestly  opposed  to  his  leaving  the  Department  of 
State  at  that  time.  The  great  body  of  the  discreet  friends  of 
the  administration  took  the  same  view.  The  matter  was  kept 
open  for  a  long  time,  and  meanwhile  Mr.  Buchanan,  uncertain 
of  his  own  future,  had  to  go  on  and  manage  the  foreign  rela 
tions  of  the  country,  in  which,  besides  the  Oregon  question,  the 
state  of  things  consequent  upon  the  proposed  annexation  of 
Texas  and  the  other  difficulties  with  Mexico,  of  which  I  shall 
treat  hereafter,  became  extremely  perplexing.  That  he  would 
have  preferred  the  safe  retirement  of  the  bench  to  anything  that 
political  office  could  give  him,  and  that  he  would  have  re 
nounced  all  further  connection  with  politics  if  he  had  received 
this  appointment,  cannot  be  doubted.  Having  had  occasion 
thus  far  to  estimate  the  qualities  of  his  mind  and  character, 
I  may  here  express  the  opinion,  that  he  would  have  been  a 
highly  useful  and  distinguished  judge.  If  this  change  in  the 
course  of  his  life  had  taken  place,  he  would  never  have  become 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  his  biography,  if  written, 
would  have  been  only  that  of  a  man  who  had  been  very  emi 
nent  in  political  life  to  the  age  of  forty-six,  and  had  then  passed 
the  remainder  of  his  days  in  the  tranquillity  of  a  judicial  career, 
giving  more  or  less  proof  of  the  versatility  of  his  powers.  He 


PRIVATE   CORRESPONDENCE.  563 

believed  that  it  would  be  a  gain  of  happiness  to  escape  from  the 
stormy  conflicts  of  the  political  sphere.  But  public  men  can 
rarely  do  more  than  "  rough-hew  their  ends ; "  to  entirely 
u  shape  "  them  is  not  given  to  mortals.  The  following  interest 
ing  letters  from  his  friend  King  give,  by  reflex,  all  that  can  now 
be  known  concerning  his  feelings-  in  regard  to  this  disappoint 
ment  :* 


[HON.    WM.    R.    KING   TO    MR.    BUCHANAN.] 

PARIS,  January  25,  1846. 
DEAR  BUCHANAN: — 

Your  friendly  letter  gave  me  both  pleasure  and  pain.  Pleasure,  in  the 
renewed  assurance  of  your  friendship ;  and  pain,  to  perceive  that  the  course 
of  the  President  towards  you  has  not  been  entirely  characterized  by  that 
delicacy  and  confidence  which  is  certainly  due  to  your  position,  and  to  the 
important  services  you  have  rendered  to  him  and  the  country.  Let  me 
entreat  you,  however,  to  act  with  great  deliberation  and  prudence.  Do  not 
suffer  yourself  to  be  operated  upon  by  professing,  or  even  by  real  friends,  to  act 
hastily.  I  am  not  of  the  opinion  that  any  slight  was  intended  by  the  Presi 
dent.  He  no  doubt  gave  the  true  reason  for  having  nominated  Judge 

without  consulting  you,  as  he  knew  you  were  opposed  to  his  selection.!  It  is 
not,  I  think,  of  sufficient  importance  to  produce  a  quarrel ;  and  the  President 
must  be  too  well  aware  of  the  strength  you  give  to  his  administration  to 
desire  your  withdrawal.  Your  doing  so  at  this  most  important  juncture 
would  be  to  give  the  staff  into  the  hands  of  your  enemies ;  who  would  desire 
nothing  better  to  prostrate  you  with.  Your  able  correspondence  with  Paken- 
ham  has  justly  turned  the  eyes  of  the  country  towards  you  as  a  talented  and 
safe  helmsman  to  guide  the  ship  of  State.  This  your  enemies  know  and  feel. 
Do  not,  I  again  entreat  you,  by  your  own  act,  aid  them  to  defeat  your  future 
prospects.  Probably  I  have  dwelt  more  on  this  matter  than  it  merits ;  if  so, 
I  feel  assured  you  will  attribute  it  to  the  true  motive,  my  anxiety  to  see  you 
elevated  to  a  station  you  are  so  well  qualified  to  fill,  with  honor  to  yourself 
and  advantage  to  the  country.  .  .  . 

*  William  R.  King  of  Alabama.  He  was  a  Senator  in  Congress  from  that  State  for  a 
period  of  nearly  twenty-five  years,  from  1819  to  1844.  He  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  and 
accepted  the  mission  to  France,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  April,  1844,  by  President 
Tyler.  He  was  an  accomplished  statesman  of  broad  and  liberal  views.  A  strong  friendship 
had  existed  between  him  and  Mr.  Buchanan,  from  the  time  when  the  latter  entered  the  Sen 
ate.  Mr.  King  was  at  first  under  the  impression  that  Mr.  Buchanan  had  declined  the  judge- 
ship,  and  on  the  1st  of  January  he  wrote  to  express  his  gratification  that  the  matter  had 
taken  this  turn.  But  in  fact  the  appointment  was  never  offered. 

t  This  does  not  refer  to  Mr.  Justice  Grier,  who  became  the  successor  of  Judge  Baldwin. 


5(34  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

[KING  TO  BUCHANAN.]    • 

PARIS,  February  28,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  FRIEND:  — 

I  read  your  kind  letter  attentively,  and  then  committed  it  to  the  flames,  as 
you  requested.  The  refusal  of  the  President  to  place  you  on  the  Bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  after  you  had  manifested  a  willingness  to  accept  of  the  situa 
tion,  surprises  me  greatly.  I  had  supposed,  independent  of  a  desire  to  gratify 
you,  to  whom  he  owes  so  much,  he  would  have  seized  with  avidity  on  the 
opportunity  thus  afforded  him  to  get  freed  from  the  importunities  of  persons 
of  doubtful  qualification,  none  of  whom  could  venture  to  complain  of  your 
being  preferred  to  him.  I  have  turned  it  over  and  over  in  my  mind,  to  see 
if  I  could  discover  any  motive  for  his  refusal  other  than  that  assigned  by  him 
self,  viz.,  that  you  were  too  important  to  his  administration  in  the  post  you 
now  occupy  to  enable  him  to  dispense  with  your  services.  If  this  was  in 
truth  his  sole  reason,  he  should  have  frankly  and  unreservedly  placed  before 
you  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments  your  abandonment  of  the  State 
Department  would  involve  him  in  ;  how  necessary  you  were  to  enable  him  to 
carry  on  the  Government  successfully,  and  at  the  same  time  have  expressed 
his  willingness  to  meet  your  wishes  if  persisted  in.  If  such  had  been  his 
course,  I  know  you  too  well  to  doubt  for  a  moment  but  that  you  would  have 
relinquished  the  judgeship,  and  continued  your  invaluable  services  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  administration.  This,  however,  you  must  still  do ;  you  owe  it  to 
the  country ;  you  owe  it  to  yourself.  You  can  form  no  idea  of  the  reputation 
you  have  acquired,  even  in  Europe,  by  the  able  and  masterly  manner  in  which 
you  have  presented  our  claim  to  Oregon,  never  before  perfectly  understood, 
either  in  Europe  or  America.  You  certainly  occupy  at  this  moment,  in  public 
estimation,  a  more  enviable  position  than  any  other  distinguished  man  of  our 
country,  and  your  prospects  for  the  future  are  brighter  than  those  of  any  one 
I  know.  Do  not,  I  beg  you,  mar  those  prospects  by  abandoning  your  place 
at  this  critical  period  of  our  foreign  relations.  Finish  the  work  you  have  so 
ably  begun.  Settle  the  Oregon  question  by  an  equitable  compromise,  and 
whatever  a  few  hot  heads  or  selfish  aspirants  may  say,  your  reputation  will 
rest  upon  a  foundation  broad  and  strong,  the  approval  of  a  virtuous  and 
intelligent  people  at  home,  and  the  wise  and  good  of  every  land.  You  know 
I  am  no  flatterer.  I  speak  in  all  sincerity,  and  say  nothing  but  what  is  strictly 
true. 

[KING  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

PARIS,  March  28th,  1846. 
DEAR  BUCHANAN: — 

The  last  steamer  brought  me  your  very  acceptable  letter  of  the  26th  Feb 
ruary.  The  publication  of  my  correspondence  with  M.  Guizot  has  been  well 
received  by  all  parties  in  Paris,  and  has  put  at  rest  forever  all  speculation  as 
to  the  correctness  of  my  despatch.  Even  M.  Guizot  himself  manifests  a 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  5G5 

greater  degree  of  cordiality  than  formerly,  and  made  it  a  point  to  attend  a 
ball  I  gave  on  the  22d  February,  although  he  is  not  in  the  habit  of  going  to 
parties.  I  knew  the  course  I  pursued  would,  so  far  from  committing  me  with 
any  one  here,  produce  a  salutary  result ;  and  it  was  not  taken  in  passion,  of 
because  I  am  "thin  skinned."  My  position  was  never  better  than  at  this 
time  with  all  in  power  here,  from  the  king  down  to  the  lowest  official.  Pre 
sent  me  kindly  to  my  friend,  Mr.  Trist-  and  tender  him  my  thanks  for  the 
interest  he  has  manifested  for  me.  The  postponement  of  the  election  of 
Senator  for  Alabama  will,  as  you  say,  enable  me  to  enter  the  field  with  a  fair 
prospect  of  success,  and  I  am  free  to  declare  that  I  should  be  truly  gratified 
to  be  reinstated  in  the  Senate.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  Governor 
may  be  operated  upon  by  those  on  the  spot,  who  aspire  to  the  situation,  and 
dread  my  return,  to  call  the  legislature  together  this  spring,  and  before  I  can 
possibly  be  present.  This  my  friends  Bagby  and  others  should  prevent.  A 
called  session  would  involve  unnecessary  expense,  without  an  adequate  advan 
tage,  or,  in  fact,  any  advantage  whatever,  so  far  as  the  public  is  concerned. 
My  arrangements  are  such  that  I  cannot,  with  convenience,  return  to  the 
United  States  before  the  last  of  July.  I  am  anxious,  however,  to  conform 
to  the  wishes  of  the  President  in  the  appointment  of  my  successor,  and 
will  either  hasten  or  retard  my  surrender  of  my  place,  as  to  him  may  seem 
best.  Should  he  prefer  to  delay  the  appointment  of  my  successor  until  after 
the  adjournment  of  Congress,  I  could  return  on  leave  of  absence,  as  he  once 
kindly  permitted  me  to  do,  and  leave  my  Secretary,  Mr.  Martin,  as  charge 
des  affaires.  He  is,  as  you  know,  well  qualified  to  discharge  the  duties,  and  on 
his  account  I  should  be  pleased  to  give  to  him  the  advantages  of  the  position. 
You  will  confer  with  the  President  and  let  me  know  what  course  will  be 
most  acceptable  to  him,  and  I  will  then  make  my  request  accordingly.  If  a 
vacancy  occurs  at  Turin  by  the  resignation  of  Wickliff,  could  you  not  lend  a 
helping  hand  to  Dr.  Martin  ?  The  place  will  not,  I  presume,  be  sought  for  by 
any  of  the  prominent  politicians,  and  Martin's  information  and  experience 
peculiarly  fits  him  to  be  useful.  He  is,  withal,  very  poor;  and  even  if  my 
successor  consented  to  retain  him  here,  his  condition  would  be  greatly  altered 
for  the  worse,  as  with  me  he  lives  without  expense.  Serve  him  if  you  can  ; 

at  any  rate,  save  us  from  that  miserable  toady . 

I  altogether  approve  of  the  President's  refusal  to  submit  the  Oregon  ques 
tion  to  arbitration,  as  proposed  by  the  British  government.  The  objections 
enumerated  by  you  are  all  sufficient,  but,  in  addition,  it  could  not  escape  your 
observation  that,  by  the  terms  of  submission,  whether  referred  to  a  crowned 
head  or  to  private  individuals,  the  result  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been 
to  deprive  us  of  all  the  country  north  of  the  Columbia,  simply  upon  the 
ground  that  actual  possession  should  not  be  disturbed.  Information  on  which 
I  can  rely  convinces  me  that  Lord  Aberdeen,  when  he  directed  the  offer  to 
be  made,  did  not  expect  it  to  be  accepted.  His  object  was,  first,  to  induce 
the  European  governments  to  believe  that  they  were  anxious  to  settle  the 
question  upon  just  terms,  and,  secondly,  to  gain  time,  as  they  calculated  on 


566  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Sir  Robert  Peel's  measure  inducing  the  American  people  to  force  their  Gov 
ernment  to  give  way  on  the  Oregon  question  that  they  may  receive  the  ad 
vantages  it  holds  out  to  them.*  I  know  the  calculation  is  altogether  errone 
ous,  and  that,  as  you  say,  the  people  are  ahead  of  the  Government  on  the 
question.  Still,  such  is  the  impression  made  in  England  by  Pakenham's  des 
patches,  the  speeches  of  some  of  our  prominent  men,  and  the  tone  of  our 
opposition  press  generally.  I  have  my  doubts  whether  Pakenham  is  as  yet 
instructed  to  make  a  proposition  for  a  compromise,  but  it  will  be  made ;  and 
will,  I  think,  be  such  as  we  should  not  hesitate  to  accept,  unless  the  perpetual 
navigation  of  the  Columbia  is  insisted  upon.  This  I  would  not  grant  without 
an  equivalent  in  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  but  there  seems  to  be 
a  propriety  in  allowing  the  use  of  the  river  for  a  term  of  years,  not  to  exceed 
ten,  to  enable  the  Northwest  Fur  Company  gradually  to  withdraw  an  interest 
which  has  grown  up  under  the  treaty  of  joint  occupancy.  The  President 
will  certainly  act  with  prudence  by  submitting  the  proposition,  whatever  it 
may  be  (unless  altogether  inadmissible),  to  the  Senate,  for  the  advice  in  ad 
vance  of  that  body.  Cass,  Allen  and  Company  will  find  that  no  political  cap 
ital  can  be  made  by  arraying  themselves  against  an  arrangement  which  makes 
the  49th  parallel  the  boundary,  but  yielding  the  whole  of  Vancouver's  Island, 
and  the  use  for  a  few  years  of  the  Columbia  River.  The  good  sense  of  the 
whole  country  will  approve  of  such  a  settlement.  I  am  not  at  all  surprised 
to  hear  that  Calhoun  is  anxious  to  free  himself  from  the  odium  of  voting 
against  the  notice,  regardless  of  the  dilemma  in  which  he  has  involved  his 
devoted  adherents  in  the  House.  If  the  Senate  amends  the  House  resolu 
tions,  my  life  upon  it,  they  will  receive  Calhoun's  vote  ;  and  all  chivalry  will 
exclaim :  Behold  the  great  statesman,  whose  wise  and  prudent  course  has 
alone  saved  the  nation  from  the  horrors  of  war.  The  speech  of  Colonel  Ben- 
ton  was  excellent,  and  proves  him  to  be  a  statesman  indeed.  Still,  I  do  not, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  approve  of  his  opposition  to  an  increase  of  our  navy.  If 
we  hope  to  command  the  respect  of  the  powers  of  Europe,  we  must  put  our 
selves  in  a  position  not  only  to  repel  all  aggression,  but,  if  needs  be,  to  act  on 
the  offensive.  They  are  all  jealous  of  our  rapid  growth  and  prosperity,  and 
would,  if  they  dared,  unite  to  retard  or  destroy  it.  We  should  hasten  to  re 
pair  our  forts,  build  some  new  ones,  and  add  to  our  little  navy  ten  or  twelve 
war  steamers. 

Such  preparation,  although  it  involves  expense,  would  in  all  probability  save 
us  millions,  as  it  would  effectually  put  down  all  attempts  to  wrest  the  Island 
of  Cuba  from  Spain,  or  to  establish  a  monarchy  in  Mexico.  I  highly  approve  of 
the  views  taken  by  Bancroft ;  he  promises  to  make  an  able  and  efficient  Sec 
retary  of  the  Navy,  and  I  hope  he  will  retain  his  place  and  give  up,  if  he  has 

thought  of  it,  all  idea  of  a  foreign  mission. is  here  on  his 

return  home ;  he  is  no  doubt  an  amiable  man,  but  weak  beyond  description. 
Such  a  representative  at  such  a  court  was  calculated  to  do  us  a  positive  injury; 

*  This  refers  to  the  measure  for  free  trade  in  corn. 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE.  567 

we  require  to  have  there  one  of  our  ablest  men.  Berlin  is  of  much  less 
importance ;  in  truth,  to  keep  a  minister  there  is  scarcely  worth  the  expense. 
Donalson  is  a  good  appointment ;  I  wish  it  had  been  for  St.  Petersburg.  I 
am  fully  aware  that  diplomatic  situations  are  in  great  demand,  and  that  the 
President  is  worried  with  applications  from  second  and  even  third-rate  men 
for  the  most  important  stations.  I  trust,  however,  that  no  commonplace  men 
may  be  sent  to  London,  Paris  or  St.  Petersburg.  My  residence  abroad  has 
convinced  me  that  the  respect  in  which  our  country  is  held  very  much 
depends  on  the  character  and  standing  of  its  representative ;  and  I  greatly 
doubt  the  policy  of  making  removals  when  the  incumbent  possesses  talent 
and  information,  and  from  a  long  residence  has  acquired  facilities  for  obtaining 
useful  information  which  a  new  man,  whatever  his  ability,  it  may  be  will 
require  years  to  obtain.  This  I  know  runs  counter  to  your  theory  of  rotation 
in  office ;  which  may  be  correct  as  respects  office  at  home,  but  should  not,  I 
think,  apply  to  those  held  abroad.  I  once  gave  you  my  opinion  of  Wheaton. 
I  see  no  reason  to  change  that  opinion.  He  is  peculiarly  well  qualified  to 
represent  his  country  with  advantage.  Could  he  not  be  sent  to  St.  Peters 
burg?  He  has  grown  old  in  diplomacy  without  growing  rich,  and  at  his 
period  of  life  will  find  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  engage  in  any  pursuit,  other 
than  that  he  has  so  long  followed,  with  a  prospect  of  securing  to  his  family  a 
decent  support.  I  should  feel  truly  gratified  if  you  would  bring  him  to  the 
attention  of  the  President.  I  am  much  gratified  to  learn  that  harmony  pre 
vails  in  the  Cabinet ;  a  break  up  would  do  much  mischief.  Retain  your  place 
regardless  of  all  minor  annoyances.  The  country  requires  your  services  to 
bring  to  a  successful  termination  the  important  and  delicate  question  of 
Oregon.  You  have  the  confidence  of  all  parties  ;  and  I  heartily  believe  that 
in  the  present  state  of  things  the  President  could  not  find  a  man  capable  of 
supplying  your  place.  Stay  where  you  are,  settle  the  Oregon  question,  and 
great  shall  be  your  reward.  Tender  my  respects  to  my  friends  Sturgeon  and 
G-eneral  Cameron,  also  to  Walker,  Mason  and  Benton. 

Your  friend  sincerely, 

WILLIAM  R.  KING. 

P.S. — Present  me  most  respectfully  to  the  President  and  his  accomplished 
lady.  W.  R.  K. 

[KING  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

PARIS,  April  30,  1846. 
DEAR  BUCHANAN  : — 

I  thank  you  for  your  long  and  friendly  letter.  Engrossed  as  your  time 
must  be  by  cares  of  State,  official  duties  and  social  intercourse,  I  feel  flattered 
in  having  engaged  so  much  of  your  attention.  On  the  16th  of  this  month 
Paris  was  thrown  into  a  state  of  great  excitement  by  an  attempt  made  to 
assassinate  the  king  at  Fontainebleau,  where  he  had  been  spending  a  few  days 
with  his  family.  Two  shots  were  actually  fired  into  the  char  <l  bane  (an  open 
carriage),  in  which  he  was  returning  from  a  hunting  party,  in  company  with 
the  queen,  Madame  Adelaide,  and  several  other  members  of  the  royal  family. 


568  ^IFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Fortunately,  no  one  received  the  slightest  injury.  The  ladies  were  terribly 
frightened,  but  the  king  showed  his  usual  coolness  and  disregard  of  danger. 
The  wretched  assassin  was  instantly  seized  by  the  attendants.  He  turned  out 
to  be  a  former  employe  of  the  government,  who,  having  lost  his  place,  had 
Drooded  over  the  injustice  he  conceived  had  been  done  him  until  he  deter 
mined  to  kill  the  king  to  revenge  himself.  Lecomt,  for  that  is  the  name  of  the 
miserable  man,  has  been  subjected  to  several  examinations,  but  nothing  has 
transpired  to  connect  him  in  any  manner  with  any  of  the  political  parties  of 
the  country.  Although  the  Journal  des  Debats,  the  semi-official  paper, 
whatever  disclosures  Mr.  Guizot  may  make,  has,  and  as  I  think,  most  impru 
dently,  contended  that  it  was  political.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  has  certainly 
called  forth  the  better  feelings  of  the  French  generally  in  favor  of  their  wise, 
prudent  and  pacific  old  monarch,  which  will  add  strength  to  his  government 
and  give  permanency  to  his  dynasty.  I  hastened  on  his  return  to  Paris  to 
tender  him  my  congratulations  on  his  extraordinary  and  most  providential 
escape ;  for  Lecomt  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  best  shots  in  France.  The  old 
man  bears  a  charmed  life.  Would  it  not  be  well  for  the  President  to  address 
him  with  his  own  hand  a  letter  of  congratulation  at  his  fortunate  escape  from 
the  hands  of  the  base  assassin  ?  It  would,  I  know,  be  well  received,  and  in 
the  present  state  of  our  relations  with  England,  we  should  treat  France  with 
marked  courtesy.  Trifles  in  themselves  are  of  great  importance  here.  I  am 
somewhat  surprised  at  Lord  Aberdeen's  course  on  the  Oregon  question,  espe 
cially  as  he  has  openly  expressed  a  desire  to  settle  it  on  amicable  terms.  That 
arbitration  would  be  rejected,  he  must  have  known  when  he  instructed  Paken- 
ham  to  make  the  proposition ;  and  it  strikes  me  that  the  motive  for  making  it 
was  to  gain  time,  pass  their  free  trade  measures,  and  avail  themselves  of  the 
effects  it  would  have  in  the  United  States,  to  obtain  more  favorable  terms 
than  had  been  offered  by  us — or  should  negotiation  fail  and  war  ensue,  they 
would  be  able  to  prejudice  the  European  governments  against  us  by  showing 
that  they  had  tendered  arbitration,  which  was  rejected.  I  must  think,  how 
ever,  that  as  soon  as  the  resolutions,  to  give  the  notice  to  put  an  end  to  the 
existing  treaty,  shall  have  passed  the  Senate,  a  proposition  for  a  compromise  will 
be  made ;  but  whether  it  will  be  such  as  ought  to  be  accepted  by  us,  is  more 
than  doubtful.  My  information  leads  me  to  believe  it  will  not  be.  Still  it 
will  open  the  door  for  negotiation,  and  however  extravagant,  should  not  be 
promptly  rejected,  but  with  proposed  modifications.  If  Pakenham  has  com 
mon  sense,  he  must  long  before  this  have  well  understood  that  a  proposition 
to  fix  the  line  at  49°  to  the  Straits ;  the  whole  of  Vancouver's  Island ;  part  of 
Puget  Sound;  the  navigation  of  the  Columbia;  with  indemnity  to  the  North 
West  Fur  Company,  would  never  be  acceded  to  by  us,  be  the  consequences 
what  they  may.  Should  such  an  extravagant  offer  be  made,  be  assured  Mr. 
P.  will  have  a  wide  margin  given  him  for  modifications;  and  in  the  end  he 
will  settle  down  on  Vancouver's  Island  and  the  navigation  of  the  Columbia 
for  a  term  of  years.  You  already  know  my  opinions  on  this  subject,  and 
further  I  would  not  go,  war  or  no  war.  Be  not  surprised,  if  the  conducting 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  560 

of  this  negotiation  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  Whigs,  unless  speedily  settled. 
I  do  not  think  many  months  will  pass  over  before  Lord  John  Eussell  will  be 
at  the  head  of  affairs  in  England,  and  Lord  Palmerston  in  the  Foreign  Office. 
Now,  I  am  not  of  the  number  who  believe  that  the  return  of  the  Whigs  to 
power  will  throw  additional  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  adjustment  of  our 
difficulties,  and  I  trust,  should  the  change  take  place,  we  shall  have  no  alarm 
speeches  from  those  Senators  who  recently  expressed  such  heart- felt  pleasure 
that  Lord  John  had  failed  to  form  a  ministry.  When  shall  we  learn  prudence 
in  our  national  councils?  You  are,  I  am  sorry  to  see,  dissatisfied  with  your 
position ;  and  I  am  no  less  wearied  with  mine.  Most  sincerely  do  I  wish 
that  we  had  both  remained  in  the  Senate.  You,  however,  have  much  to 
reconcile  you  to  the  change ;  having  acquired  increased  reputation  by  your 
able  correspondence  with  Pakenham  ;  nor  must  you  on  any  account  abandon 
your  post,  until  that  affair  is  finally  settled.  The  war  spirit  of  Cass,  Allen,  etc., 
must  not  deter  the  President  from  making,  if  practicable,  a  fair  compromise. 
In  such  a  course  he  will  be  sustained  by  the  good  sense  of  the  country. 
When  I  wrote  you  to  consult  the  President  relative  to  my  return  home,  it 
was  simply  because  I  was  desirous  to  subject  him  to  no  inconvenience  in  the 
selection  of  my  successor.  The  state  of  my  private  affairs  renders  it  impera 
tive  that  I  should  be  at  home  in  September.  I  can  remain  here  until  the  first  of 
that  month,  but  not  longer ;  and  I  wish  you  so  to  inform  the  President.  Any 
mode  he  chooses  to  adopt  to  enable  me  to  execute  my  purposes,  will  be  per 
fectly  satisfactory,  and  my  object  in  writing  thus  early,  is  to  know  what  course 
will  be  adopted,  that  I  may  make  my  arrangements  accordingly.  I  shall  not 
fail  to  procure  a  breast-pin,  or  ring,  or  something  of  the  kind,  and  present  it 
Mrs.  Walsh  in  your  name.  It  should  have  been  done  before  this,  but  I  have 
been  suffering  from  lumbago,  which  has  confined  me  to  the  house.  I  am 
now,  however,  nearly  well.  Poor  McLane  has  for  many  weeks  been  suffering 
severely  from  some  affection He  is  still  in  the  hands  of  his  physi 
cian,  but  much  better.  He  stands  deservedly  high  in  England,  with  both 
Whig  and  Tory.  Lord  Landsdown,  who  will  be  the  president  of  the  council, 
if  the  Whigs  get  into  power,  was  in  Paris  a  few  days  past,  and  spoke  to  me 
of  McLane  in  the  most  exalted  terms.  Catlin  has,  I  understand,  applied  to 
Congress,  to  purchase  his  Indian  gallery.  It  should  not  be  lost  to  our  country, 
as  it  will  be  if  Congress  refuses  the  purchase,  for  he  has  offers  from  England, 
which  he  is  only  prevented  from  accepting  by  his  anxious  desire  that  his  own 
country  should  possess  it.  It  is  richly  worth  what  he  asks  for  it,  and  you 
would  be  doing  a  service  to  a  most  estimable  man  if  you  would  take  the 
trouble  to  enlist  some  of  your  friends  in  favor  of  the  purchase.  As  Grund 
gives  up  the  consulate  at  Antwerp,  why  not  appoint  Yesey  ?  He  is  honest 
and  capable,  and  withal  a  good  and  true  American  in  all  his  principles. 
Mrs.  Ellis  thanks  you  for  your  kind  remembrance  of  her.  Present  my 
kindest  regards  to  the  Bentons,  Bagbys,  Pleasontons  and  Beans. 

Your  friend  sincerely, 

WILLIAM  R.  KING. 


570  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

p  gt Say  to  my  friend,  Col.  Benton,  that  exalted  as  was  my  opinion  of 

his  statesmanlike  qualities,  his  courage  on  the  Oregon  question  has  raised 
him  still  higher  in  my  estimation.  Richly  does  he  deserve  his  well  earned 
popularity.  But  for  my  stiff  fingers,  which  almost  disable  me  from  holding 
my  pen,  I  would  write  to  him  and  express  more  fully  the  respect  and  regard 
I  entertain  for  him.  I  wish  you  would  call  his  attention  to  Catlin's  proposi 
tion  to  dispose  of  his  gallery  of  Indian  portraits  and  curiosities.  I  do  not 
think  it  should  be  lost  to  our  country. 

W.  R.  K. 

[KING  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

PARIS,  July  15th,  1847. 
DEAR  BUCHANAN: — 

I  have  this  moment  received  your  letter  of  the  23d  June,  brought  out  by 
the  Great  Western.  I  have  at  once  availed  myself  of  your  suggestion,  and 
asked  officially  for  my  recall.  I  hope  to  embark  for  the  United  States  on  the 
15th  of  September,  or,  at  farthest,  by  the  first  of  October.  I  am  most  anx 
ious  to  see  you,  and,  as  far  as  I  have  any  influence,  to  prevail  on  you  to 
abandon  all  idea  of  the  judgeship,  and  to  continue  in  your  present  position, 
where  you  have  rendered  such  important  services  to  our  country,  and  justly 
elevated  yourself  in  the  estimation  of  all  whose  good  opinion  is  worth  having. 

As  for ,  envy  and  vanity  are  his  controlling  passions,  his  praise  or  his 

censure  are  alike  worthless,  and  you  should  treat  them  with  contempt.  You 
speak  of  three  sections  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  Senate,  headed  by 
Cass,  Benton  and  Calhoun.  Cass  may  have  a  small  party  composed  almost 
exclusively  of  the  old  followers  of  Benton ;  but  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand 
who  they  are  who  now  constitute  the  late  Colonel's  party.  It  seems  to  me, 
able  general  as  I  admit  he  is,  that  all  his  men  have  deserted,  and  unless  he 
can  enlist  recruits  from  the  Whig  ranks,  he  must  be  his  own  standard-bearer. 
Calhoun's  followers  are  beginning  to  look  over  the  left  shoulder,  and  even  his 
fidus  Achates,  D.  H.  Lewis,  will  very  soon  turn  his  back  on  him.  Calhoun  is 
politically  dead.  The  Oregon  question  and  the  Mexican  war  have  already 
proved  fatal  to  many  distinguished  leaders,  Democrat  and  Whig,  so  that  you 
will  find  the  field  open  for  the  Presidency,  unless  you  place  yourself  on  the 
shelf  by  accepting  of  the  judgeship.  I  am  much  pleased  to  learn  that  the 
best  possible  relations  exist  between  you  and  the  President.  Use  your  influ 
ence  to  prevent  him  from  selecting  improper  persons  to  fill  the  missions  to 
London,  Paris  and  St.  Petersburg.  They  are  most  important  positions,  and 
should  be  filled  by  the  first  men  of  our  country,  and  not  by  mere  seekers  of 
office,  or  by  those  who  erroneously  suppose  that  they  can  enrich  themselves 
by  the  outfit  and  salary.  I  speak  from  my  own  experience  when  I  say  that 
no  American  minister  can  live  even  respectably  in  Paris  for  less  than  fifteen 
thousand  dollars  a  year.  Congress  should  look  to  this,  and  give  such  compen 
sation  as  will  enable  the  country  to  avail  itself  of  the  services  of  the  best 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  571 

qualified,  who  are  but  too  often  destitute  of  private  fortune.  Mrs.  Ellis  still 
continues  to  be  your  warm  advocate  for  the  Presidency.  She  requests  me 
to  present  her  best  respects.  Mr.  Martin  is  much  pleased  with  diplomacy, 
but  has  great  apprehension  lest  he  should  not  find  his  position  as  Secretary 
altogether  as  desirable  with  my  successor;  and  he  is  looking  forward  with 
hope  to  an  appointment  as  charge  des  affaires,  either  at  Turin,  or  some  other 
place.  Could  you  not  aid  him  ?  He  isr  as  you  know,  exceedingly  poor,  and 
not  very  provident,  and  an  increase  of  salary  would  be  important  to  him. 
Present  my  best  respects  to  my  friends,  the  Pleasontons,  Taylors,  and  old 
associates  in  the  Senate. 

Faithfully  your  friend, 

WILLIAM  R.  KING. 

[KING  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

LIVERPOOL,  Oct.  1,  1847. 
DEAR  BUCHANAN: — 

On  the  15th  of  September,  I  presented  my  letters  of  recall,  and  took  leave 
of  his  Majesty,  the  King  of  the  French.  He  was  pleased  to  express  great 
regret  at  parting  with  me,  and  a  hope  that  nothing  had  occurred  during  my 
residence  at  his  court  which  had  given  me  dissatisfaction.  I  assured  him 
such  was  not  the  case,  and  that  I  should  ever  cherish  towards  him  and  his 
amiable  family  the  kindest  feelings  for  the  uniform  courtesy  and  cordiality  he 
and  they  had  manifested  towards  me.  He  abounded  in  professions  of  friend 
ship  for  myself  personally,  and  for  my  country  ;  but  Louis  Philippe  is  full  of 
duplicity,  and  professions  cost  him  but  little.  I  left  Paris  on  the  16th,  and 
hastened  to  Liverpool  to  embark  on  board  the  splendid  iron  steamer,  the 
Great  Britain.  On  the  22d  we  took  our  departure.  The  day  was  fine,  the 
wind  fair,  and  we  proceeded  on  our  voyage  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an 
hour.  The  passengers,  180  persons,  were  all  in  high  spirits,  and  nattered 
themselves  with  a  short  and  agreeable  voyage.  Most  lamentably  were  our 
hopes  blasted.  In  an  evil  hour  the  captain  determined  to  take  the  dangerous 
northern  passage.  Why,  it  would  be  difficult  to  tell,  as  the  wind  was  equally 
fair  for  the  southern.  Night  came  on  dark  and  gloomy.  The  breeze  fresh 
ened,  almost  approaching  to  a  gale  ;  still  he  kept  on  his  way  at  the  same  rapid 
rate,  although  he  now  acknowledges  that  he  had  mistaken  his  reckoning  and 
was,  in  fact,  ignorant  of  his  situation.  A  little  before  eleven  the  ship  struck 
on  the  ledge  of  rocks  which  surround  Dundee  Bay,  north  of  Ireland.  The 
shock  was  indeed  terrific,  and  the  ladies,  many  of  whom  had  retired  for  the 
night,  rushed  from  their  rooms,  frantic  with  alarm.  Among  them  was  Mrs. 
Ellis.  Believing  that  the  ship  must  go  to  pieces  in  a  few  minutes,  I  frankly 
told  her  her  danger.  To  my  astonishment,  she  became  calm  and  composed, 
and  during  the  whole  trying  scene  displayed  extraordinary  composure.  To 
our  extraordinary  speed  we  probably  t  under  Providence,  owe  our  escape  from 
a  watery  grave.  The  good  ship  cleared  the  reefs  and  imbedded  herself  in  the 


572  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

sand,  where  as  the  tide  was  receding,  she  sunk  deeper  and  deeper,  main 
taining  an  upright  position.  Our  hope  now  was  that  her  great  strength  would 
enable  her  to  resist  the  waves,  which  thundered  against  her  side  and  dashed 
over  her  lofty  decks,  until  the  dawn  of  day ;  for  should  she  break  up  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  on  a  rocky  shore,  with  a  heavy  sea,  all  were  convinced 
that  few,  if  any,  could  be  saved.  Long  indeed  appeared  that  terrible  night, 
but  day  at  length  dawned,  and  the  tide  being  out,  we  found  we  were  but  a 
short  distance  from  the  dry  land.  The  boats  were  lowered.  I  placed  Mrs. 
Ellis  in  the  first  that  left  the  ship,  and  saw  her  make  the  shore  in  safety.  My 
nephew  and  myself  followed  as  soon  as  all  the  ladies  were  landed,  and  joined 
her  in  a  miserable  cabin  where  she  had  taken  refuge  from  the  rain.  No  lives 
were  lost.  I  procured  a  conveyance  for  Down  Patrick,  where  we  rested  for 
the  night.  The  next  day  we  arrived  at  Belfast  and  took  the  steamer  for 
Liverpool.  Being  unable  to  procure  a  passage  in  any  of  the  steamships 
which  leave  in  this  month,  I  shall  sail  to-morrow  in  the  packet  ship  New 
York,  with  the  prospect  of  a  passage  of  at  least  thirty  days,  but  I  trust  it  will 
be  a  safe  one. 

Your  friend  sincerely, 

WILLIAM  R.  KING. 


[HON.    RICHARD   RUSH    TO    MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

SYDENHAM,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,  December  16,  1845. 


MY  DEAR  SIR: — 


...  I  have  this  morning  been  turning  once  more  to  your  note  of  the  30th 
of  August  on  the  Oregon  question,  in  answer  to  the  British  minister's  of  the  29th 
of  July.  I  had,  to  be  sure,  read  it  on  its  first  appearance  with  the  greatest 
attention ;  and  it  would  be  unjust  to  withhold  longer  from  you  my  poor 
tribute  to  its  value.  Its  demonstration  of  our  title  is  so  full,  as  to  leave 
nothing  further  to  be  said ;  so  clear  that  our  whole  country  can  now  fortu 
nately  understand  it;  and  it  is  in  a  spirit  so  fair,  and  in  a  tone  of  patriotism 
so  high  and  just,  that  every  American  has  solid  ground  to  feel  proud  of  it.  I 
rejoice  that  the  country  has  found  so  powerful  an  exponent  of  her  rights  as  is 
recorded  in  this  most  able  state  paper;  and,  as  one  of  her  sons  formerly 
striving  to  defend  those  rights  abroad,  gladly  award  to  you  both  my  tribute 
and  my  share  of  the  public  thanks,  for  this  comprehensive,  final  and 
triumphant  vindication  of  them  which  your  pen  has  accomplished. 

Perhaps,  in  propriety  and  prudence,  I  ought  here  to  stop.  I  know  how 
rash  it  generally  is,  in  those  not  behind  the  curtain,  to  be  venturing  opinions 
before  those  who  are ;  yet  while  writing  I  cannot  avoid  adding  my  belief, 
founded  upon  as  much  only  as  is  known  to  the  public,  that  war  is  at  hand.  I 
rest  on  the  courageous  spirit  of  Britain,  which  we  must  not  undervalue,  as  it 
is  the  root  of  our  own  :  and  from  a  belief  in  the  stability  of  her  resources — 
more  than  is  entertained  by  all  of  our  friends.  These  are  no  reasons  why 
we  should  fear  her,  but  only  for  being  on  the  look  out ;  and  we  shall  all, 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE.  573 

when  the  extremity  comes,  owe  you,  my  dear  sir,  a  heavy  debt  for  making  our 
right  so  manifest  in  the  eyes  of  this  great  nation.  But  Britain,  I  believe,  has 
a  firm  conviction  (such  are  the  different  eyes  with  which  nations  look)  that 
she  has  rights  in  that  country ;  and,  by  my  estimate,  she  will  not,  as  things 
stand,  yield  them  north  of  the  Columbia,  but  appeal  to  the  sword,  and  very 
soon — unless  an  arbitration,  or  a  mediation  should  arrest  the  appeal. 

I  pray  you  to  excuse  these  presumptuous  forebodings,  in  which  I  truly 
hope  I  may  be  wrong,  but  in  the  faith  of  which  I  am  at  present  deeply 
imbued;  and  to  believe  me  to  be,  with  the  most  unfeigned  and  friendly 
respect,  Yours  most  faithfully, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 

[RUSH  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

SYDENHAM,  near  PHILADELPHIA,  August  26,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  hardly  know  how  to  thank  you  sufficiently  for  your  obliging  favor  of  the 
22d  instant  and  the  documents  you  have  so  kindly  sent  me  respecting  the 
Oregon  negotiation.  All  have  arrived  safely,  as  well  those  by  Mr.  Sword  as 
the  separate  one  from  you  by  mail ;  and  now  I  have  in  hand  everything  I 
could  wish. 

My  attention  was  specially  directed  to  the  protocol  of  the  24th  of  Septem 
ber,  1844,  recording  the  break-up  between  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Pakenham, 
and  I  can  understand  the  hopeless  prospect  it  seemed  to  leave  to  the  new 
administration.  When  I  used  to  brood  over  that  protocol  last  winter,  and 
recall  what  passed  in  Mr.  G-allatin's  negotiation  in  '26  and  in  mine  of  '24,  and 
weighed  the  long  inflexibility  with  which  England  had  adhered  to  the  Colum 
bia  as  her  basis ;  and  remembered  also,  as  I  freshly  could  and  did,  the  solem 
nity — I  have  no  doubt  sincerity  too  at  that  time — with  which  Huskisson  used 
to  tell  me  that  he  and  their  whole  cabinet  thought  even  that  line  a  great  con 
cession  to  us,  I  did  not  see  how  war  was  to  be  avoided  after  the  President's 
bold  and  brilliant  message  when  Congress  opened.  One  of  the  Paris  papers, 
the  Constitutionnel,  speaking  of  the  settlement  of  the  dispute,  said  that  the 
English  journals  pretended  that  England  had  given  to  the  United  States  a 
lesson  of  wisdom  and  moderation ;  but  they  might  add,  said  the  same  paper, 
that  "  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  on  its  part,  has  given  to  all 
powers  in  relation  with  England  a  lesson  of  firmness."  This  is  the  truth.  I 
again  own,  that  I  did  not  think  England  would  have  yielded  as  much  as  she 
has ;  and  although  it  appears  from  Mr.  McLane's  communications  that  terms 
something  better  might  have  been  finally  obtained,  but  for  the  Senate,  history 
will  be  justified  in  pronouncing  the  President's  course  under  the  complications 
of  the  occasion  (Mexico  and  everything  else)  wise  and  advantageous  for  the 
country,  and  one  to  draw  a  just  fame  to  himself  and  the  administration.  Eng 
land  had  got  very  near  to  her  fighting  point,  and  the  settlement  marks  a  great 
epoch  in  our  annals — one  not  unlike,  under  some  parallels  that  might  be 
drawn,  the  war  of  1812  in  its  acceleration  of  our  national  character. 


574  UFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

The  last  article  in  the  last  Edinburgh  Review,  headed  "  Colonial  Protec 
tion,"  is  an  argument  for  us  touching  the  West  India  trade  with  England,  its 
principle  covering  full  reciprocity  as  to  our  shipping  as  well  as  traffic,  though 
the  Reviewers  do  not  utter  the  former  word ;  and  now  that  the  Whigs  are 
in,  it  may  be  hoped  that  they  will  think  so,  and  that  Sir  Robert  Peel  will  co 
operate  with  them,  as  on  the  sugar  question.  Sir  Robert  having  done  so 
much  already,  might  now  set  about  pushing  Lord  John  Russell  into  farther 
liberality !  What  a  curious  spectacle  this  would  present  in  the  British  par 
liament;  yet  things  more  remarkable  have  been  happening  there  lately,  and 
much  more  so  than  if  they  were  at  length  to  admit  our  tobacco  almost  duty 
free. 

I  am  gratefully  sensible  to  the  friendly  invitation  you  give  me  to  your 
hospitable  roof  while  going  on  with  the  investigation  I  spoke  of,  though  am 
now  through  your  kindness  supplied  with  sufficient  materials.  Whether  I 
shall  venture  upon  another  volume  or  not,  I  am  quite  undetermined.  Some 
times  I  feel  half  inclined ;  then  again  the  other  scale  kicks  the  beam.  The 
latter  is  the  case  whenever  I  think  of  Hannah  More's  comment  upon  Pope, 
who  when  quoting  the  line  from  him  which  says  the  greatest  art  in  writing  is 
"  to  ttot"  says  there  is  a  greater — "  the  art  to  stop" 

If  I  live  as  long  as  my  mother,  who  was  out  here  this  week  at  86,  in  good 
health,  I  shall  have  time  to  make  up  my  mind.  Excuse  this  flight,  as  well  as 
so  long  a  letter,  and  pray  believe  in  the  friendly  and  perfect  respect  and  es 
teem  with  which  I  am,  my  dear  sir, 

Sincerely  yours, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 


Mr.  McLane,  at  his  own  request,  was  recalled  from  London 
after  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  question,  and  Mr.  Bancroft, 
who  had  been  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  October,  1846,  became 
Mr.  McLane's  successor.  The  following  private  letters  may 
fitly  close  the  present  chapter  : 

[MR.    BUCHANAN   TO    HON.    GEO.    BANCROFT.] 

WASHINGTON,  October  6,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

I  cannot  suffer  you  to  depart  from  the  country  without  saying  from  the 
heart,  God  bless  you !  May  your  mission  be  prosperous,  and  Mrs.  Bancroft 
and  yourself  happy !  I  sorely  regret  that  we  have  lost  your  services  in  the 
Navy  Department,  and  still  more  that  we  have  lost  your  society ;  and  this  I 
do,  without  any  disparagement  to  your  successor,  whom  I  highly  esteem.  My 
feelings,  both  in  regard  to  Mrs.  Bancroft  and  yourself,  are  warmly  entertained 
by  Mrs.  Polk,  with  whom  I  have  recently  held  a  conversation  on  the  subject. 

The  two  most  important  objects  of  your  mission  will  be  to  have  the  duties 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE.  575 

on  tobacco  diminished,  and  to  obtain  a  relaxation  of  the  present  arrangement 
regulating  our  trade  with  the  British  West  Indies  and  American  provinces. 
Free  trade  is  now  the  order  of  the  day,  and  I  am  not  without  hope  that  these 
objects  may  be  accomplished.  I  have  omitted  to  instruct  you  on  the  former 
subject  on  your  own  suggestion.  I  desire  that  you  should  enjoy  all  the  credit 
of  the  movement.  I  think  a  despatch  embracing  all  the  statistical  and  other 
information  on  the  subject,  with  your  own  views,  might  do  both  the  country 
and  yourself  much  good.*  In  regard  to  the  latter  subject,  I  have  not  had 
sufficient  time  to  give  it  a  thorough  investigation. 

There  is  still  much  sickness  in  Washington,  though  not  of  a  dangerous 
character.  The  centre  of  the  city,  F  Street  and  the  avenue,  is  comparatively 
healthy.  Both  Marcy  and  Mason  have  had  intermittents, — they  were,  how 
ever,  at  the  cabinet  to-day.  Miss  Annie  t  appears  to  be  entirely  well,  and  is 
again  as  gay  as  a  lark.  Miss  Clem.J  is  still  very  weak,  and  has  not  yet  left 
her  chamber,  unless  she  has  done  so  to-day. 

With  my  kindest  regards  for  Mrs.  Bancroft,  I  remain,  as  ever,  sincerely 
and  respectfully,  Your  friend, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


[BANCROFT  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

October  8,  1846. 
My  DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN  : — 

My  heart  sunk  within  me  as  I  read  your  letter  containing  new  evidences 
of  your  friendship  and  regard ;  because  it  made  me  feel  more  sensibly  how 
much  I  lose  in  parting  from  immediate  co-operation  with  you.  Your  hint 
about  tobacco  I  shall  adopt,  and  will  make  it  my  special  business  to  collect 
all  the  details.  On  the  other  subject  also,  which  is  of  less  immediate  necessity, 
I  propose  to  enter  upon  its  consideration  fully,  first,  however,  submitting  to 
you  the  paper  which  I  may  prepare.  You  must  always  deal  with  me  frankly, 
giving  me  advice  as  freely  as  you  would  to  a  younger  brother.  You  may  be 
sure  of  my  acting  with  caution ;  and  I  shall  always  aim  to  carry  out  your 
views  in  the  manner  that  I  think  will  be  most  satisfactory  to  you.  I  shall 
hope  to  hear  from  you  very  often  privately,  as  well  as  officially. 

Your  parcels  came  yesterday  safely  to  me,  about  an  hour  after  I  wrote  to 
you. 

Mrs.  Bancroft  joins  me  in  expression  of  the  most  cordial  regard. 

Ever  most  truly  yours, 

GEORGE  BANCROFT. 

*  Mr.  Bancroft  informs  me  that  he  subsequently  advised  Mr.  Buchanan  not  to  open  & 
negotiation  for  a  reduction  of  the  British  taxes  on  tobacco,  knowing  that  it  would  be  a  use 
less  effort  to  endeavor  to  persuade  England  to  change  that  part  of  her  financial  system. 

t  The  niece  of  Mrs.  Madison.  $  Miss  Clementina  Pleasonton. 


576  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

[BANCROFT  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

LONDON,  November  3,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN  : — 

I  must  add  a  line  to  you  if  it  be  but  to  remind  you  personally  of  me.  To 
night  I  shall  see  a  good  deal  of  Lord  Palmerston.  The  tone  in  England  is, 
towards  us,  one  of  respect.  Public  opinion  is  in  favor  of  letting  us  alone,  and 
people  are  beginning  to  say  that  it  would  be  a  blessing  to  the  world  if  the 
United  States  would  assume  the  tutelage  of  Mexico.  This  country  is  neither 
in  the  disposition,  nor  in  the  ability,  to  interrupt  its  friendly  relations  with  us. 
The  good  understanding  between  the  British  cabinet  and  the  French  is  quite 
broken  up,  and  they  use  in  the  newspapers  and  in  private  very  harsh  language 
towards  each  other.  But  by  the  next  steamer  I  shall  know  more. 

The  paper  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  which  I  named  to  you  for  the  publication 
of  the  laws  was  the  " Hampden  Post"  the  old  Democratic  newspaper  with 
which  I  fought  many  a  hard  battle  against  the  worst  sort  of  malignant 
Whigs. 

"  Give  my  love  to  Mr.  Buchanan,"  says  Mrs.  Bancroft.  So  give  my  love 
to  Clementina  and  Annie,  say  I,  and  wish  them  all  happiness  and  abundant 
health.  I  wish  them  good  husbands  and  you  a  good  wife. 

Ever  faithfully  yours, 

G.  BANCROFT. 

[FROM  MR.  CALHOUN.] 

FORT  HILL,  August  30,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  SIR* — 

I  enclose  a  letter  to  ,  the  minister  appointed  by  the  Dominican 

Republic  to  our  Government,  which  I  will  thank  you  to  have  forwarded  to 
his  address. 

He  informs  me  that  Mr.  Hogan's  report  will  shortly  be  made.  I  hope  if  it 
should  be  favorable,  the  administration  will  not  fail  to  recognize  the  indepen 
dence  of  the  republic,  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done  according  to  what  has  been 
usual  in  such  cases.  St.  Domingo  is,  perhaps,  the  most  fertile  and  best  of  all 
the  West  India  Islands.  It  was  lost  to  civilization  and  commerce  through  the 
insane  movements  of  France  during  her  revolution.  Should  the  Dominican 
Republic  sustain  itself,  it  opens  a  prospect  of  restoring  the  island  again  to  the 
domains  of  commerce  and  civilization.  It  may  one  day  or  another  be  one  of 
the  great  marts  for  our  products.  It  can  sustain  a  population  of  many  millions. 
It  belongs  to  us  to  take  the  lead  in  its  recognition. 

I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  our  recognition  would  be  acceptable  to 
both  France  and  Spain 

I  regret  to  learn  that  the  prospect  is  so  discouraging  in  reference  to  the  set 
tlement  of  the  Oregon  question  by  the  parties.  I  regard  it  as  very  important 
that  it  should  be  settled.  If  it  should  not  be,  there  is  great  danger  of  its  lead- 


xv 

/  V-     or 


NOTE    ON    THE    OREGON    QUESTIOI 

oir 

ing  to  a  rupture  between  the  two  countries,  which  would  be  equally  disas 
trous  to  both.  It  is  beyond  the  power  of  man  to  trace  the  consequences  of 
a  war  between  us  and  England  on  the  subject  of  Oregon.  All  that  is  certain 
is,  that  she  can  take  it  and  hold  it  against  us,  as  long  as  she  has  the  supremacy 
on  the  ocean,  and  retains  her  Eastern  dominions.  The  rest  is  left  in  mystery. 
As  to  my  going  again  into  the  Senate,  I  do  not  contemplate  to  return  ever 
again-  to  public  life.  I  am  entirely  content  with  the  portion  of  the  public 
honors  which  have  fallen  to  my  share,  and  expect  to  spend  the  rest  of  my 
days  in  retirement,  in  my  quiet  retreat  near  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  I  find 
ample  and  agreeable  occupation  both  of  mind  and  body. 

With  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

J.  C.  CALHOUN. 


NOTE    ON    THE    OREGON    QUESTION. 

Mr.  Justin  McCarthy,  in  his  "History  of  our  own  Times,"  passes  very  lightly  over  the 
Oregon  controversy,  leaving  his  readers  to  infer  that  the  only  element  of  danger  was  the 
popularity  which  any  President  would  have  gained  by  forcing  England  into  a  war.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  his  "history"  of  this  question  is  condensed  into  the  following  sentences: 
"  The  joint  occupancy  was  renewed  for  an  indefinite  time  ;  but  in  1843  the  President  of  the 
United  States  somewhat  peremptorily  called  for  a  final  settlement  of  the  boundary.  The 
question  was  eagerly  taken  up  by  excitable  politicians  in  the  American  House  of  Represen 
tatives.  For  more  than  two  years  the  Oregon  question  became  a  party  cry  in  America. 
With  a  large  proportion  of  the  American  public,  including,  of  course,  nearly  all  citizens 
of  Irish  birth  or  extraction,  any  President  would  have  been  popular  beyond  measure  who 
had  forced  a  war  on  England.  Calmer  and  wiser  counsels  prevailed,  however,  on  both  sides. 
Lord  Aberdeen,  our  foreign  secretary,  was  especially  moderate  and  conciliatory.  He  offered 
a  compromise  which  was  at  last  accepted." 

A  true  understanding  of  any  past  controversy  between  England  and  the  United  States  is 
of  importance  in  the  future,  not  only  that  justice  may  be  done  to  individual  statesmen,  but 
that  the  methods  by  which  war  has  been  averted  and  mutual  respect  and  good  feeling  have 
been  preserved,  may  have  a  salutary  influence  in  all  time  to  come.  This  is  the  chief  value 
of  the  history  of  such  international  controversies.  The  truth  is,  that  in  this  Oregon  matter 
there  were  undoubtedly  popular  tendencies  in  this  country,  which,  if  they  had  been  yielded 
to,  might  have  enabled  any  President  to  force  a  war  upon  England,  if  he  had  been  disposed 
to  have  one.  But  it  is  not  true  that  there  was  anything  precipitate  or  peremptory  in  the  call 
for  a  final  settlement  of  the  boundary,  or  that  the  American  Government  was  disposed  at  any 
time  to  go  further  in  compliance  with  the  popular  demand  than  it  was  bound  to  go,  by  a 
proper  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  country  and  the  interests  of  the  settlers  in  the  national 
domain,  who  looked  to  it  for  protection.  Moreover  there  was  at  one  time  quite  as  great  a 
probability  that  a  war  on  this  question  of  Oregon  would  find  backers  in  England,  as  there 
was  that  it  would  be  popular  in  America.  There  were  interests  and  passions  in  both  coun 
tries  that  had  strong  tendencies  to  provoke  a  war  ;  and  the  war  would  have  occurred  at  a 
time  when,  to  repeat  the  words  of  Mr.  Webster,  it  "  would  have  kindled  flames  that  would 
have  burned  over  the  whole  globe." 

When  the  President's  message  of  December,  1S45,  communicating  to  Congress  the  cor 
respondence  down  to  that  period  reached  England,  the  British  press  became  excessively 
violent  and  even  abusive.  Worse  things  could  not  have  been  said  of  any  government  or 
people  than  were  said  of  the  American  nation  and  their  rulers  ;  and  it  is  just  as  true,  histori 
cally,  that  a  war  would  have  been  popular  in  England,  as  it  was  that  it  would  have  been  pop 
ular  in  America.  In  the  House  of  Commons  there  were  by  no  means  wanting  strong  proofs 
of  an  unnecessary  excitement. 

In  estimating  the  causes  which  produced  the  real  peril  of  a  war,  it  would  not  be  just  to 
overlook  the  loose,  not  to  say  careless,  manner,  in  which  the  negotiation  was  at  first  con 
ducted  by  and  through  the  British  minister  in  Washington.  His  rejection  of  Mr.  Buchanan's 

I.-37 


. 


578  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

offer  of  the  49th  parallel,  without  a  reference  to  his  own  government,  made  in  terms  that 
were  not  well  considered— that  were  in  fact  scarcely  respectful— put  it  out  of  the  power  oi 
the  President  to  do  anything  but  to  reassert  the  American  claim,  and  to  leave  the  British 
government  to  renew  the  negotiation  by  other  steps,  or  to  take  the  consequences  of  a  ter 
mination  of  the  joint  occupancy.  It  is  not  to  be  questioned  that  Lord  Aberdeen's  subsequent 
course  became  moderate  and  conciliatory.  But  in  the  earlier  stages  of  this  business,  Sir 
Eobert  Peel's  ministry  had  on  hand  a  most  serious  domestic  question.  To  borrow  the  pithy 
words  of  Mr.  McCarthy  himself,  used  in  reference  to  that  question :  "  Peel  came  into  office  in 
1841  to  maintain  the  corn  laws,  and  in  1843  he  repealed  them."  It  was  in  fact  with  Peel  one 
long  struggle  between  his  former  connections  and  the  new  opinions  forced  upon  him  by  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed  ;  and  although,  in  dealing  with  the  relations  between 
England  and  this  country,  in  the  earlier  part  of  his  ministry,  there  were  manifested  great 
care,  prudence,  and  conciliation,  it  is  quite  certain  that  in  the  later  controversy  about 
Oregon,  which  had  not  been  settled  by  the  treaty  of  1842,  the  British  foreign  office  did  not 
act  at  first  with  the  same  attentive  circumspection,  and  was  not  represented  at  Washington 
with  anything  like  the  same  ability  and  wisdom,  as  it  was  in  the  time  of  Lord  Ashburton's 
special  mission.  And  how  was  it  that  public  opinion  and  official  persons  in  England  were 
brought  to  a  sense  of  the  peril  in  which  both  nations  stood  in  1845-6  ?  So  far  as  salutary 
influences  could  be  exerted  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  be  felt  in  either  country,  great 
merit  is  due  to  two  of  our  statesmen,  Mr.  Buchanan  and  Mr.  Webster  ;  the  one  having  the 
duty  of  conducting  the  negotiation  to  a  peaceful  issue  ;  the  other  the  duty  of  watching  it, 
and  of  using  all  his  influence  at  home  and  abroad  to  produce  caution,  moderation,  and  a  just 
sense  of  the  responsibility  that  would  rest  upon  those  in  either  country  who  should  unneces 
sarily  lead  the  two  nations  into  a  war. 

To  Mr.  Buchanan  the  praise  is  due,  that  he  conducted  the  negotiation  throughout  with 
skill  and  firmness,  with  entire  good  temper,  and  without  any  wish  to  gain  for  the  President 
or  himself  the  cheap  popularity  that  might  have  followed  their  propitiation  of  the  war 
spirit  among  their  countrymen.  Mr.  Webster's  admonitions,  uttered  with  his  accustomed 
solemnity,  both  on  the  popular  platform  and  in  the  Senate,  were  addressed  alike  to  both 
governments  and  both  nations  ;  but  they  were  chiefly  designed  to  affect  opinion  and  feeling 
in  England,  and  this  design  was,  in  a  considerable  degree,  accomplished. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

1845—1848. 

ORIGIN  OP   THE   WAR  WITH  MEXICO — EFFORTS   OF  MR.   POLE'S 
ADMINISTRATION  TO  PREVENT   IT. 

rriHE  administration  of  President  Polk  inherited  the  Texas 
-L  question  from  the  preceding  administration  of  President 
Tyler.  The  mode  in  which  it  was  finally  proposed  to  bring 
the  republic  of  Texas  into  the  American  Union  has  been  already 
described.  When  Mr.  Polk  became  President  of  the  United 
States,  Texas  had  been  for  nine  years  practically  an  independent 
power,  with  a  form  of  government  modelled  on  that  of  the 
United  States,  with  the  exception  of  the  fact  that  Texas  con 
sisted  of  a  single  State.  The  emigration  which  had  flowed  into 
it  from  the  south-western  region  of  the  United  States  had  made 
it  a  slaveholding  country.  From  the  time  when  its  independ 
ence  was  acknowledged  by  the  American  Government,  the 
question  whether  it  should  remain  a  separate  nation,  or  be 
absorbed  into  the  American  Union,  became  a  very  serious  one. 
The  leading  men  who  had  gone  thither,  had  made  the  revolu 
tion  which  claimed  to  have  expelled,  and  had  practically  expelled, 
the  Mexican  power ;  and  together  with  the  great  bulk  of  the 
inhabitants,  they  looked  upon  the  United  States  as  their  mother 
country.  There  were  great  difficulties  attending  either  of  the 
two  courses  that  remained  open  for  the  American  Government. 
On  the  one  hand,  if  Texas  should  be  left  as  a  separate  nation 
ality,  to  continue  her  war  with  Mexico,  which  still  lingered 
after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  that  war  was  quite  certain  to 
end  in  efforts  of  the  Texans  to  invade  and  conquer  Mexico. 
This  would  have  been  resisted  by  England,  and  with  her  aid 
Mexico  would  in  turn  have  invaded  Texas.  The  power  of 
England  once  introduced  into  Mexico,  she  would  in  all  proba 
bility  have  shared  the  fate  of  India.  On  the  other  hand,  the 


580  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

introduction  of  Texas  into  the  American  Union  was  proposed 
at  a  time  when  the  "  Abolitionists"  of  the  North  had  long  been 
pressing  forward  the  immediate  and  unconditional  abolition  of 
slavery  everywhere,  by  what  they  regarded  as  "  moral  means," 
without  any  consideration  for  the  feelings  or  apprehensions  of 
the  Southern  people.  To  make  a  large  addition  to  the  area  of 
slavery  by  the  annexation  of  Texas,  a  slaveholding  State,  was 
regarded  in  the  South  as  a  necessary  means  of  strengthening 
the  political  power  of  that  section  against  the  control  of  the 
General  Government,  which,  it  was  feared,  might  eventually  be 
obtained  by  a  sectional  combination  of  the  Northern  States  on 
questions  relating  to  the  whole  subject  of  slavery.  It  was  a 
hazardous  mode  of  meeting  the  dangers  arising  from  the  North 
ern  anti-slavery  agitation,  because  it  placed  the  people  of  the 
South  in  the  attitude  of  seeking  a  preponderance  of  political 
power  upon  a  sectional  issue,  at  a  time  when  the  people  of  the 
North  were  not  seeking  to  obtain  such  a  sectional  preponder 
ance,  and  when  there  was  only  an  apprehension  that  they  might 
do  so.  But  at  the  time  when  President  Polk  succeeded  to  the 
management  of  this  delicate  matter,  it  was  believed  by  him  and 
by  many  of  his  most  considerate  Southern  supporters,  that  the 
repose  of  both  North  and  South  could  be.  and  required  to  be, 
secured  by  an  arrangement  with  the  executive  government  of 
Texas,  before  her  admission  into  the  Union,  fixing  the  northern 
boundary  of  slavery  at  the  Missouri  compromise  line  of  36°  30' 
north  latitude,  by  extending  that  line  westward.  North  of  that 
line  and  west  of  Missouri,  it  was  believed  that  negro  labor  could 
not  be  valuable,  and  that  the  negro  could  not  encounter  the 
climate.  These  were  the  views  entertained  by  Mr.  Buchanan 
when  he  accepted  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State ;  and  he 
had  reason  to  know  that  they  were  the  views  of  Mr.  Polk 
before  his  election.  To  Mr.  Buchanan  the  Missouri  com 
promise  line  recommended  itself  as  a  practicable  mode  of  giving 
effect  to  the  principle  of  equality  among  the  States  in  regard  to 
the  common  territories  of  the  United  States. 

The  precise  attitude  of  the  Texas  negotiation,  and  the  rela 
tions  of  the  United  States  with  Mexico,  at  the  time  when  Mr. 
Buchanan  took  charge  of  the  State  Department,  must  now  be 
stated,  together  with  some  reference  to  the  previous  history  of 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  581 

the  project  of  annexation.  The  first  formal  overture  of  annexa 
tion  came  from  the  government  of  Texas,  in  the  time  of  Presi 
dent  Yan  Buren,  after  the  independence  of  Texas  had  been 
recognized  by  the  United  States.  Mr.  Yan  Buren  declined  the 
proposal,  because  he  considered  it  inexpedient  to  open  the 
constitutional  questions  involved',  and  because  of  our  friendly 
relations  with  Mexico  under  existing  treaties  of  amity  and  com 
merce.  The  secret  treaty  of  annexation  negotiated  by  Mr. 
Upshur  under  President  Tyler  was  rejected  by  the  Senate. 
Mr.  Calhoun's  plan  for  bringing  Texas  into  the  Union  as  a 
State,  through  the  action  of  Congress,  was  arranged  by  him 
with  the  government  of  Texas,  after  he  became  Secretary  of 
State  in  March,  1844,  and  in  the  following  December  this  plan 
and  the  correspondence  with  the  executive  government  of 
Texas  were  submitted  to  Congress  by  President  Tyler  at  the 
opening  of  the  session.  The  motive  was  fully  disclosed.  It 
was  plainly  made  known  that  the  American  executive  believed 
that  the  British  government  was  about  to  interpose  to  cause  the 
people  of  Texas  to  abolish  slavery  in  their  country.  This  it 
was  considered  would  leave  the  Southwestern  States  of  this 
Union  on  wrhat  Mr.  Calhoun  described  as  the  u  exposed 
frontier"  of  a  free  state,  into  \vhich  their  slaves  would  be 
induced  to  escape,  and  from  which  the  foreign  and  the  Amer 
ican  abolitionists  would  be  able  to  operate  upon  slavery  in  the 
domains  of  those  States.* 

The  objections  urged  against  this  measure,  wrhen  the  resolu 
tions  for  accomplishing  it  were  finally  adopted,  three  days  before 
Mr.  Polk  became  President,  were  the  great  extent  of  territory 
which  it  would  add  to  our  dominions,  the  increase  of  slavery  and 

*  It  should  in  justice  be  stated  that,  after  it  was  known  to  Mr.  Webster  in  the  winter  of 
1843-41,  that  a  project  was  on  foot  for  bringing  in  Texas  by  treaty,  he,  not  being  at  that  time 
in  any  public  position,  made  great  efforts  to  arouse  a  popular  opposition  to  it  in  New  Eng 
land,  but  without  any  success.  It  was  not  until  after  the  executive  Government  had  become 
committed  to  the  government  and  people  of  Texas  to  promote  the  annexation  by  Mr.  Cal- 
houu's  plan  of  legislative  action,  and  after  this  plan  had  been  submitted  to  Congress,  that 
there  began  to  be  any  considerable  opposition  to  it  in  the  North,  coming  from  organized 
popular  meetings.  During  the  Presidential  election  of  1844,  although  the  Democratic  party 
made  the  annexation  of  Texas  one  of  the  measures  to  be  expected  from  it  in  case  of  the 
election  of  its  candidate,  the  Whig  party,  in  consequence  of  the  attitude  of  their  candidate, 
Mr.  Clay,  on  this  subject,  was  not  in  a  position  to  oppose  the  annexation  on  account  of  the 
slavery  existing  in  that  country.  (Compare  the  detailed  account  of  the  annexation  of  Texas 
in  the  Life  of  Mr.  Webster,  at  the  passages  referred  to  in  the  Index,  verb.  "  Texas.1') 


582  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

slave  representation,  and  its  tendency  to  produce  a  war  with 
Mexico.  It  could  not  be  said,  however,  that  under  the  circum 
stances  Mexico  would  have  a  clearly  just  cause  for  war  if  the 
annexation  should  be  accomplished,  whatever  she  might  have 
had  at  an  earlier  period.  Texas  was-  now  actually  independent 
of  Mexico.  The  United  States  had  not  only  recognized  her 
independence,  but  had  made  treaties  and  carried  on  commerce 
with  her,  in  entire  disregard  of  the  claim  of  Mexico  to  the 
sovereignty  of  this  revolted  province.  And  Mexico  had  during 
all  this  period  made  no  attempt  at  reconquest.  She  had  prac 
tically  acquiesced  in  the  recognition  of  Texan  independence  by 
the  United  States  and  other  powers  ;  and  therefore  it  could  not 
be  said,  after  such  a  lapse  of  time,  that  a  new  and  just  cause  for 
war  would  arise  if  Texas  should  be  annexed  to  the  American 
Union.*  There  was  undoubtedly  much  danger  that  Mexico 
would  not  regard  the  annexation  in  this  light ;  and,  therefore, 
what  the  new  Secretary  of  State  had  to  do  was  to  conduct  the 
whole  matter,  under  the  resolutions  of  Congress,  so  as  to  pre 
serve  peace,  if  possible. 

His  first  official  duty  was  to  answer  a  protest  addressed  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  by  General  Almonte,  the 
Mexican  minister  at  Washington.  Mr.  Buchanan's  answer  was 
regarded  by  Mr.  Webster  as  "  mild  and  conciliatory."  It  was, 
in  substance,  that  Mexico  had  no  right  to  complain  of  such  a 
transaction  between  independent  states ;  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  would  respect  all  the  just  rights  of  Mexico, 
and  hoped  to  bring  all  pending  questions  with  her  to  a  fair  and 
friendly  settlement;  but  that  the  annexation  of  Texas  must 

*  This  was  not  only  the  view  entertained  by  President  Polk  and  his  political  party,  but 
it  was  the  deliberate  opinion  of  Mr.  Webster,  who  may  be  said  to  have  represented  all  the 
grounds  of  opposition  to  the  measure.  He  re-entered  the  Senate  on  the  5th  of  March,  1845, 
four  clays  after  the  passage  of  the  joint  resolutions  for  the  annexation  of  Texas.  On  the  llth 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  son,  in  which  he  expressed  with  precision  the  whole  of  his  objec 
tions  to  this  measure,  and  decidedly  maintained  that  Mexico  could  now  have  no  just  cause 
for  war,  if  the  measure  should  be  accomplished.  He  exonerated  Mr.  Polk  and  his  cabinet 
from  any  desire  to  provoke  a  war  with  Mexico,  and  in  regard  to  foreign  intervention  he 
said  :  "  Nor  do  I  believe  that  the  principal  nations  of  Europe,  or  any  of  them,  will  instigate 
Mexico  to  war.  The  policy  of  England  is  undoubtedly  pacific.  She  cannot  want  Texas 
herself;  and  though  her  desire  would  be  to  see  that  country  independent,  yet  it  is  not  a 
point  ehe  would  seek  to  carry  by  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  world.  But  she  will,  doubtless, 
now  take  care  that  Mexico  shall  not  cede  California,  or  any  part  thereof,  to  us.  You  know 
my  opinion  to  have  been,  and  now  is,  that  the  port  of  San  Francisco  would  be  twenty  times 
as  valuable  to  us  as  all  Texas."  (See  the  entire  letter,  Life  of  Mr.  Webster,  II.,  249.) 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  583 

now  be  considered  as  a  thing  done.  Still,  a  period  of  sixty  or 
seventy  days  must  elapse  before  it  could  be  known  how  the 
government  of  Texas  had  taken  the  passage  of  the  joint  resolu 
tions.  At  that  time,  there  were  instalments  of  money  due 
from  Mexico  to  the  United  States,  under  an  existing  treaty,  to 
meet  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  a  large  amount. 
These  Mexico  might  choose  to  withhold  ;  perhaps  she  might 
decree  non-intercourse  with  the  United  States ;  but  that  she 
would  go  to  war  was  not  regarded  as  probable  by  the  best 
informed  persons  at  Washington.  In  the  meantime,  Mr. 
Buchanan  had  not  only  to  manage  the  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico,  under  circumstances  of  great  deli 
cacy,  with  firmness,  as  well  as  conciliation,  but  also  to  keep  a 
watchful  eye  upon  the  course  of  England  and  France  in  refer 
ence  to  this  measure.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  had  succeeded,  as  Secretary  of  State,  to  the  manage 
ment  of  the  Oregon  question  with  England,  as  well  as  to  the 
completion  of  the  arrangements  for  annexing  Texas  to  the 
United  States.  He  was  informed,  both  privately  and  officially,  V. 
by  the  ministers  of  the  United  States  at  London  and  Paris,  of 
the  danger  of  an  intervention  by  England  and  France  in  the 
affairs  of  Mexico ;  and  soon  after  he  became  Secretary  of  State, 
he  had  some  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  settlement  of  the 
Oregon  difficulty  might  be  delayed  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
open  the  unsettled  questions  in  regard  to  the  final  disposal  of 
Texas.  Mexico  was  at  this  time  about  to  undergo  one  of  its 
many  revolutions,  and  it  might  become  difficult  to  find  an  ex 
ecutive  government  with  which  to  establish  diplomatic  relations. 
In  this  posture  of  affairs,  an  interference  by  either  France  or 
England,  or  both,  might  render  it  impracticable  to  carry  out  the 
annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States,  and  might  lead  to 
very  serious  complications.  Writing  from  London  on  the  3d  of 
March,  at  the  moment  when  the  resolutions  providing  for  the  / 
annexation  of  Texas  had  just  passed,  but  before  they  could  have 
become  known  in  London,  Mr.  McLane  said,  in  a  private  letter 
to  Mr.  Buchanan  : 

"  Allow  me  to  add  a  word  in  regard  to  Mexico.     I  stated  in  an  early  des 
patch  that  the  policy  here  would  be  to  keep  open  our  difficulties  there,  to 


584  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

await  the  issue  of  the  Oregon  question ;  and  of  that  I  have  very  little  doubt. 
But  why  not  disappoint  such  calculation  ?  Even  if  our  affairs  with  Great 
Britain  are  to  end  in  a  rupture,  that  result,  with  proper  precaution,  may  be 
postponed  until  the  expiration  of  the  year's  notice.  Then  why  not  act 

promptly  and  decisively  in  regard  to  Mexico  ? Every  day  is 

leading  to  machinations  in  Europe  to  interfere  with  the  settlement  of  the 
Mexican  government." 

On  the  25th  of  March  (1845,)  Mr.  Buchanan  sent  the  follow 
ing  official  despatch  to  Mr.  King,  the  Minister  of  the  United 
States  at  Paris : 


[BUCHANAN  TO  KING.] 

DBF 
WASHINGTON,  March  25,  1845 


DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE,       > 


SIR: — 

Your  Despatch,  No.  11,  under  date  of  the  27th  ultimo,  has  been  received 
and  submitted  to  the  President.  In  commencing  his  administration,  he  had 
confidently  hoped,  that  the  government  of  France  was  animated  by  the  same 
kind  spirit  towards  the  United  States  which  inspires  the  Government  and 
people  of  this  country  in  all  their  conduct  towards  their  ancient  Revolutionary 
ally.  This  agreeable  impression  was  made  upon  his  mind  by  the  emphatic 
declaration  of  his  Majesty  to  yourself  on  the  4th  July  last,  when  speaking  on 
the  subject  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  our  Union,  "  that  in  any  event  no 
steps  would  be  taken  by  his  government,  in  the  slightest  degree  hostile  or 
which  would  give  to  the  United  States  just  cause  of  complaint."  The  Presi 
dent  was  also  gratified  with  the  subsequent  assurance  of  M.  Guizot,  given  to 
yourself,  that  France  had  not  acted  and  would  not  act  in  concert  with  Great 
Britain  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  annexation,  but  that  in  any  course  she 
might  pursue  she  would  proceed  independently  of  that  power.  You  may 
then  judge  of  the  surprise  and  regret  of  the  President,  when  he  discovered  from 
your  last  despatch,  that  the  governments  of  France  and  Great  Britain  were 
now  acting  in  concert  and  endeavoring  by  a  joint  effort  to  dissuade  the  gov 
ernment  and  people  of  Texas  from  giving  their  consent  to  annexation.  Nay, 
more,  that  so  intimate  has  been  their  alliance  to  accomplish  this  purpose,  that 
even  "the  instructions  of  the  French  government  to  its  representative  in 
Texas  had  been  communicated  to  Lord  Aberdeen." 

The  people  of  Texas  are  sovereign  and  independent.  Under  Providence 
they  hold  their  destiny  in  their  own  hands.  Justice  to  them  requires  that 
they  should  have  been  left  free  to  decide  the  question  of  annexation  for 
themselves  without  foreign  interference  and  without  being  biassed  by  foreign 
influence.  Not  a  doubt  exists  but  that  the  people  of  the  two  Republics  are 
anxious  to  form  a  re-union.  Indeed,  the  enthusiastic  unanimity  which  has 
been  displayed  by  the  citizens  of  Texas  in  favor  of  annexation  is  unexampled 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  535 

in  the  history  of  nations.  Little  reason  then  had  we  to  anticipate  that  whilst 
the  two  Republics  were  proceeding  to  adjust  the  terms  for  accomplishing  this 
re-union  that  France  in  concert  with  Great  Britain,  and  under  the  lead  of  that 
power,  should  interpose  her  efforts  and  influence  to  paralyze  and  obstruct  the 
free  action  of  the  people  of  Texas,  and  thus  place  herself  in  an  unfriendly 
attitude  towards  the  United  States. 

The  President  leaves  it  to  your  sound  discretion  to  decide  whether  you 
ought  not  to  embrace  a  favorable  opportunity  to  communicate,  formally  or 
informally,  to  the  government  of  France,  the  painful  disappointment  which  he 
has  experienced  from  a  review  of  these  circumstances. 

I  am,  sir,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

At  the  time  when  this  despatch  was  written,  the  British  and 
French  agents  in  Texas,  in  conjunction  with  certain  of  the 
principal  officials  of  that  country,  were  making  efforts  to  pro 
duce  dissatisfaction  with  the  terms  of  annexation  proposed  by 
the  American  Government.  The  people  of  Texas  were  by  a 
very  large  proportion  in  favor  of  the  annexation.  The  terms 
offered  by  the  United  States  could  be  made  the  means  of  pre 
venting  it.  Writing  privately  to  Mr.  Buchanan,  on  the  25th 
of  April,  Mr.  King  said  : 

There  is  scarcely  any  sacrifice  which  England  would  not  make 

to  prevent  Texas  from  coming  into  our  possession.  France  is  acting  in  con 
cert  writh  her,  so  far  as  influence  goes,  but  will  stop  there.  She  will  make  no 
pecuniary  sacrifices.  I  have  weighed  well  the  contents  of  your  last  despatch, 
and  as  you  give  me  full  discretion  in  the  matter,  I  have  come  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  in  the  present  threatening  state  of  our  relations  with  England,  no 
good  purpose  could  be  effected  by  convicting  M.  Guizot  of  the  gross  duplicity 
of  which  he  has  been  guilty ;  and  especially  as  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  ques 
tion  of  annexation  has  before  this  been  definitely  settled.  The  notice  taken 
of  the  President's  inaugural  on  the  Oregon  question  in  both  Houses  of  Parlia 
ment  has  roused  up  a  war  spirit  in  that  country  which  pervades  all  classes, 
and  caused  the  detention  of  the  steamer  which  should  have  left  on  the  4th,  to 
take  out  despatches  to  Mr.  Pakenham.  As  the  excitement  was  then  at  its 
height,  it  was  supposed  that  their  instructions  contained  an  ultimatum  which 
was  to  yield  nothing  beyond  the  Canning  proposition.  Should  this  be  the 
determination  of  that  government,  negotiation  must  cease,  for  to  such  terms 
we  can  never  accede.  I  am  induced,  however,  to  believe,  from  conversations 
I  have  held  with  Mr.  Ellis,  now  in  Paris,  who  is  connected  with  the  ministry, 
being  a  brother-in-law  of  Lord  Ripon,  and  himself  a  privy  councillor,  that 
Mr.  Pakenham's  instructions  will  be  of  a  conciliatory  character;  and  that  they 
have  great  hopes  of  being  able  to  sattle  the  matter  upon  fair  and  liberal  terms. 


556  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

But  of  this  you  are  probably  much  better  informed  than  he  is.  I  am  still  of 
the  opinion  that  we  should  not  hesitate  to  divide  the  Territory  [Oregon]  by 
fixing  our  northern  boundary  at  latitude  49°.  To  settle  the  question,  I  would 
yield  something  more  and  take  the  southern  shore  of  the  Strait  of  Fuca,  and 
thus  give  to  England  the  whole  of  Vancouver's  Island.  Such  a  variation  of 
the  proposition,  which  was  rejected  by  Mr.  Canning,  would  afford  Sir  Robert 
Peel  ground  to  stand  on,  and  might  facilitate  an  arrangement.  I  fully  under 
stand  the  difficult  position  you  occupy  as  regards  this  question,  looking  to 
the  generally  received  opinion  that  our  title  to  the  whole  of  the  Territory  is 
unquestionable. 

As  Mr.  King,  under  the  discretion  given  to  him,  did  not  think 
it  best  at  that  moment  to  make  a  formal  complaint  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  French  government,  it  became  necessary  for  Mr. 
Buchanan  to  encounter  the  intrigues  of  the  British  and  French 
diplomatic  agents  in  Texas  to  prevent  the  government  of  that 
country  from  acceding  to  the  proposal  of  annexation.  Satis 
fied  that  the  people  of  Texas,  with  a  very  near  approach  to 
unanimity,  desired  the  annexation,  Mr.  Buchanan,  with  the 
approbation  of  the  President,  instructed  the  representative  of 
the  United  States  in  Texas,  Major  Donaldson,  to  assure  the  gov 
ernment  and  people  of  that  republic  that  if  they  accepted  the 
terms  of  annexation  offered  by  the  joint  resolutions  of  the 
American  Congress,  they  might  rely  on  the  United  States  to 
make  fair  and  equitable  arrangements  with  them  on  all  points 
not  covered  by  those  resolutions.  He  also  despatched  to  Texas 
other  trustworthy  persons,  on  whom  he  could  rely,  in  an  unof 
ficial  character,  to  watch  the  movements  of  the  British  and 
French  agents,  and  to  aid  Major  Donaldson  in  counteracting 
them.  The  Texan  Congress  was  not  in  session  when  the  resolu 
tions  of  our  Congress  were  received  there.  Whether  action 
would  be  taken  upon  them  with  sufficient  promptness  to  pre 
vent  foreign  interference  from  encouraging  Mexico  to  invade 
Texas,  depended  upon  the  willingness  of  the  executive  of  Texas 
to  call  that  body  together  before  its  usual  time  of  assembling. 
That  interference  would  be  attempted  by  the  English  and 
French  agents,  the  American  Government  was  well  assured. 
That  England  would  take  the  lead  in  efforts  to  make  the  gov 
ernment  and  people  of  Texas  prefer  independence  to  annexation 
to  the  United  States,  and  that  France  would  second  these 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  587 

efforts,  there  could  be  no  doubt.  There  could  be  as  little  doubt 
that,  whatever  might  be  the  motive  of  either  power,  there 
could  be  no  solid  justification  for  their  interference  between  the 
United  States  and  a  country  which  had  been  practically  inde 
pendent  of  Mexico  for  nine  years.  There  was  no  just  ground 
on  which  any  European  power  could  assume  that  the  United 
States  was  dealing  unfairly  with  Mexico ;  and  it  should  have 
been  remembered  that  there  were  then  pending  questions  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  quite  independent  of  this 
matter  of  Texas,  with  which  no  foreign  power  could  have  the 
least  right  to  interfere,  and  which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  might  find  it  necessary  to  settle  along  with  the 
questions  of  Texas.  Nevertheless,  an  intrigue  was  now  set  on 
foot  in  Texas,  by  the  British  agent,  Captain  Elliott,  seconded  by 
the  French  agent,  M.  Saligny,  to  induce  the  executive  govern 
ment  of  Texas  to  accept  the  guarantee  of  England  and  France 
that  Mexico  should  be  made  to  acknowledge  the  independence 
of  Texas,  provided  that  her  annexation  to  the  United  States 
should  be  refused.  An  offer  to  make  Texas  independent  was 
actually  obtained  from  the  power  then  ruling  in  Mexico.  That 
this  was  done  with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  President 
of  Texas  is  true.  He  was,  as  he  afterwards  said,  willing  to 
have  such  an  offer  drawn  from  Mexico,  because  he  believed 
that  it  would  strengthen  the  cause  of  annexation  and  place  it 
on  higher  grounds  wTith  the  world.  The  truth  is  that  the  exec 
utive  government  of  Texas  and  leading  persons  in  that  country 
hesitated  for  some  time  in  regard  to  the  best  course  to  be  pur 
sued.  They  listened  to  the  representations  of  Captain  Elliott 
and  postponed  the  call  for  the  meeting  of  their  Congress  at  his 
instigation.  Elliott  believed  that  if  the  Texan  authorities 
should  delay  action,  or  even  if  the  terms  of  annexation  offered 
by  the  United  States  should  now  be  accepted,  the  consummation 
would  be  defeated  in  the  next  session  of  the  American  Con 
gress,  and  that  in  the  meantime  England  and  France  would 
come  forward  and  guarantee  the  independence  of  Texas.  He 
made  these  representations  to  the  President  of  Texas  early  in 
May,  and  he  and  M.  Saligny  then  left  the  country,  without 
making  known  whither  they  were  going ;  and  at  about  the 
same  time  it  became  known  that  the  Texan  secretary  of  state 


558  LIFE   OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

had  suddenly  departed  for  Europe.  It  was  believed  in  Texas 
that  Elliott  had  gone  to  the  United  States  to  confer  with  some 
of  the  prominent  opponents  of  annexation,  and  to  bring  back 
proofs  that  the  whole  measure  would  be  finally  rejected  by  the 
Congress  and  people  of  the  United  States.  These  occurrences 
aroused  the  people  of  Texas  to  such  a  degree  of  earnestness 
and  determination,  that  their  executive  was  compelled  to  call 
the  Congress  together,  for  the  purpose  of  summoning  a  conven 
tion  to  ratify  the  annexation  and  to  form  a  State  constitution. 
The  meeting  of  the  Congress  was  fixed  for  the  16th  of  June. 
When  this  was  announced,  the  people  of  Texas  in  general 
regarded  the  annexation  as  settled,  and  they  turned  their  atten 
tion  to  the  subject  of  their  new  constitution.* 

The  Texan  Congress,  when  assembled,  adopted  the  basis  of 
annexation  proposed  by  the  United  States,  and  made  provision 
for  a  convention  to  be  held  at  Austin  on  the  4th  of  July.  Cap 
tain  Elliott  was  then  convinced  that  further  opposition  would 
be  useless.  He  was  reported  to  have  said  :  "The  hunt  is  up.  I 
retire  and  await  orders  from  Her  Majesty."  The  annexation 
was  ratified  by  the  convention  in  the  month  of  July. 

There  were  of  course  no  United  States  troops  in  Texas  at  the 
time  of  this  action  of  its  convention  ;  but  after  this  event  it  was 
thought  best  to  place  a  small  force  there,  and  this  force  was  to 
arrive  in  the  early  part  of  July.  But  before  the  convention  had 
assembled,  namely,  in  the  last  week  in  June,  Mexican  troops 
were  put  in  motion  towards  the  Rio  Del  Korte.  A  new  election 
of  a  President  was  to  take  place  in  Mexico  before  the  close  of 
the  year.  Whoever  might  aspire  to  that  position  would  find 
his  chief  means  of  success  in  stimulating  the  war  feeling  of  the 
nation.  In  the  latter  part  of  July,  Mr.  Buchanan  had  left 
Washington  for  a  short  absence  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was 

*  Mr.  C.  A.  Wickliffe,  who  was  sent  by  Mr.  Buchanan  to  Texas  as  a  confidential  agent, 
and  from  whose  report  I  have  taken  the  principal  facts  above  related,  writing  from  Galveston 
on  the  6th  of  May,  said:  "The  subject  of  the  terms  of  annexation,  or  the  result  of  the 
measure  when  Congress  meets,  no  longer  constitutes  the  topic  of  conversation  among  the 
people.  They  speak  of  this  as  a  subject  settled.  The  all -engrossing  topic  among  them  is 
the  provisions  of  their  constitution  to  be  adopted.  Upon  this  subject  I  have  been  gratified 
to  listen  to  the  views  and  opinions  of  many  intelligent  men.  The  deep  interest  they  feel  in 
the  work  of  making  a  constitution  which  shall  secure  to  Texas  and  her  citizens  the  blessings 
of  a  good  government  and  social  order,  gives  high  hopes  of  their  future  destiny.  I  undertake 
to  predict  that  you  will  be  surprised  when  you  shall  see  their  constitution,  emanating  from. 
a  people  of  whose  disorder  so  much  has  been  said." 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  539 

recalled  by  the  following  letter  from  the  President,  inclosing 
one  from  Mr.  Bancroft,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy : 

[PRESIDENT  POLK  TO  MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

.WASHINGTON  CiTy,  August  7,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  :— 

I  enclose  to  you  a  letter  from  Mr.  Bancroft,  and  will  add  to  what  he  has 
said,  that  the  information  from  Mexico  comes  in  so  authentic  a  shape  as  to 
entitle  it  to  entire  credit.  The  strong  probability  is  that  a  Mexican  army  of 
eight  or  ten  thousand  men  are  now  on  the  western  borders  of  Texas.  Should 
they  cross  the  Del  Norte,  as  no  doubt  they  will,  our  forces  at  present  in  the 
country  will  be  inadequate  to  resist  them  in  their  march  upon  Texas.  Orders 
will  be  issued  to-day  to  increase  our  forces  as  far  as  our  disposable  troops 
will  enable  us  to  do  so.  The  necessary  despatches  from  your  department  to 
Major  Donaldson,  or  (in  the  event  that  he  has  left  the  country),  to  the  United 
States  Consul  at  G-alveston,  will  of  course  be  prepared  by  Mr.  Mason.  I  wish 
it  were  so,  that  while  these  important  steps  were  being  taken,  we  could  have 
the  benefit  of  your  advice. 

Before  you  left  you  requested  me  to  inform  you,  if  anything  should  occur 
which  in  my  judgment  would  make  it  necessary  for  you  to  return  earlier  than 
you  intended.  We  are  in  daily  expectation  of  receiving  further  information 
from  Mexico,  which  may,  and  probably  will,  confirm  the  statement  given  you 
by  Mr.  Bancroft.  The  news  of  the  action  of  the  convention  of  Texas  was 
despatched  from  New  Orleans  to  Vera  Cruz  by  the  Mexican  Consul  on  the 
15th  ult.,  and  would  probably  be  conveyed  to  the  city  of  Mexico  by  the 
21st  or  22d.  Upon  receiving  this  information,  some  decisive  action  no  doubt 
took  place. 

In  addition  to  these  reasons,  which  make  it  very  desirable  to  have  the 
benefit  of  your  counsel,  I  must  confess  that  the  developments  which  are  taking 
place,  as  well  as  my  daily  reflections,  make  it,  in  my  opinion,  more  and  more 
important  that  we  should  progress  without  delay  in  the  Oregon  negotiation. 
You  may  consider  me  impatient  on  this  subject.  I  do  not  consider  that  I  am 
so,  but  still  I  have  a  great  desire,  that  what  is  contemplated  should  be  done  as 
soon  as  it  may  suit  your  convenience.  I  have  felt  great  reluctance  in  saying 
this  much,  because  I  desired  not  to  interfere  with  your  arrangements  during 
the  short  recreation  which  you  have  taken  from  your  arduous  labors. 
I  am,  very  faithfully  and  truly,  your  friend, 

JAMES  K.  POLK. 

P.  S. — If  you  determine  to  anticipate  the  period  of  your  return  to  Washing 
ton,  you  will  see  the  propriety  of  leaving  Bedford  in  a  way  to  produce  no 
public  sensation  as  to  the  cause  of  your  departure.  That  it  may  not  be  known 
that  you  leave  on  receiving  a  letter  from  me,  I  will  not  place  my  frank  on  this 
letter.  Yours,  &c., 

J.  K.  P. 


590  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 


[MR.  BANCROFT   TO   MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

WASHINGTON,  August  7,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN: — 

You  remember  I  told  you,  before  you  left,  that  Baron  Gerolt*  predicted 
war  on  the  part  of  Mexico.  Yesterday  morning,  at  the  President's  request, 
I  went  to  see  him,  and  found  him  very  ready  to  communicate  all  his  intelli 
gence,  concealing  only  the  name  of  his  informant,  and  desiring  that  his  own 
name  may  not  be  used. 

His  letters  came  by  way  of  Havana,  and  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  are  from 
Mexico  city,  of  the  date  of  June  28th.  He  vouches  for  the  entire  authen 
ticity  and  good  opportunities  of  information  on  the  part  of  his  correspondent. 

General  Arista,  with  three  thousand  men,  chiefly  cavalry,  himself  the  best 
cavalry  officer  in  Mexico,  had  been  directed  to  move  forward  towards  the  Del 
Norte ;  but  whether  he  had  orders  to  cross  the  Del  Norte  was  not  said. 

At  San  Louis  Potosi,  General  Paredes,  the  comrnander-in-chief,  had  his 
general  quarters,  with  an  army  of  seven  thousand  men.  These  also  were 
directed  to  move  forward,  in  small  divisions,  towards  the  Del  Norte. 

From  Mexico  City,  General  Felisola,  the  old  woman  who  was  with  Santa 
Anna  in  Texas,  was  soon  to  leave  with  three  thousand  men  to  join  the  army 
of  Paredes. 

Thus  far  positive  information.  It  was  stated  by  the  baron  as  his  opinion 
that  Mexico  would  certainly  consider  the  armistice  with  Texas  broken  by  the 
action  of  the  Texas  convention  ;  that  she  would  shun  battles  and  carry  on  an 
annoying  guerilla  warfare ;  that  she  would  protract  the  war  into  a  very  ex 
pensive  length ;  that  she  would  agree  to  no  settlement  of  boundary  with  us, 
but  under  the  guarantee  of  European  powers. 

On  these  opinions  I  make  no  comment.  The  seemingly  authentic  news 
of  hostile  intentions  has  led  Governor  Marcy,t  under  proper  sanctions,  to  in 
crease  his  little  army  in  Texas,  and  Mr.  Mason  has  written  all  the  necessary 
letters.  I  do  not  see  but  that  the  sun  rises  this  morning  much  as  usual.  The 
President,  too,  is  in  excellent  spirits,  and  will  grow  fat  in  your  absence,  he 
sleeps  so  well  now,  and  sees  nothing  before  him  but  the  plain,  though  steep 
and  arduous  path  of  duty. 

So  wishing  you  well, 

Your  faithful  friend, 

GEORGE  BANCROFT. 

Mr.  Buchanan  had  already  determined  what  course  to  advise 
the  President  to  pursue  in  regard  to  Mexico.  This  was  to  re 
establish  diplomatic  relations  with  her,  by  sending  a  minister 
with  special  instructions  and  authority  to  negotiate  a  settlement 

*  Prussian  Minister.  t  Secretary  of  War. 


EFFORTS   TO  PREVENT  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.  591 

of  all  questions  between  the  two  countries,  including  the  west 
ern  boundary  of  Texas.  To  select  a  suitable  person  for  this 
mission  and  send  him  into  Mexico  with  an  uncertainty  of  his 
being  received,  or  of  his  being  received  and  treated  with,  was  a 
delicate  matter.  The  appointment  had  to  be  made,  and  to  be 
kept  a  profound  secret,  until  it  could  be  known  what  reception 
the  minister  would  meet  with.  It  was  settled  early  in  the 
autumn  that  this  appointment  should  be  offered  to  Mr.  John 
Slidell  of  Louisiana.  His  acceptance  of  the  position  was  made 
known  to  the  President  in  September.  The  following  private 
letter  to  Mr.  Buchanan  is  somewhat  amusing  in  its  earnest 
ness  respecting  the  secrecy  which  had  been  enjoined  upon  the 
writer  :* 

[MR.  SLIDELL    TO    MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

NEW  ORLEANS,  Sept,  25,  1845. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : — 

You  can  scarcely  imagine  how  much  I  was  surprised  to-day  by  receiving 
your  most  kind  and  friendly  letter  of  the  17th  inst. 

I  have  never  at  any  time  believed  that  we  should  have  war  with  Mexico. 
I  have  looked  upon  the  rhodomontades  of  the  press  and  the  manifestoes  of 
secretaries,  as  alike  having  but  one  object  in  view,  the  presidential^  contest ; 
and  in  this  point  of  view  I  consider  it  of  little  consequence  who  shall  be 
elected.  He  who  had  been  most  strenuous  in  proclaiming  war  as  indispens 
able  to  the  vindication  of  Mexican  honor,  would,  when  installed  in  the  presi 
dential  chair,  "  roar  you  an  'twere  any  nightingale."  The  truth  is  that 

although  I  have  no  very  exalted  idea  of yet  I  cannot  imagine  that 

any  one  who  could  possibly  be  elected  president,  could  have  so  small  a  modi 
cum  of  sense  as  to  think  seriously  of  going  to  war  with  the  United  States. 
But  strong  as  I  have  been  in  this  belief,  I  had  not  thought  that  the  govern 
ment  would  have  been  prepared  so  soon  to  receive  from  us  an  accredited 
agent.  I  think  with  you  that  they  desire  to  settle  amicably  all  the  questions 
in  dispute  between  us.  But  will  they  dare  in  the  present  distracted  state  of 
the  country,  to  give  so  great  a  shock  to  what  is  their  settled  public  opinion. 
They  have  stimulated  popular  prejudice  to  a  degree  that  it  may,  under  any 
appearance  of  disposition  to  treat  with  us,  be  fatal  to  the  new  administration. 
But  of  this  you  have  infinitely  the  best  means  of  judging,  and  I  shall  hold 
myself  in  readiness  to  receive  your  instructions.  I  feel  most  deeply  the 

*  John  Slidell  of  New  Orleans,  at  this  time  a  Representative  in  Congress  from  Louisiana, 
was  the  same  person  who  became  famous  all  over  the  world,  along  with  his  colleague,  Mr. 
Mason,  during  our  civil  war,  after  they  were  seized  from  on  board  the  British  steam-packet 
Trent,  on  their  way  as  Confederate  envoys  to  England,  brought  to  the  United  States,  im 
prisoned,  and  afterwards  released.  Consult  the  Index,  verb.  "  Slidell." 


592  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

importance  of  the  mission,  and  I  confess,  now  that  it  is  probable  I  shall  soon 
enter  upon  it,  I  have  some  misgivings  about  it.  I  hope  that  you  will  not 
consider  this  as  an  affectation  of  modesty  and  humility.  I  assure  you  I  am 
perfectly  sincere,  but  will  probably  grow  in  better  favor  with  myself  when 
the  work  is  fairly  commenced.  I  am  truly  grateful  to  you  for  the  proof  of 
your  friendship  and  esteem,  and  am  flattered  by  the  confidence  reposed  in  me 
by  the  President.  I  shall  endeavor  to  justify  them.  The  President  has 
enjoined  on  me  the  strictest  secrecy ;  he  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  I 
should  not  communicate  what  he  had  said  to  me  to  a  single  human  being.  I 
have  told  him  that  I  was  obliged  to  make  an  exception  in  favor  of  Mrs.  S., 
but  as  I  could  not  well  enter  into  particulars  with  him  on  this  subject,  pray 
let  me  explain  it  to  you.  If  I  had  made  an  unreserved  pledge  to  the  Presi 
dent,  I  could  not  have  felt  myself  at  liberty  to  hint  it  even  to  my  wife.  I 
could  have  made  no  preparations  for  my  voyage  without  her  knowing  it.  We 
were  making  our  arrangements  to  proceed  shortly  to  Washington.  If  I  were 
mysterious  with  her,  she  would  be  shrewd  enough  to  guess  what  was  in  the 
wind.  She  would  have  some  theory  to  guide  her,  because  you  may  recollect 
that  when  you  first  broached  this  subject  with  me,  I  told  you  that  I  had  no 
secrets  for  her.  Now  I  am  not  one  of  those  who  believe  that  a  woman 
cannot  keep  a  secret.  I  know  she  can,  for  I  am  sure  that  she  has  never 
breathed  a  word,  respecting  it,  to  any  one,  not  even  to  her  mother.  Besides 
she  is  living  in  the  country,  where  we  seldom  see  any  one,  and  where  there 
is  little  gossiping.  Pray,  explain  this  to  the  President,  who  might  perhaps 
consider  my  disobedience  of  his  injunction  as  an  inauspicious  omen  in  the 
opening  of  my  diplomatic  career.  It  is  a  matter  of  great  regret  to  me  not  to 
have  the  opportunity  of  full  personal  communication  with  you  before  going  to 
Mexico.  I  feel  that  it  will  be  a  great  disadvantage,  but  I  must  rely  upon 
your  alleviating  it  as  far  as  possible  by  your  communications  and  instructions. 

I  will  not  fail  to  convey  your  very  flattering  message  to  Mrs.  S. 

I  think  I  must  get  her  to  write  to  you  to  remove  an  impression  which  I  faar 
you  have  taken  up.    She  will  tell  you  that  I  am  one  of  the  best  tempered  men 
living.     I  have  written  in  great  haste,  having  barely  had  time  to  save  the  mail. 
Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  most  truly  and  respectfully, 

Your  friend  and  servant, 

JOHN  SLIDELL. 

Mr.  Slidell  was  at  Pensacola  in  the  middle  of  November 
(1845),  prepared  to  embark  for  Vera  Cruz,  on  his  way  to  the 
City  of  Mexico.  He  was  somewhat  disturbed  by  a  rumor  that 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  about  to  retire  from  the  State  Department, 
but  this  proved  to  be  unfounded.  His  instructions  came  from 
Mr.  Buchanan,  and  were  received  before  he  reached  the  capital 
of  Mexico,  where  he  arrived  in  the  early  part  of  December. 
At  this  time  there  were  two  unpaid  instalments  of  money  which 


EFFORTS  TO  PREVENT  A  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.          593 

became  due  from  Mexico  to  the  United  States  in  April  and 
September,  1844,  under  a  convention  of  April  llth,  1839,  and 
a  large  amount  of  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  against 
Mexico  which  had  arisen  subsequent  to  that  convention.  Mr. 
Slidsll  was  now  authorized  to  make  an  offer  that  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  would  assume  the  payment  of  all 
just  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  against  Mexico 
down  to  that  time,  which  could  be  established  by  proofs  accord 
ing  to  the  principles  of  right  and  justice,  the  law  of  nations, 
and  the  existing  treaties  between  the  two  countries.  He  was 
further  authorized  to  include  in  the  new  treaty  which  he  was 
to  negotiate  an  adjustment  of  the  western  boundary  of  Texas ; 
to  stipulate  for  the  payment  by  the  United  States,  in  cash,  of 
an  ample  equivalent  for  such  a  settlement  of  the  boundary  as 
the  United  States  desired,  and  to  agree  to  make  the  payment  on 
the  exchange  of  ratifications.  By  such  a  settlement,  while  the 
United  States  would  secure  incalculable  advantages,  Mr.  Bu 
chanan  believed  that  Mexico  would  be  more  than  indemnified 
for  the  surrender  of  her  doubtful  right  to  reconquer  Texas,  and 
for  the  establishment  of  the  boundary  which  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  intended  to  claim. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  (1845),  General  Paredes  pro 
cured  himself  to  be  declared  President  of  Mexico,  by  a  process 
which  is  described  in  the  following  private  letter  to  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  written  by  Mr.  Slidell  from  the  City  of  Mexico : 

[SLIDELL   TO   BUCHANAN.] 

MEXICO,  January  10,  184b. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  am  sending  to  Vera  Cruz,  to  be  forwarded  by  the  first  merchant  vessel 
my  despatch  respecting  the  instalments  of  April  and  September,  1844. 

The  facts  are  not  as  completely  developed  as  I  could  have  wished,  but  it  is 

impossible  to  obtain  any  further  information  at  present Paredes, 

notwithstanding  his  solemn  protestation  that  he  would  accept  no  place  in  the 
government,  has  been  elected  president  by  a  junta  of  notables  of  his  own 
choice,  and,  as  you  may  readily  imagine,  unanimously.  The  government  is 
now  really,  although  not  in  form,  a  military  despotism.  Many  of  the  states 
have  already  given  m  their  adhesion,  and  from  present  appearances,  Paredes  is 
likely  to  establish  his  authority  throughout  the  republic.  He  seems  to  possess 
I.— 38 


594  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

considerable  energy,  and  he  is  believed  to  have  pecuniary  honesty.  He  will 
probably  maintain  himself  for  some  time,  if  he  can  arrange  the  difficulties 
with  the  United  States.  Unless  he  does  this,  he  will  soon  find  himself  with 
out  means  to  pay  his  troops,  for  the  capitalists  will  not  advance  him  a  dollar 
in  the  present  state  of  our  relations.  So  soon  as  he  was  elected,  I  applied 
wholly  through  the  consul,  to  the  military  commandant,  for  an  escort — the 
cabinet  was  not  appointed  for  some  days  after  his  election.  The  commandant 
replied  that  while  Paredes  was  in  opposition  to  the  government,  he  could  not 
furnish  the  escort.  On  the  7th  inst.  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  was 
appointed,  when  Mr.  Black  applied  in  writing  for  an  escort,  and  received  yes 
terday  a  reply  "  that  public  order  not  having  been  yet  completely  restored, 
the  president  could  not  spare  the  force  necessary  for  an  escort."  Now  Puebla 
has  submitted  to  the  government,  and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  army  is  in  the 
capital  and  on  the  road  to  Vera  Cruz,  this  answer  looks  very  much  as  if  the 
government  did  not  wish  him  to  leave  the  city,  and  I  should  not  be  at  all  sur 
prised  to  receive  very  soon  an  intimation  of  a  disposition  to  receive  me. 

General  Almonte  is  Secretary  of  War,  and  understood  to  be  the  soul  of  the 
cabinet.  The  Secretary  of  State  is  Mr.  Castillo  y  Zurgas,  who  was  for  some 
years  charge  des  affaires  at  Washington.  I  met  with  him  at  Jalapa,  where  I 
saw  him  much,  and  conversed  freely  with  him  during  my  stay  of  ten  days. 
He  is  an  intelligent  and  well  educated  man,  and  seemed  to  have  the  most 
friendly  feelings  towards  the  United  States,  and  spoke  without  reserve  of  the 
absolute  necessity  of  a  friendly  settlement  of  our  difficulties.  I  have  not  seen 
him  since  his  appointment,  and  avoid,  indeed,  all  intercourse  with  people  in 
any  way  connected  with  public  affairs,  because  I  am  well  satisfied  that  any 
manifestation  of  a  disposition  to  approach  the  new  government  would  only 
tend  to  procrastination,  if  not  defeat  my  object.  I  think  that  I  shall  have  a 
better  chance  of  succeeding  than  with  the  former  government,  for  Paredes  has 
the  nerve  to  carry  through  any  arrangement  that  he  may  consider  expedient, 
and  calculated  to  promote  his  continuance  in  power. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  faithfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  SLIDELL. 


Although  at  the  date  of  this  letter  it  appeared  probable  that 
Paredes  would  receive  the  general  submission  of  the  people  of 
Mexico,  and  that  he  must  be  regarded  as  at  least  the  de  facto 
President,  it  could  not  be  considered  that  a  counter-revolution 
of  some  kind  was  not  likely  to  take  place.  The  Mexican  Con 
gress  was  to  assemble  on  the  1st  of  January  (1846).  Before 
Mr.  Buchanan  had  received  Mr.  SlidelPs  private  letter  of 
January  10th,  he  sent  to  Mr.  Slidell  the  following  official 
despatch : 


EFFORTS  TO  PREVENT  A   WAR  WITH  MEXICO.          595 

[MR.    BUCHANAN   TO   MR.    SLIDELL.] 

DEPARTMENT  or  STATE, 

(No.  5.)  WASHINGTON,  January  20,  1846. 

SIR:— 

I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  your  commission  as  Envoy  Extraor 
dinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  of  America  to  the 
Mexican  Republic,  under  the  appointment  made  by  the  President,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 

Your  despatches,  Nos.  2  and  3,  under  date  respectively,  the  30th  November 
and  17th  December,  have  been  received ;  and  I  shall  await  the  arrival  of 
others  by  the  Porpoise  with  much  solicitude.  Should  the  Mexican  govern 
ment,  by  finally  refusing  to  receive  you,  consummate  the  act  of  folly  and  bad 
faith  of  which  they  have  afforded  such  strong  indications,  nothing  will  then 
remain  for  this  Government  but  to  take  the  redress  of  the  wrongs  of  its 
citizens  into  its  own  hands. 

In  the  event  of  such  a  refusal,  the  course  which  you  have  determined  to 
pursue  is  the  proper  one.  You  ought,  in  your  own  language,  so  to  conduct 
yourself  as  to  throw  the  whole  odium  of  the  failure  of  the  negotiation  upon 
the  Mexican  government;  point  out  in  the  most  temperate  manner  the 
inevitable  consequences  of  so  unheard  of  a  violation  of  all  the  usages  which 
govern  the  intercourse  between  civilized  nations,  and  declare  your  intention  to 
remain  in  Mexico  until  you  can  receive  instructions  adapted  to  the  exigencies 
of  the  case.  This  sojourn  will  afford  you  an  honorable  opportunity  to  watch 
the  course  of  events,  and  avail  yourself  of  any  favorable  circumstances  which, 
in  the  mean  time,  may  occur.  Should  a  revolution  have  taken  place  before 
the  first  of  January,  the  day  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  Congress,  an  event 
which  you  deemed  probable;  or  should  a  change  of  ministry  have  been 
effected,  which  you  considered  almost  certain ;  this  delay  will  enable  you  to 
ascertain  the  views  and  wishes  of  the  new  government  or  administration. 
The  desire  of  the  President  is  that  you  should  conduct  yourself  with  such 
wisdom  and  firmness  in  the  crisis,  that  the  voice  of  the  American  people  shall 
be  unanimous  in  favor  of  redressing  the  wrongs  of  our  much  injured  and  long 
suffering  claimants. 

It  would  seem  to  be  the  desire  of  the  Mexican  government  to  evade  the 
redress  of  the  real  injuries  of  our  citizens,  by  confining  the  negotiation  to  the 
adjustment  of  a  pecuniary  indemnity  for  its  imaginary  rights  over  Texas.  This 
cannot  be  tolerated.  The  two  subjects  must  proceed  hand  in  hand.  They 
can  never  be  separated.  It  is  evidently  with  the  view  of  thus  limiting  the 
negotiation,  that  the  Mexican  authorities  have  been  quibbling  about  the  mere 
form  of  your  credentials ;  without  even  asking  whether  you  had  instructions 
and  full  powers  to  adjust  the  Texan  boundary.  The  advice  of  the  Council  of 
Government  seems  to  have  been  dictated  by  the  same  spirit.  They  do  not 
advise  the  Mexican  government  to  refuse  to  receive  you ;  but,  assuming  the 
fact  that  the  government  had  agreed  to  receive  a  plenipotentiary  to  treat  upon 


596  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

the  subject  of  Texas  alone,  they  infer  that  it  is  not  bound   to   receive  an 
envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  without  this  limitation. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  President,  in  anticipation  of  the  final  refusal  of  the 
Mexican  government  to  receive  you,  has  ordered  the  army  of  Texas  to 
advance  and  take  a  position  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  has 
directed  that  a  strong  fleet  shall  be  immediately  assembled  in  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  He  will  thus  be  prepared  to  act  with  vigor  and  promptitude  the 
moment  that  Congress  shall  give  him  the  authority. 

This  despatch  will  not  be  transmitted  to  you  by  the  Mississippi.  That 
vessel  will  be  detained  at  Pensacola  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  to  you 
instructions  with  the  least  possible  delay,  after  we  shall  have  heard  from  you 
by  the  Porpoise ;  and  of  bringing  you  home  in  case  this  shall  become  neces 
sary. 

By  your  despatch  No.  2,  written  at  Yera  Cruz,  you  ask  for  an  explanation 
of  my  instructions  relative  to  the  claim  of  Texas  on  that  portion  of  New 
Mexico  east  of  the  Del  Norte ;  and  you  state  the  manner  in  which  you  pro 
pose  to  treat  the  subject  in  the  absence  of  any  such  explanation.  I  need  say 
nothing  in  relation  to  your  inquiry  ;  but  merely  to  state  that  you  have  taken 
the  proper  view  of  the  question,  and  that  the  course  which  you  intend  to 
pursue  meets  the  approbation  of  the  President. 

I  am,  &c., 

JAMES  BUCHANAN. 


It  is  now  necessary  to  recur  to  the  military  movement 
referred  to  in  this  despatch.  In  August,  1845,  General  Zachary 
Taylor  was  encamped  at  Corpus  Christi,  in  Texas,  in  command 
of  a  small  American  force  of  fifteen  hundred  troops.  In  the 
following  November,  his  force  was  recruited  to  about  four 
thousand  men.  On  the  8th  of  March,  1846,  acting  under  the 
President's  orders,  given  in  anticipation  of  a  refusal  of  the 
Mexican  authorities  to  receive  or  to  treat  with  Mr.  Slidell, 
Taylor  moved  towards  the  Eio  Grande,  and  on  the  28th  his 
little  army  reached  the  banks  of  that  river,  opposite  the  town 
of  Matamoras.  In  a  despatch  written  on  the  12th  of  March  to 
Mr.  Slidell,  Mr.  Buchanan  said : 

It  is  not  deemed  necessary  to  modify  the  instructions  which  you  have 
already  received,  except  in  a  single  particular ;  and  this  arises  from  the  late 
revolution  effected  in  the  government  of  the  Mexican  Republic  by  General 
Paredes.  I  am  directed  by  the  President  to  instruct  you  not  to  leave  that 
republic,  until  you  shall  have  made  a  formal  demand  to  be  received  by  the 
new  government.  The  government  of  Paredes  came  into  existence  not  by  a 
regular  constitutional  succession,  but  in  consequence  of  a  military  revolution 


EFFORTS  TO  PREVENT  A  WAR  WITH  MEXICO.          507 

by  which  the  subsisting  constitutional  authorities  were  subverted.  It  cannot 
be  considered  as  a  mere  continuation  of  the  government  of  Herrera.  On  the 
contrary,  the  form  of  government  has  been  entirely  changed,  as  well  as  all  the 
high  functionaries  at  the  head  of  the  administration.  The  two  governments 
are  certainly  not  so  identical  that  the  refusal  of  the  one  to  receive  you  ought 
to  be  considered  conclusive  evidence  that  such  would  be  the  determination  of 
the  other.  It  would  be  difficult,  on  such  a  presumption,  in  regard  to  so  feeble 
and  distracted  a  country  as  Mexico,  to  satisfy  the  American  people  that  all  had 
been  done  which  ought  to  have  been  done  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  resorting 
to  hostilities. 

On  your  return  to  the  United  States,  energetic  measures  against  Mexico 
would  at  once  be  recommended  by  the  President;  and  these  might  fail  to 
obtain  the  support  of  Congress,  if  it  could  be  asserted  that  the  existing  govern 
ment  had  not  refused  to  receive  our  minister.  It  would  not  be  a  sufficient 
answer  to  such  an  allegation  that  the  government  of  Herrera  had  refused  to 
receive  you,  and  that  you  were  therefore  justified  in  leaving  the  country  after 
a  short  delay,  because,  in  the  meantime,  the  government  of  Paredes  had  not 
voluntarily  offered  to  reverse  the  decision  of  his  predecessor. 

The  President  believes  that,  for  the  purpose  of  making  this  demand,  you 
ought  to  return  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  if  this  be  practicable,  consistently  with 
the  national  honor.  It  was  prudent  for  you  to  leave  it  during  the  pendency 
of  the  late  revolution,  but  this  reason  no  longer  continues.  Under  existing 
circumstances  your  presence  there  ought  to  be  productive  of  the  most  benefi 
cial  consequences 

The  time  when  you  shall  ask  to  be  received  by  the  government  of  Paredes 
is  left  to  your  own  discretion.  The  President  thinks  this  ought  to  be  done 
speedily,  unless  good  reasons  exist  to  the  contrary.  Your  demand  ought  to 
be  couched  in  strong  but  respectful  language.  It  can  no  longer  be  resisted  on 
the  ridiculous  pretence  that  your  appointment  has  not  been  confirmed  by  the 
Senate 

In  regard  to  the  time  of  your  departure  from  the  Mexican  Republic,  the 
President  is  willing  to  extend  your  discretion.  In  the  present  distracted  condi 
tion  of  that  republic,  it  is  impossible  for  those  at  a  distance  to  decide  as  correctly 
what  ought  to  be  your  course,  in  this  particular,  as  you  can  for  yourself  upon 
the  spot.  The  intelligence  which  you  have  communicated,  "  that  the  depart 
ment  of  Sinaloa  has  declared  its  independence ;  "  "  that  the  garrison  of  Mazatlan 
has  pronounced  against  Paredes ;"  and  "that  the  authorities  of  the  depart 
ments  of  Nuevo  Leon,  Tamaulipas,  Chihuahua,  Michoacan,  and  Queretero 
have  protested  in  strong  terms  against  the  usurpation  of  Paredes ;  and  refus 
ing  to  continue  in  the  exercise  of  their  functions,  have  dissolved,"  may  well 
exercise  an  influence  on  your  decision.  Indeed,  you  suppose  "  that  appear 
ances  justify  the  belief  that  Paredes  will  not  be  able  to  sustain  himself  until 
the  meeting  of  the  constituent  congress;  that  his  government  will  perish 
from  inanition,  if  from  no  other  cause.  In  this  critical  posture  of  Mexican 
affairs,  it  will  be  for  yourself  to  decide  the  question  of  the  time  of  your 


598  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

departure  according  to  events  as  they  may  occur.  If,  after  you  shall  have 
fulfilled  your  instructions,  you  should  indulge  a  reasonable  hope,  that  by  con 
tinuing  in  Mexico,  you  could  thus  best  subserve  the  interests  of  your  country, 
then  you  ought  to  remain,  provided  this  can  be  done  with  honor.  The  Pres 
ident  reposes  entire  confidence  in  your  patriotism  and  discretion,  and  knows 
that  no  temporary  inconvenience  to  yourself  will  prevent  you  from  perform 
ing  your  duty.  It  may  be  that  when  prepared  to  take  your  departure  another 
revolution  might  be  impending,  the  result  of  which  would  enable  you,  by  a 
timely  interposition,  to  accomplish  the  great  objects  of  your  mission.  Besides, 
in  the  present  distracted  condition  of  Mexico,  it  is  of  importance  that  we 
should  have  an  able  and  discreet  agent  in  that  country  to  watch  the  progress 
of  events,  and  to  communicate  information  on  which  this  department  could 
rely.  Jalapa  is  probably  not  so  favorable  a  position  for  observation  as  the 
City  of  Mexico. 

We  have  received  information  from  different  quarters,  in  corroboration  of 
your  statement,  that  there  may  be  a  design  on  the  part  of  several  European 
powers  to  establish  a  monarchy  in  Mexico.  It  is  supposed  that  the  clergy 
would  generally  favor  such  a  project,  and  that  a  considerable  party  already 
exists  among  the  people,  which  would  give  it  their  countenance  and  support. 
It  is  believed  by  many  that  this  party  will  continue  to  increase  in  consequence 
of  the  successive  revolutions  which  may  afflict  that  country,  until  at  length  a 
majority  of  the  people  will  be  willing  to  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  a 
monarch  for  security  and  protection.  Indeed,  rumor  has  already  indicated 
the  king,  in  the  person  of  the  Spanish  Prince  Henry,  the  son  of  Francisco 
de  Paula,  the  rejected  suitor  of  Queen  Isabella. 

These  may  be,  and  probably  are,  idle  speculations ;  but  they  come  to  us  in 
such  a  shape  that  they  ought  not  to  be  wholly  disregarded.  It  will  be  your 
duty  to  exercise  your  utmost  vigilance  in  detecting  this  plot  and  its  ramifica 
tions,  if  any  such  exists 

This  despatch  will  be  transmitted  to  you  by  the  Mississippi  (which  is  placed 
at  your  disposal),  and  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  an  officer  of  that  vessel. 
There  will  always  be  a  vessel  of  war  at  Vera  Cruz,  ready  to  bear  your 
despatches  or  yourself  to  the  United  States. 

In  conclusion  I  would  remark  that  it  is  impossible,  at  this  distance  from  the 
scene  of  action,  to  anticipate  all  the  contingencies  which  may  occur  in  a 
country  in  a  state  of  revolution,  as  Mexico  is  at  present,  and  to  provide  for 
cases  of  sudden  emergency.  Much  must  necessarily  be  left  to  the  discretion 
of  the  envoy,  who,  on  the  spot,  can  take  advantage  of  circumstances  as  they 
may  arise:  and  the  President  is  happy  in  believing  that  you  possess  all  the 
qualifications  necessary  for  the  crisis. 

P.  S. — To  provide  for  possible  contingencies,  two  letters  of  credence  are 
transmitted  to  you :  the  one  directed  to  General  Paredes  by  name,  and  the 
other  to  the  President  of  the  Mexican  Republic. 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         599 

The  government  of  Paredes  refused  to  receive  Mr.  Slidell, 
and  he  consequently  retired  from  Mexico  to  'New  Orleans, 
and  on  the  9th  of  April  he  wrote  thence  to  Mr.  Buchanan  the 
following  private  letter : 

[SLIDELL  TO  BUCHANAN.] 

NEW  ORLEANS,  April  9,  1846. 
Mr  DEAR  SIR:— 

When  I  left  here  a  few  months  since  I  little  thought,  or  rather  I  never 
dreamed^  that  I  should  so  soon  return.  Had  I  found  a  fair  field  in  Mexico,  I 
believe  that  I  would  have  justified  your  good  opinion  and  the  confidence 
.which  the  President,  through  your  recommendation,  reposed  in  me.  But  the 
fates  have  willed  it  differently,  and  I  return  an  unsuccessful,  and  of  course 
in  the  estimation  of  the  public  generally,  an  inefficient  diplomatist.  I  flatter 
myself  that  such  will  not  be  your  opinion  and  that  of  the  discreet  few,  and  I 
must  console  myself  with  that  reflection.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  shall  never 
cease  to  entertain  the  warmest  recollections  of  your  kindness  and  friendship. 

I  hope  to  hear  from  you  in  a  few  days ;  if  you  express  any  desire  to  see  me 
in  Washington,  I  shall  leave  immediately.  I  shall  probably  defer  my  depart 
ure  until  the  end  of  the  month.  I  most  sincerely  hope  that  your  anticipations 
of  embarrassment  to  the  Oregon  question  from  my  return  will  not  be  realized, 
but  if  such  be  the  case,  the  publication  by  the  Mexican  government  of  my 
correspondence  rendered  the  mischief  irreparable. 

Mrs.  Slidell  begs  me  to  present  her  to  your  recollection.  She  will  soon 
have  an  opportunity  of  thanking  you  in  person  for  your  many  kind  remem 
brances. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  most  faithfully,  your  friend  and  servant, 

JOHN  SLIDELL. 

Within  a  little  more  than  a  month  after  the  date  of  this  letter 
a  state  of  war  was  declared  by  an  act  of  Congress  to  exist  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Mexico.  This  peculiar  declara 
tion  came  about  in  consequence  of  events  which  had  occurred 
after  Taylor  had  taken  up  a  position  on  the  Rio  Grande  oppo 
site  to  Matamoras.  The  Mexican  General  Arista,  commanding 
a  large  force  at  Matamoras,  menaced  Taylor  with  hostilities,  if 
he  did  not  retire  to  a  position  beyond  the  river  !N~euces.  The 
threat  was  disregarded,  and,  in  a  short  time,  a  small  reconnoi^ 
tering  party  of  Taylor's  troops  were  attacked  by  the  Mexicans 
and  captured.  This  occurrence,  and  the  refusal  of  the  Paredes 
government  to  receive  Mr.  Slidell,  were  regarded  by  President 


600  LIFE   OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

Polk  as  tantamount  to  actual  war.  By  a  special  message  sent 
to  Congress  on  the  llth  of  May,  1846,  Mr.  Polk  officially  in 
formed  Congress  of  all  the  facts  which  he  regarded  as  establish 
ing  a  state  of  war,  and  asked  for  its  recognition.  On  the  12th 
of  May  the  act  recognizing  the  war  was  passed,  and  provision 
was  made  for  its  vigorous  prosecution.  The  main  justification 
relied  upon  by  the  administration  for  the  presence  of  an  Ameri 
can  army  on  the  Rio  Grande  was,  that  it  was  encamped  upon 
territory  which  had  already  become  part  of  the  United  States, 
and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  United  States  Government 
to  defend  this  territory  from  invasion,  especially  as  the  only 
existing  executive  government  of  Mexico  had  refused  to  receive 
an  American  envoy,  through  whom  an  adjustment  of  all  ques 
tions  of  boundary  and  all  other  pending  difficulties  could  have 
been  negotiated. 

[SLIDELL   TO   BUCHANAN.] 

NEW  YORK,  July  1,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  :— 

As  I  have  not  heard  from  you,  and  have  seen  no  notice  in  the  newspapers 
of  the  matter  which  was  the  subject  of  our  last  conversation,  I  feel  happy  in 
the  belief  that  your  application  to  Mr.  A.  has  resulted  in  a  satisfactory  expla 
nation.  By  this  time  you  must  have  decided  the  question  so  important  for  the 
country,  as  well  as  decisive  of  your  future  political  fortunes,  whether  you 
will  remain  in  your  present  post  or  accept  the  vacant  judgeship.  You  might 
not  think  me  altogether  a  disinterested  adviser  were  I  to  urge  you  not  to  leave 
the  Department  of  State ;  and  indeed  I  myself  feel  that  a  certain  degree  of 
selfishness  may  render  me  a  somewhat  unsafe  counsellor ;  but  of  one  thing  I 
am  sure,  unless  some  absolute  necessity  exist  for  an  immediate  decision,  you 
should  not  take  a  step  which  cannot  be  recalled,  and  which  you  may  hereafter 
regret,  until  the  tariff  question  has  been  definitively  acted  on.  That  stumbling 
block  out  of  your  way,  I  should  most  deeply  regret  to  see  you  shelved  upon 
the  Supreme  Bench. 

There  may  be  here  and  there  in  this  part  of  the  world,  some  extreme 
54-40  men  who  disapprove  of  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  question,  but  I 
have  not  as  yet  met  with  one  of  them ;  and  if  we  acquire  California,  the 
specimens  will  be  equally  rare  in  the  Western  States  ;  it  will  soon  be  indeed 
an  extinct  race,  and  two  years  hence  it  will  be  as  difficult  to  make  an  issue  on 
that  question  as  on  the  Mexican  boundary. 

Our  people  are  essentially  practical ;  they  look  ahead  only  ;  no  party  can 
be  organized  on  matters  that  are  past.  The  President  has  made  most  judi 
cious  promotions  in  the  army  and  selections  for  the  volunteers,  and  now  that 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         60] 

he  has  got  rid  of  this  source  of  uneasiness,  he  must  feel  himself  in  very 
smooth  water.  We  have  most  shocking  weather.  So  soon  as  it  becomes  a 
little  more  summer  like,  we  shall  go  to  Saratoga.  Mrs.  Slidell  begs  me  to 
present  her  regards. 

Believe  me,  very  faithfully  yours. 

JOHN  SLIDELL. 

War  having  been  declared  General  Scott  demanded  of  the 
Government,  as  his  "  right,"  to  be  appointed  to  lead  our  armies 
into  Mexico.  Whether  it  was  because  his  "  right "  was  recog 
nized,  or  because  he  was  regarded  as  the  fittest  general  for  the 
chief  command(,  his  appointment  to  that  position  was  made, 
notwithstanding  the  brilliant  victories  gained  by  General  Taylor 
as  soon  as  the  war  opened.*  The  military  history  of  the  war 
does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  work.  During  its  pro 
gress,  the  American  Government  kept  a  diplomatic  agent  in 
Mexico,  Mr.  N.  P.  Trist,  ready  to  agree  on  terms  of  peace.  The 
treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  negotiated  between  him  and  three 
plenipotentaries  on  the  part  of  the  Mexican  Republic  was  signed 
on  the  2d  of  February,  1848,  and  was  ratified  by  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  on  the  16th  of  March.  It  ceded  to  the 
United  States  New  Mexico  and  California,  and  settled  the 
western  boundary  of  Texas.  The  private  letters  given  below 
are  of  the  years  1845  and  1846,  and  with  them  the  present 
chapter  must  close. 

[SLTDELL    TO    BUCHANAN.] 

NEW  ORLEANS,  November  5,  1846, 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : — 

I  reached  home  about  a  fortnight  since,  and  was  met  by  the  unpleasant 
intelligence  of  our  overwhelming  defeat  in  Pennsylvania.  I  have  persuaded 
myself  that  this  can  only  be  a  temporary  reverse,  and  that  Pennsylvania  must 
very  soon  retake  her  position  in  the  Democratic  ranks.  I  should  feel  much 
better  satisfied,  however,  to  have  this  opinion  confirmed  by  you.  I  do  not 
know  what  to  think  of  Santa  Anna's  movements,  letters,  etc.  It  may  be  that 
he  is  only  mystifying  his  countrymen,  but  the  more  reasonable  solution  seems 
to  me  to  be  that  he  has  not  found  himself  as  strong  as  he  expected,  and  has 
not  thought  it  prudent  to  declare  his  real  sentiments.  I  believe  that  he  is 
fully  impressed  with'  the  necessity  of  making  peace,  but  whether  he  will  be 

*  Colonel  Taylor  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general  soon  after  the  first  of  his 
victories. 


602  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

able  to  carry  out  his  views  is  another  question.  When  I  last  saw  you,  the 
course  to  be  pursued,  if  Mexico  refused  to  treat,  had  not  been  decided  upon. 
It  is  time  that  this  question  should  be  decided.  The  present  system  of  opera 
tion  involves  the  most  enormous  expense.  That  would  be  a  minor  considera 
tion  were  adequate  results  produced.  I  believe  that  if  the  Mexican  Congress 
refuse  to  treat,  the  war  may  be  ended  in  the  course  of  the  next  year  by  the 
capture  of  the  capital.  This,  if  pursued  with  vigor  and  under  a  competent 
commander-in-chief,  would  be  the  better  course.  I  doubt  if  G-eneral  Taylor 
possesses  the  capacity  for  operations  on  so  extended  a  scale;  and  yet,  until  he 
has  committed  some  grave  and  palpable  error,  it  would  be  a  very  unsafe  step 
to  supersede  him.  I  have  seen  many  persons  from  the  army ;  they  all  think 
Worth  the  most  competent  man.  Kearney,  perhaps,  is  equal  to  Worth.  I  do 
not  know  enough  of  Butler  to  have  any  fixed  opinion  as  to  his  capacity.  The 
fate  of  the  administration  depends  on  the  successful  conduct  of  the  war. 

There  are  but  two  modes  of  carrying  it  on — to  march  upon  the  capital  with 
such  a  force  as  will  ensure  success,  or  to  hold  the  northeastern  provinces  and 
California,  with  the  ports  of  Yera  Cruz  and  Tampico,  keeping  up  a  rigid  blockade 
of  both  coasts,  and  requiring  the  enemy  to  supply  all  the  provisions  we  may 
require.  For  this  purpose  we  should  not  require  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
effective  men.  If  we  do  not  march  upon  Mexico,  it  is  every  way  essential  to 
take  San  Juan  de  Ulloa.  The  navy  should  have  an  opportunity  to  distinguish 
itself,  and  the  people  must  have  something  to  huzza  about. 

There  is  a  Doctor  Mesa  here,  just  arrived  from  Victoria,  the  capital  of 
Tamaulipas.  He  brings  letters,  stating  him  to  be  a  man  of  character  and  influ 
ence,  and  that  he  is  authorized  to  speak  the  sentiments  of  the  leading  men  of 
Tamaulipas.  He  says  that  the  people  of  that  department  are  willing  to  separate 
from  Mexico,  if  they  can  have  assurances  of  protection  from  us,  and  that  they 
would  be  joined  in  the  movement  by  the  neighboring  departments.  I  of 
course  did  not  pretend  to  say  what  would  be  done  by  the  administration,  but 
suggested  that  at  present  it  would  be  indiscreet  to  guarantee  a  northern  con 
federation,  but  that  we  would  be  under  the  strongest  obligations  of  honor,  in 
making  a  treaty  of  peace,  to  stipulate  for  full  protection  in  person  and  prop 
erty  to  all  those  who  might  take  part  in  the  movement.  He  will  proceed  to 
Washington,  and  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  giving  him  a  letter  of  introduc 
tion  to  you.  I  shall  patiently  await  the  expiration  of  the  month  of  December; 
if  by  that  time  Mexico  has  not  signified  her  wish  to  treat,  I  shall  no  longer 
continue  to  look  forward  to  a  renewal  of  my  mission.  I  have  written  to  the 
President,  and  I  have  felt  it  my  duty  to  say  what  I  have  heard  from  almost 

every  quarter,  that  General  (of  whose  qualifications  1  personally  have 

no  knowledge  whatever),  does  not  command  the  confidence  of  the  army.  Do 
you  know  General  Pillow  ?  Has  not  the  President  exaggerated  views  of 
his  military  talents  ? 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  very  faithfully  and  respectfully, 

Your  friend,  etc., 

JOHN  SLTDELL. 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         603 

[MR.  SLIDELL   TO   PRESIDENT   POLK.] 

NEW  ORLEANS,  January  6,  1847. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

The  tenor  of  all  the  advices  from  Mexico  is  such  as  to  satisfy  me  that  [the 
Mexican]  Congress  will  not  authorize  the  opening  of  negotiations,  and  that 
we  are  not  to  have  a  peace  until  its  terms  are  dictated  by  a  victorious  army 
before  the  walls  of  the  capital.  The  public  interest  may,  and  probably  will, 
require  that  you  should  make,  under  such  circumstances,  other  arrangements 
for  future  negotiations  than  those  which  you  had  heretofore  proposed,  and  my 
object  in  now  addressing  you  is  to  state,  as  I  do  with  the  most  entire  frank 
ness,  and  without  the  slightest  reservation,  that  I  do  not  expect  or  desire  that 
my  previous  mission,  or  any  understanding  that  has  existed  in  regard  to  its 
resumption,  should  interfere  in  the  remotest  degree  with  any  new  selection 
that  you  may  consider  it  expedient  to  make.  While  I  shall  ever  entertain  the 
warmest  sense  of  the  distinguished  and  unsolicited  mark  of  your  good  opin 
ion  in  charging  me  with  one  of  the  most  important  trusts  which  has  ever 
been  confided  to  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  I  feel  that  I  should  be 
unworthy  of  its  continuance  if  I  permitted  any  claims  of  mine,  real  or  sup 
posed,  to  embarrass  you  for  a  single  moment. 

General  Scott,  when  he  passed  through  this  place,  considered  himself,  in 
consequence  of  my  relation  to  Mexican  affairs,  at  liberty  to  communicate  in 
confidence  to  me,  as  he  did  fully,  his  plan  of  the  campaign,  and  I  was  highly 
gratified  to  learn  that  Vera  Cruz  was  to  be  attacked  by  a  force  that  will  in 
sure  the  possession  of  that  most  important  position.  I  am  not  so  well  satis 
fied,  however,  that  the  shortest  road  to  Mexico  is  the  best,  and  while  I  take 
it  for  granted  that  the  topography,  resources  and  climate  of  Mexico  have 
been  maturely  studied,  and  due  weight  given  to  all  the  considerations 
which  should  decide  the  choice  of  routes,  yet  I  can  not  but  feel  some  misgiv 
ing  as  to  the  result.  At  all  events,  the  most  abundant  resources  of  men  and 
materials  should  be  placed  at  his  disposition.  There  is  one  subject  connected 
with  this,  of  which  I  have  long  been  thinking  of  writing  to  you,  but  have 
been  restrained  by  feelings  which  you  can  understand  and  appreciate.  I  fear 
that  the  commander  of  our  squadron  has  not  the  qualities  of  energy  and  de 
cision  which  are  imperatively  required  for  an  emergency  like  the  present. 
Commodore  Conner  is  a  brave  man,  an  accomplished  officer,  and  a  good  sea 
man,  but  his  health  is,  and  has  been  for  some  time  past,  so  much  impaired  as, 
in  a  great  degree,  to  neutralize  these  qualities ;  the  sound  mind,  in  military 
matters  especially,  is  not  sufficient  without  the  strong  body;  and  frequent 
violent  attacks  of  a  most  painful  nervous  affliction,  the  tic-douloureux,  cannot 
fail  to  affect  the  clearness  of  his  perception  and  the  vigor  of  his  action.  To 
my  mind  this  has  been  abundantly  demonstrated  by  his  two  abortive  attempts 
at  Alvarado.  On  this  point  there  is  little  difference  of  opinion  among  the 
officers  under  his  command.  Alvarado  might  have  been  taken  without  diffi 
culty  on  either  occasion.  He  does  not  command  the  confidence  of  those  who 


C04  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

serve  under  him,  and  confidence  is  the  vital  principle  of  success.  I  make 
these  remarks  with  great  diffidence  and  still  greater  reluctance,  for  I  have  the 
highest  regard  for  Commodore  Conner,  as  an  officer  and  a  gentleman,  and 
were  it  not  for  his  bodily  ailments,  there  are  few  men  in  the  navy  whom  I 
consider  better  fitted  for  so  important  a  command.  I  trust  that  you  will  par 
don  me  for  suggestions  which  may  perhaps  be  considered  misplaced,  but  I  am 
sure  that  you  will  do  justice  to  the  feeling  that  has  dictated  them.  Your 
own  fame,  the  success  of  your  administration,  the  great  interests  of  tho 
country  are  staked  upon  a  brilliant  termination  of  the  war,  and  the  feelings  of 
an  individual  are  but  dust  in  the  balance  of  such  momentous  issues.  This  is 
the  scale  in  which  I  wish  my  own  to  be  weighed,  and  be  assured,  my  dear 
sir,  that  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  shall  most  cheerfully  and  cordially 
acquiesce  in  any  decision  which  you  may  think  proper  to  make. 

Yours  ever, 

JOHN  SLIDELL. 

[HON.    RICHARD    RUSH   TO    MR.    BUCHANAN.] 

SYDENHAM,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,  October  7,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

I  am  half  ashamed  to  be  again  sending  you  little  bits  of  my  correspondence 
from  abroad ;  but  you,  who  have  so  much  to  do  with  heads  of  governments 
and  nations,  will  know  how  to  appreciate  even  general  expressions  from  those 
who  live  in  daily  intercourse  with  sovereigns,  and  are  constantly  hearing  them 
talk — yet  whose  discretion  and  training  guard  them  against  mentioning 
names.  The  enclosed  letter,  received  by  the  last  steamer,  is  from  Lady 
Lyttleton,  and  I  naturally  am  disposed  to  infer  that  the  words  I  have  pen 
cilled,  mean  Queen  Victoria ;  or  that  they  include  her — at  the  least.  This  Lady 
L.  is  the  widow  of  the  late  Lord  Lyttleton,  and  daughter  of  Earl  Spencer, 
and  holds  the  post  of  chief  governess  to  the  queen's  children ;  for  which  she 
was  selected  from  among  England's  highest  women  for  virtues  and  accomplish 
ments,  to  aid  in  forming  their  principles  and  conduct.  Her  home  is  chiefly 
Windsor  Castle,  but  she  dates  now  from  "Osborne  House,"  the  queen's 
marine  residence  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  she  was  at  the  time  of  writing, 
with  the  queen  and  children.  The  queen  is  understood  to  hold  her  in  the 
greatest  esteem  and  confidence :  and  the  little  pencilled  words,  dropping  from 
such  a  quarter  in  this  private  letter,  do  seem  to  me  to  import  that  this  little 
successor  to  Queen  Elizabeth  personally  likes  your  treaty,  full  as  much  as 
when  Lord  Aberdeen  writes  officially  that  it  is  approved;  and  so  may  be 
taken  as  a  veritable  addition  to  all  the  other  evidences  you  have  on  that  head ; 
and  this  must  be  my  excuse  for  sending  the  letter  to  you — which  can  be 
returned  at  your  perfect  convenience.  I  need  not  stop  to  explain  the  little 
allusions  it  has  to  my  family  or  self,  as  they  are  the  mere  common  courtesies 
of  an  amiable  lady.  The  "  niece  "  in  question,  is  the  wife  of  Colonel  Bucknall 
Estcourt,  known  to  you  as  lately  in  our  country  under  a  commission  from  the 
British  government. 


PRIVATE   CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         605 

This  good  lady's  letter  done  with,  I  am  tempted  to  go  on  and  remark,  as 
somewhat  growing  out  of  it,  that  if  those  who  could  doubt  the  President's 
consistency  in  agreeing  to  the  Oregon  treaty,  or  yours  in  supporting  him  in  it, 
be  not  convinced  by  the  articles  now  in  course  of  publication  in  the  Pennsyl- 
vanian  (following  up  the  powerful  discussions  in  the  Union  on  the  same  pointy 
that  there  was  perfect  consistency,  we  may  say  of  them  what  Hume  says  of 
the  sturdy  Scotch  Jacobites  who  declared  for  the  innocence  of  Mary  of 
Scots ;  viz,  that  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  reason  and  argument,  and  must 
be  left  to  their  prejudices 

I  have  just  been  reading  my  last  Union.  The  Santa  Fe  army  of  the  West 
appears  to  have  done,  and  to  be  doing,  nobly;  but  war,  war,  war  all  over 
Mexico,  by  land  and  sea,  say  I  for  one.  All  else  is  leather  and  prunella 
just  now,  and  would  be  inhumanity  to  ourselves  in  the  end.  If  a  blow 
can  be  struck  at  Vera  Cruz,  so  much  the  better.  That  would  tell  through 
the  world;  which,  otherwise,  will  say,  in  spite  of  the  different  circumstances, 
that  the  French  took  the  castle,  whilst  we,  with  all  our  naval  resources  so 
much  nearer,  could  not.  A  thousand  of  our  seamen  would  do  the  business. 
Let  them  land  by  night,  armed  to  the  teeth,  during,  or  at  the  close  of,  a 
furious  bombardment,  we  having  bomb  vessels  and  heavier  ships  perhaps 
than  now,  and  they  will  go  right  into  the  works — nothing  can  stop  them — 
carrying  all  before  them  as  surely  as  Decatur  succeeded  at  Tripoli,  when, 
in  the  face  of  all  their  soldiers,  batteries,  gun-boats,  and  the  guns  of  the 
frigate,  odds  twenty  to  one  more  against  him  than  there  would  be  against  our 
squadron  in  the  gulf,  he  and  his  mere  handful  of  gallant  men,  so  signally 
triumphed.  There  are  Decaturs  somewhere  in  our  squadron  now,  or  those 
who  have  their  mantle.  Nothing  more  certain.  They  would  put  the  gulf  in 
a  blaze  of  glory  for  us,  if  you  let  them  try  it. 

I  have  been  writing  a  good  deal  for  my  little  paper ;  ever  a  sort  of  privi 
lege  to  irresponsibility,  joined,  if  not  to  entire  ignorance,  at  least  to  want  of  full 
knowledge.  But  I  console  myself  with  the  reflection  that  it  must  be  ever  a 
sort  of  relief  to  a  high  official  man  with  his  hands  full  of  engagements,  on 
getting  quite  through  a  letter  to  him,  to  find  at  last,  as  you  do  with  this,  that 
it  makes  no  complaints,  taxes  him  with  no  business,  nor  even  demands  any 
answer. 

And  now  I  will  conclude  with  begging  you  to  accept  the  assurances  of 
esteem  and  friendship  with  which  I  desire,  my  dear  sir,  to  subscribe  myself, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

RICHAKD  RUSH. 


[RUSH   TO    BUCHANAN.] 

SYDENHAM,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,  June  2d,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  SIR:— 

A  rumor  catches  my  eye  in  one  of  the  morning  papers  that  General  Scott 
has  claimed  of  the  administration  his  right  to  lead  our  army  into  Mexico. 


606  LIFE  OF  JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

This  may  or  may  not  be  true.  I  am  little  inclined  to  believe  all  I  see  in  the 
newspapers,  or  the  half  of  it ;  but  I  know  what  is  true,  viz :  That  when  Gen 
eral  Brown  died,  Scott  did  claim,  in  the  most  objectionable  manner,  his  right 
to  succeed  to  the  command  of  the  army.  He  addressed  a  series  of  letters  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  then  Governor  Barbour,*  to  prove,  as  he  confidently 
supposed  that  he  did,  his  alleged  right,  all  of  them  written  in  a  highly  improper 
tone.  One  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  likened  them,  by  a  figure  of  speech, 
as  I  remember,  to  taking  the  Government  by  the  throat,  and  demanding  its 
surrender  upon  his  own  terms.  Being  then  of  the  cabinet  myself,  invited  by 
Mr.  Adams  from  the  English  mission,  where  I  had  been  some  seven  years,  (in 
which  country,  to  give  the  devil  his  due,  I  had  observed  the  military  to  be 
always  de  facto  as  well  as  in  theory,  wholly  subordinate  to  the  civil  power, 
above  all  the  supreme  executive  power),  I  heard  all  his  letters  read,  and  con 
fess  that  I  was  astounded  at  them.  So  out  of  place  were  they  conceived  to 
be  as  addressed  to  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  and  thus  in  effect  to  the  Presi 
dent,  that  there  were  those  of  the  body  (I  am  sure  there  was  one)  who  would 
have  been  in  favor  of  striking  his  name  from  the  army  without  more  ado,  and 
this  in  the  face  of  the  gallant  manner  in  which  he  did  his  duty  last  war  in  the 
field,  on  the  mere  footing  of  the  spirit  of  insubordination  and  dangerous  tem 
per  for  a  military  man  which  these  letters  bespoke.  In  the  end,  as  you  know, 
Macomb  was  appointed  Brown's  successor,  over  both  Scott  and  Gaines,  for 
the  latter  had  put  in  his  somewhat  imperious  claims  too,  urging  it  offensively, 
though  in  a  less  degree  than  Scott.  I  presume  that  Scott's  letters  are  on  file 
in  the  War  Department.  The  whole  history  of  the  affair  is  curious.  It 
would  not  do  for  me  to  write,  or  for  me  to  make  public,  but  if  ever  the  oppor 
tunity  happens  to  occur  to  me  in  conversation,  you  might  be  amused  to  hear 
some  of  its  details.  It  came  near  to  breaking  Mr.  Adams's  cabinet  to  pieces 
at  the  time. 

Has  not  the  case  occurred  for  the  balancing  principle  we  have  been  threat 
ened  with,  and  might  it  not  be  well  to  forestall  its  application?  Prevention 
is  better  than  cure.  If  we  promptly  get  possession  of  the  Mexican  capital, 
and  make  them  sign  a  treaty  doing  us  full  justice  at  last,  it  would  be  too  late 
for  Guizot  and  company  to  interfere1.  They  would  see  too  clearly  its  utter 
hopelessness.  "  The  burying  would  have  gone  by,"  as  our  Judge  Yates  was 
fond  of  saying.  It  would  be  the  a  posteriori  argument  rather  than  the  a 
priori.  These  are  crude  thoughts,  occurring  while  I  write,  which,  of  course, 
you  have  all  been  more  fully  weighing  in  Washington ;  but  one  more  I  must 
indulge  in,  not  crude,  which  is,  that  really  our  whole  operations  in  regard  to 
Mexico,  compared  to  the  ultimatum  of  the  French  Minister  Deffands,  which 
preceded  the  bombardment  of  Yera  Cruz  by  Admiral  Baudin  and  the  Prince 
de  Joinville,  quite  naturally  remind  us  of  Fontaine's  fable  of  the  beasts  who 
accuse  each  other  of  their  sins.  The  lions,  the  wolves  and  the  bears  are  par 
doned  everything,  while  the  lamb  is  devoured  for  nibbling  a  little  grass, 

*  James  Barbour  of  Virginia,  Secretary  of  War  under  President  John  Quincy  Adams. 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         GQ7 

I  had  intended  only  to  mention  confidentially  those  letters  of  General 
Scott  which,  if  on  file,  may  be  seen  by  all ;  but  I  cannot  conclude  without 
congratulating  the  President  and  yourself  on  General  Taylor's  victories  as 
equally  glorious  and  pure.  They  are  the  former  by  all  the  best  titles  that  can 
be  laid  to  efficient  and  splendid  achievements  in  arms,  with  greatly  inferior 
numbers,  and  the  latter  from  having  been  gained  on  our  own  soil  in  repelling 
hostile  aggressions,  following  upon  "long  continued  and  unredressed  injuries." 
A  people  who  have  thus  deliberately  commenced  a  war  upon  this  patient  and 
long  forbearing  Republic  have  surely  invited  its  vigorous  recoil  upon  them 
selves,  whatever  the  consequences  to  themselves.  Such  must  be  the  calm 
voice  of  history,  pronouncing  her  judgment  on  well  authenticated  facts  when 
party  spirit  is  forgotten. 

I  remain,  my  dear  sir,  very  sincerely  yours, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 


[RUSH   TO    BUCHANAN.] 

SYDENHAM,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,  August  18, 1845. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  have  to  pray  your  excuse  for  the  trouble  of  this  letter. 

I  wish  to  have  all  the  documents  respecting  Oregon  that  accompanied  the 
President's  message  to  the  Senate  of  the  21st  of  July.  They  were  given  in 
the  Union,  which  I  take,  but  so  often  miss,  through  one  bad  chance  or  other 
at  the  post  office,  that  I  have  not  these  documents ;  and  as  they  are  generally 
published  in  the  pamphlet  form,  I  would  feel  greatly  indebted  to  you  if  (hav 
ing  a  copy  to  spare)  you  would  have  the  goodness  to  direct  it  to  me,  as  I  know 
not  where  else  to  seek  it.  Sometimes  I  am  meditating  one  more  volume  on 
our  relations  with  England,  the  Oregon  question  closing  the  list  of  the  histori 
cal  ones  growing  out  of  our  revolution ;  and  I  desire  at  any  rate  to  gather  up 
the  authentic  documents  bearing  on  that  question  which  seem  to  me,  with 
the  facts  they  furnish,  to  supply  the  materials  perhaps  of  some  reflections  also, 
at  this  new  and  remarkable  epoch  in  our  affairs.  On  the  whole,  I  think  you 
made  a  wise  settlement  of  that  long  pending  difficulty.  My  own  impression 
was  ever  very  strong,  that  England  was  ready  to  appeal  to  the  sword,  unless 
1  she  got  territory  and  advantages  south  of  49° ;  and  I  will  candidly  own  to 
you  that  she  took  up  with  fewer  at  last  than  I  supposed  she  would  have  done. 
This  I  ascribe  to  the  energy  and  whole  course  of  our  Government  since  Mr. 
Polk  came  in,  at  which  I  was  a  little  startled  at  first ;  but  it  came  out  nobly, 
and  what  a  fine  prospect  the  settlement  now  offers  to  us  of  intercourse  with 
England,  in  connection  with  our  new  tariff. 

On  this  latter  head,  will  not  England  now  do  something  for  our  tobacco^ 
and  become  wholly  liberal  in  the  arrangements  of  her  West  India  trade  with 
us  ?  Our  new  tariff  may  well  justify  us  in  urging  her  on  these  and  other 
points  in  which  she  is  still  much  behind  the  liberality  of  our  own  system. 

I  am  sincerely  glad  that  your  services  are  retained  in  the  Department  of 


608  LIFE    OF   JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

State.  If  I  might  claim  to  speak,  I  should  say  that  it  is  due  both  to  your 
country  and  yourself,  that,  having  accomplished  so  much  of  good  in  that 
station  already,  you  should  continue  in  it  to  do  more. 

How  ill-judged,  I  would  almost  say  criminal,  in  the  Senate,  to  have  refused 
the  President  the  small  sum  he  asked  towards  the  executive  plans  with  Mex 
ico  !  Eeading  lately  a  life  of  Mirabeau,  I  was  much  struck  with  a  remark 
quoted  from  Madame  de  Sevigne,  that  "  there  is  nothing  so  expensive  as  want 
of  money.1'  What  may  be  the  executive  plans  precisely  in  regard  to  Mexico, 
I  of  course  know  not ;  but  I  can  conceive  that  to  have  given  the  President 
those  two  millions  in  hand  he  asked  for,  might  have  saved  the  ultimate  expen 
diture  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  millions. 

I  remain,  my  dear  sir,  with  sincere  respect,  very  faithfully  yours, 

RICHARD  RUSH. 


fMR.  PICKENS   TO   MR.  BUCHANAN.] 

EDGEWOOD  (SOUTH  CAROLINA),  July  5th,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  owe  you  a  letter ;  but,  as  in  your  last,  you  said  you  were  so  much  over 
whelmed  in  business,  I  thought  it  would  be  wrong  to  inflict  a  letter  upon  you 
until  you  might  have  more  leisure.  And  as  I  see  you  have  disposed  of  the 
Oregon  question  and  its  difficulties,  I  suppose  now  you  must  be  resting  upon 
your  triumphs  and  honors,  and  have  some  time  to  read  a  humdrum  letter  from 
a  quondam  friend,  who  assures  you  in  advance  that  he  is  not  going  to  beg  you 
for  any  office  whatever. 

You  wrote  me  you  were  about  to  give  a  letter  of  introduction  to  me  for  an 
English  lady  who  was  to  travel  South,  etc.  I  looked  a  long  time  for  this 
distinguished  visitor,  and  had  my  household  put  in  order  to  receive  her,  par 
ticularly  as  I  heard  she  was  about  to  write  a  ubook,"  and  I  desired  to  figure 
largely  in  English  history. 

By  the  by,  I  see  it  stated  by  "  letter-writers,"  who  now  constitute  a  dis 
tinguished  fraternity  illustrious  for  the  intimate  knowledge  they  possess  of 
everything,  that  you  are  going  to  England  yourself,  and  I  see  it  also  stated  in 
the  same  quarter  that  you  will  take  with  you  a  very  brilliant  cousin  of  mine. 
Now,  I  will  not  tell  you  how  I  think  you  will  represent  us  at  the  court  of 
St.  James,  but  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  she  will  tJo  us  honor  in  any 
court  in  Europe.  Is  this  all  true?  Where  is  King?  Is  he  going  to  quit 
Paris  ?  I  hope  if  he  comes  home  he  will  bring  a  French  lady— it  would  suit 
him  well.  He  was  a  little  French  before  he  went,  and  he  must  be  very  much 
so  now.  Tell  him  if  he  does  intend  to  bring  out  a  lady,  for  God's  sake,  let  it 
be  no  French  or  Italian  countess.  They  say  you  were  not  satisfied  with  the 
settlement  of  the  Oregon  question,  but  that  you  wanted  more  rocks,  and  ice, 
and  muskrats.  I  think  it  all  turned  out  right,  and  would  have  been  settled 
much  earlier  if  the  "notice  "  had  passed  at  the  first  of  the  session.  I  know 
you  are  satisfied.  I  suppose  it  is  about  like  what  they  used  to  say  of  you  in 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         609 

relation  to  the  tariff,  that  you  wanted  thirty-six  dollars  a  ton  on  iron  and  pro 
hibition  on  coal,  etc.,  and  yet  I  always  knew  you  did  not  care  a  fio-  for  the 
tariff,  except  some  of  your  people  were  rising  about  it.  I  think  I  can  tell 
what  you  do  desire  now  above  all  things,  and  that  is  the  luxurious  feeling  of 
honest  independence  enjoyed  in  the  retirement  of  your  beautiful  homestead  at 
Lancaster.  If  there  is  one  feeling  sweeter  to  man  than  any  other,  it  is,  after 
leaving  cabinets,  and  courts,  and  politicians  to  breathe  once  more  the  pure 
air  of  one's  native  hills  and  valleys. 

What  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  Mexican  war  ?  I  hope  there  will  be 
no  treaty  without  the  acquisition  of  California.  The  loss  of  California  to  Mex 
ico  will  be  nothing,  as  it  will  aid  in  consolidating  her  government,  and  finally 
strengthen  it,  while  its  acquisition  will  be  immense  to  us.  In  fact  we  have 
already  conquered  it,  as  there  is  no  force  between  us  and  the  North  provinces 
to  keep  us  out  of  it. 

If  we  had  California  with  its  vast  harbors,  in  the  next  fifty  years  we  could 
control  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific,  and  the  wealth  of  China  and  India,  and 
the  future  destiny  of  our  glorious  Republic  would  be  to  accumulate  as  vast 
wealth  and  power  on  the  Pacific  as  we  have  on  the  Atlantic.  Some  people 
seem  to  have  very  tender  consciences  of  late  as  to  conquests,  etc.  I  should 
like  to  know  if  half  the  earth  is  not  now  owned  by  the  rights  of  conquests. 

Some  time  since,  when  the  Mexican  war  broke  out,  I  wrote  the  President 
cordially  approving  of  what  had  been  done,  etc.  ;  but  I  have  never  heard  a 
word.  I  hope  he  has  no  one  to  select  letters  for  his  eye,  and  to  keep  others 
from  him,  as  used  to  be  done  by  others  who  preceded  him.  This  remark  is 
suggested  by  the  fact  that  I  see  lately  some  of  his  important  appointments  in 
this  quarter  have  been  made  from  his  bitterest  and  most  malignant  opponents. 
I  say  this  to  you  in  confidence. 

If  you  have  time  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  from  you ;  and  tell  me  who  is  to 
be  the  next  President ;  and  who  I  must  pull  off  my  cap  to  shout  for,  etc. 

I  expect  to  take  my  family  North  this  summer,  and  if  so  may  pass  through 
Washington  on  my  way  to  Saratoga  and  the  lakes.  If  nothing  happens,  I 
may  call  to  see  you  about  the  commencement  of  the  dog-days,  if  you  have 
not  left  Washington  before  that.  I  believe  I  will  also  go  to  see  Van  Buren, 
and  console  him  for  the  split  in  the  Democratic  party  of  New  'York,  and  the 
political  death  of  Wright,  etc.  I  always  liked  the  stoic  indifference  with, 
which  Van  Buren  took  everything,  and  the  easy  way  in  which  he  lolled  in  an 
armchair.  He  looked  like  he  would  make  a  good  fisherman.  The  truth  is, 
he  was  a  very  firm  and  sagacious  man,  but  made  very  poor  selections  for 
office.  If  he  had  changed  his  cabinet,  and  selected  young,  talented,  and 
ambitious  men  he  never  would  have  been  turned  out,  but  he  had  old  men 
about  him  who  loved  ease  as  well  as  himself. 

I  have  written  you  a  rambling  letter,  as  I  had  nothing  else  to  write.  If 
you  had  been  a  planter,  I  would  have  written  you  about  cotton  and  our  crops. 
You  know  I  am  engaged  entirely  on  my  estates  at  present,  and  solely  occu 
pied,  thank  Grod  !  in  the  finest  and  noblest  pursuit,  the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 

I— 39 


QIQ  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

And  I  hope,  if  they  reduce  the  tariff,  as  they  ought  to  do,  if  there  is  any 
honesty  at  Washington,  that  I  may  be  able  next  year  to  sell  my  cotton  at 
nine  cents  to  some  Pennsylvania  manufacturer,  and  get  my  iron  from  your 
iron-masters  cheap  enough  to  use  more  ploughs  and  axes  for  next  crop. 

Very  truly  your  friend, 

F.  W.  PlCKENS.* 

The  following  lively  letters  were  written  by  an  English  lady, 
who  was  a  good  while  in  this  country,  and  who  soon  afterwards 
published  a  little  book  called  u  The  Statesmen  of  America  in 
1846  " : 

[FROM  MRS.  MAURY.] 

CINCINNATI,  April  14,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN  : — 

Your  letter  reached  me  shortly  after  my  arrival  in  New  Orleans,  and  at 
once  made  Mrs.  Maury  a  great  lady  at  the  St.  Charles.  I  have  been  anxiously 
waiting  some  information  from  various  quarters,  which  might  decide  my  plans 
for  the  next  few  weeks,  but  as  yet  I  have  received  none.  The  Unicorn  can 
hardly  have  sailed  at  the  time  we  have  supposed.  I  do  not  wish  to  remove 
further  from  the  seaports  until  I  shall  be  assured  that  my  husband  and  his 
anxious  charge  do  not  yet  require  my  presence.  I  have,  of  course,  no  news 
of  Dr.  Hughes,  and  therefore  have  no  idea  when  and  where  he  will  wish  me 
to  meet  him.  Mr.  Clay  is  still  at  St.  Louis,  and  his  return  to  Lexington  very 
uncertain.  I  have  been  suffering  from  a  slight  indisposition  for  the  last  few 
days,  and  am  not  yet  ready  for  travelling.  This  is  a  tolerable  list  of  per 
plexities  for  a  lady.  In  addition,  I  cannot  avoid  feeling  great  interest  and 
some  degree  of  alarm  at  the  scenes  which  have  lately  transpired  in  Con- 
gress.f  .  .  .  Winthrop  is  a  gallant  advocate,  but  neither  his  noble  spirit 
nor  his  truthful  nature  should  be  wasted  thus.  For  Mr.  Ingersoll,  to  whom, 
as  you  know,  my  personal  attachment  is  very  strong,  I  have  felt  most  keenly; 
his  temperature  is  warm,  and  his  susceptibilities  as  exquisite  and  acute  as  those 
of  a  woman ;  and  I,  who  admire  his  mind,  and  enjoy  his  wit,  and  love  his 
worth,  cannot  endure  to  think  of  the  abusive  epithets  which  Mr.  Webster  has 
heaped  upon  him.  Nevertheless,  I  always  considered  his  first  allusion  to  the 
affair  of  McLeod  an  indiscretion,  and  felt  certain  from  the  first  that  evil  would 
arise  from  it.  I  can  only  attribute  his  turning  back  to  that  period,  to  the 
historical  habits  of  his  mind,  which  led  him  to  take  a  new  view  of  affairs 
subsequent  to  that  event,  from  the  information  he  had  received  from  Governor 
Seward.  The  Governor  is  intrepid,  and  will  give  the  unvarnished  truth, 
nothing  adding  thereto,  nor  diminishing  aught  therefrom.  I  cannot  for  one 

*  Afterwards  governor  of  South  Carolina  during  the  first  period  of  secession. 
t  This  refers  to  the  charges  made  by  Mr.  C.  J.  Ingersoll  against  Mr.  Webster.  "See  the 
Life  of  Webster,  Index,  verb.  "Ingersoll." 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         611 

moment  conceive  that  Ingersoll  has  been  instigated  by  personal  resentment, 
because  he  was  in  the  habit  of  expressing  to  me  his  private  opinions  of  every 
public  man  in  Washington,  and  I  have  never  heard  from  his  lips  one  vindictive 
word  against  Mr.  Webster.  .  .  . 

To  proceed,  however,  to  a  less  painful  theme.  I  like  Cincinnati  much 
better  than  New  Orleans,  feeling  myself  here  once  more  in  America  instead 
of  in  some  shabby  old  town  of  Brittany,  listening  to  patois  French  (vulgarly 
called  gumbo  French  in  New  Orleans).  This  city  presents  all  the  interest 
which  a  growing  community  ever  possesses,  and  Cincinnati  is  an  infant  Her 
cules.  We  receive  from  Judge  McLean  every  attention  and  hospitality,  and 
I  find  the  Judge  as  attractive  and  estimable  in  private  life  as  he  is  gracious 
and  dignified  on  the  bench.  The  society  here,  as  elsewhere  in  America,  is 
excellent,  and  confirms  my  preconceived  opinions  that  good  society  is  the 
same  in  Europe  and  in  America.  At  the  hands  of  the  excellent  Dr.  Purcell, 
the  Catholic  bishop,  I  receive  every  indulgence ;  he  has  conducted  us  in 
person  through  his  various  institutions,  which  are  all  prospering,  and  intends 
also  to  accompany  us  to  visit  his  Ursulines.  From  him  I  learned  the  striking 
fact  that  there  were  present  in  the  cathedral  at  high  mass  on  Easter  Sunday, 
600  persons  who  are  converts  to  the  Catholic  faith.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the 
Sisters  of  Mercy,  by  their  devotion  and  virtue,  afford  us  proof  that  even  on 
earth  there  exist  angelic  natures.  The  cotton  factories  flourish  in  Cincinnati, 
and  even  at  Madison,  a  small  town  we  passed  on  the  Ohio,  I  saw  the  black 
tall  chimneys,  indicative  of  the  successful  progress  of  the  labor  going  on  at 
its  base.  It  seems  to  me?  from  all  I  have  seen,  that  notwithstanding  all  the 
expected  (may  I  say  hoped  for  ?)  approaches  to  free  trade,  that  the  manufac 
tures  of  this  country  are  now  too  firmly  established  to  suffer.  I  think  you 
know  me  well  enough  to  be  assured  that  my  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  America 
is  second  only  to  that  I  feel  for  the  prosperity  of  that  fair  and  distant  Isle  to 
which  I  owe  my  birth,  which  has  been  the  cradle  of  my  children,  and  the 
happy  home  in  which  for  eighteen  years  I  have  been  the  cherished  wife  of  a 
husband  to  whom  time  has  made  me  more  dear.  How  ardently  I  wish  that 
every  feeling  of  affection  which  I  shall  ever  preserve  for  the  people  of  America 
were  shared  by  my  countrymen. 

I  hope  yet  to  visit  Mrs.  Catron — instead  of  challenging  each  other  for  the 
sake  of  the  chairman,  we  will  take  your  advice,  and  share  his  esteem  and 
regard  between  us.  He  being  our  Oregon  territory,  and  each  lady  having 
determined  not  to  give  notice — of  course  the  treaty  of  joint  occupancy  must 
remain  in  force.  Moreover,  on  my  side,  I  shall  refuse  arbitration,  either  by 
citizen  or  sovereign — and  I  think  Mrs.  Catron  will  be  of  my  mind,  viz.,  that 
the  division  of  a  lover's  heart  is  not  a  proper  subject  for  interference  by 
foreign  powers.  Should  we  ultimately  find  that  we  cannot  get  along  with  the 
joint  occupancy,  but  that  we  are  continually  shouldering  one  another,  as  you, 
dear  sir,  are  friendly  to  us  both,  will  you  give  us  permission  to  ask  your 
advice,  as  to  the  most  satisfactory  mode  of  dividing  equitably  between  us  the 
heart  and  head  of  the  honorable  gentleman  in  dispute.  I  presume,  of  course, 


LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

that,  like  the  Oregon  territory,  he  will  be  content  with  being  contended  for  by 
two  fair  dames,  without  putting  in  one  word  about  his  own  ultimate  destiny. 

I  hope,  dear  Mr.  Buchanan,  that  I  have  not  tired  your  patience.  I  am 
writing  in  bed,  and  still  somewhat  of  an  invalid  ;  separated  from  home,  it  is  a 
source  of  great  pleasure  to  write  to  one  who  has  expressed  so  much  regard 
for  me  as  you  have  done. 

Believe  me  always,  most  sincerely  and  gratefully, 

Your  obliged  friend, 

SARAH  MYTTON  MAURY. 

Will  you  give  my  love  to  Mrs.  Plitt,  and  say  to  her  that  I  wished  for  her 
presence  much  yesterday,  when  Judge  McLean  was  eulogizing  the  talents  and 
virtues  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 

[FROM  MRS.  MAURY.] 

WASHINGTON,  Friday  Morning,  10  A.  M.,  June  10,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN  : — 

I  would  have  called  to  see  you  this  morning,  but  had  so  much  fear  of  too 
frequently  intruding  on  your  patience  that  I  abstained. 

I  have  had  a  very  interesting  conversation  with  Mr.  Calhoun  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  his  going  out  to  England.  He  urged  his  age,  his  various  engagements, 
the  allotment  he  had  already  made  of  the  few  remaining  years  of  his  life,  the 
use  that  he  can  render  to  his  country  by  staying  here,  and  many  other  rea 
sons.  I  replied  that  his  age  was  no  objection,  that  he  is  not  old,  and  that  no 
duties  could  be  higher  than  those  he  would  fulfil  by  going  to  England;  that 
the  effects  of  his  mission  would  be  not  only  beneficial  at  the  present  moment, 
but  throughout  all  future  time ;  and  urged  him  by  every  principle  of  patrio 
tism,  utility  and  devotion,  to  accept  the  trust.  He  yielded  at  length  to  my 
entreaties,  and  said  :  "  If  I  can  be  convinced  that  it  is  my  imperative  duty, 
then,  as  duty  is  above  all  things,  I  will  go." 

I  can  scarcely  describe  the  emotions  with  which  I  heard  this  concession, 
and  requested  his  permission,  which  was  at  once  granted,  to  mention  it  pub 
licly.  Of  course  you  are  the  first  to  whom  I  have  named  it. 

On  my  return,  Mr.  Calhoun  will  do  himself  the  pleasure  of  visiting  you, 
and  has  promised  me  the  happiness  of  accompanying  him.  He  wishes  to  see 
you  in  friendly  style  at  your  own  house,  and  in  an  evening;  so  I  shall 
inquire  from  Mr.  Plitt  if  you  are  at  home.  I  hope  to  be  here  in  less  than 
ten  days. 

I  have  seen  Mr.  Winthrop  and  Mr.  Crittenden.  Both  highly  approve  of 
Mr.  Calhoun  for  the  appointment  to  England.  Also  Mr.  Benton,  who  would 
cordially  assent ;  and  Mr.  Hannegan  expressed  the  highest  respect  for  Mr. 
C.  The  two  first  answered  for  their  party  and  the  country.  Benton  thought 
it  would  be  a  universally  popular  movement.  Hannegan  included  his  party  in 
his  own  expressions  of  respect. 

I  could  not,  my  dear  Mr.  Buchanan,  leave  Washington  happily  without 


PRIVATE    CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         613 

telling  you  these  circumstances,  and  confiding  them  to  your  wisdom  and 
experience  for  any  use  you  may  deem  them  eligible. 

Looking  forward  to  seeing  you  shortly  again,  I  remain  always,  with  the 
highest  respect,  your  obliged  and  grateful  friend, 

SARAH  MYTTON  MATJRY. 

[FROM  MRS.  MAURY.] 

"WASHINGTON,  June  14,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: — 

I  was  sorry  to  find  that  you  have  suffered  from  indisposition.  I  went 
to  Coleman's  last  night  to  inquire  for  you,  but  found  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Plitt 
absent. 

Will  you  tell  me  that  you  are  well,  or  at  least  better  ?  and  will  you  let  me 
come  and  see  you  ?  and  say  how  soon. 

I  have  a  letter,  or  rather  a  lecture,  from  the  bishop  this  morning ;  not  on 
religion,  but  morality.  He  has,  however,  made  me  a  proposition  so  singu 
larly  flattering  and  unexpected  that  I  wish  to  tell  you  of  it. 

If  you  are  going  to  England,  how  delighted  I  should  be  if  you  were  to  go 
in  the  same  steamer  with  myself  and  my  son,  the  Great  Britain  of  the  first 
August.  But  perhaps  you  would  have  a  ship  of  war. 

I  think  you  would  like  England  and  the  English  upon  a  near  acquaintance, 
and  your  sincerity  of  purpose  and  warmth  of  heart  would  interest  their 
esteem  and  affections  most  strongly.  But  how  could  you  be  spared  from 
home,  for  there  is  no  other  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Cabinet  ?  My  hopes  of 
the  Ministry  to  England,  if  you  do  not  go,  are  for  Calhoun,  because  he  could 
set  the  people  there  right  on  the  slave  question,  and  also,  I  believe,  he  would 
do  much  to  get  the  duties  on  tobacco  reduced  in  England. 

Though  the  treaty  (making)  is  on  the  49th,  I  shall,  in  writing,  enforce  the 
superior  claims  of  America,  and  treat  the  whole  arrangement  as  a  concession 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  Yours  it  will  be,  yours  it  must  be ;  and 
however  unpopular  may  be  this  doctrine  in  England,  such  inevitably  will  be 
the  ultimate  conclusion.  To-morrow  Mrs.  Madison  takes  me  under  her  wing 
to  pay  my  farewell  respects  to  Mrs.  Polk.  I  will  also  call  on  the  President 
for  five  minutes  before  I  leave  Washington. 

The  Emigrant  Surgeon's  Bill  will  be  lost,  but,  thanks  to  the  admoni 
tions  of  the  excellent  bishop  and  to  your  expressions  of  praise  and  sympathy, 
I  shall  bear  the  disappointment  without  repining,  and  trust  to  do  more  for 
those  unfortunates  at  a  future  time. 

How  can  I  ask  you  to  read  this  long  note,  and  to  see  me  too  ?  But  you 
have  made  me  bold  by  indulgence,  for  you  have  never  refused  me  any  one 
request. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  Mr.  Buchanan,  most  respectfully  your  sincere  and 
grateful  friend, 

SARAH  MYTTON  MAURY. 


614  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

[FROM  MRS.  MAURY.] 

BARNUM'S  HOTEL,  ) 

BALTIMORE,  Friday,  July  10,  1846   ) 
MY  DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN  : — 

I  received  your  kind  and  considerate  note,  and  have  laid  it  with  the  letter 
you  wrote  to  me  in  New  Orleans  to  carry  home  for  my  husband. 

Mr.  Calhoun  called  at  eleven,  and  stayed  some  time  with  me.  Though  I 
assured  him  over  and  over  again  that  I  only  repeated,  both  to  the  President 
and  to  you,  the  exact  words  which  he  himself  had  used,  and  that  I  mentioned 
at  the  same  time  distinctly  that  the  whole  responsibility  was  mine, — and  mine 
alone, — still  Mr.  Calhoun  is  fearful  that  you  should  misunderstand  him — I 
therefore  said  that  in  a  few  days  I  promised  myself  the  pleasure  of  writing  to 
you,  and  that  I  would  again  mention  to  you  his  scrupulous  delicacy  of  feeling 
on  this  subject.  I  thought  of  you,  dear  Mr.  Buchanan,  on  Sunday,  and 
wished  that  I  could  have  been  present  at  your  interview — the  conversation  of 
two  distinguished  men  is  the  highest  privilege  and  advantage  that  a  woman 
can  enjoy,  and  I  should  have  derived  more  pleasure  from  listening  than  I  ever 
do  from  talking ; — though  my  reputation  for  silence  is  not,  I  fear,  very  well 
established — at  least  so  says  our  playful  friend  Ingersoll. 

We  have  visited  Emmittsburg  since  we  left  Washington,  and  all  the  insti 
tutions  in  Baltimore — among  others  the  Penitentiary,  where  they  permitted 
three  English  prisoners  to  come  and  speak  with  me — they  were  well  looking 
men,  all  acknowledging  the  justice  of  then:  punishment,  and  apparently  cured 
of  their  evil  propensities.  This  evening  we  take  the  boat  for  Philadelphia,  a 
cooler  and  pleasanter  mode  for  travelling  than  the  railroad,  and  shall  arrive 
about  four  in  the  morning.  After  spending  Sunday  there  we  shall  reach  New 
York  on  Monday  afternoon. 

This  hotel  has  many  guests  at  present,  among  them  are  some  Creole 
families — all  very  pleasant  and  intelligent — they  are  full  of  anecdotes  of  the 
war,  and  all  the  ladies  are  in  love  with  the  Captain-general  La  Vega.  Mrs. 
Commodore  Stewart,  of  somewhat  eccentric  character,  is  of  the  number,  and 
informs  me  that  the  Mexican  enjoys  himself  greatly,  and  is  most  hospitably 
entertained. 

How  shocked  you  must  have  been  at  the  death  of  Mrs.  Ogle  Tayloe.  I 
had  sat  an  hour  with  her  on  Friday.  She  was  then  very  ill,  and  our  conver 
sation  became  serious.  Our  acquaintance  had  been  only  general,  and  had 
entirely  arisen  from  her  hospitality  towards  me;  but  I  imagine  that  often 
previous  to  solemn  events,  we  become  intimate  and  confidential,  and  thus  it 
was  with  us,  and  truly  she  was  a  good  and  pious  woman.  From  what  1 
learned  at  Mrs.  Madison's  door  on  Saturday,  there  is  much  to  fear  both  for 
her  and  her  niece,  and  how  sad  it  is  to  think  of.  Sometimes  I  am  led  to 
marvel  at  the  singular  favor  which  has  been  hitherto  granted  to  me,  that  of 
perfect  health  to  all  my  little  ones,  and  restored  health  to  myself  and  son 
during  our  long  absence  from  home.  When  I  shall  arrive  there  and  find  all 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE   WAR.         615 

well,  I  shall  not  fail  to  write  and  tell  you,  for  I  flatter  myself  that  the  advances 
which  I  have  made  in  your  good  opinion  will  never  be  obliterated  by  my 
absence,  whether  temporary  or  permanent,  and  truly  I  shall  ever  hear  of  you 
either  as  presiding  in  the  councils  of  the  Republic,  or  adorning  the  ease  and 
elegance  of  private  life,  with  sincere  and  heartfelt  interest. 

I  paid  my  respects  to-day  to  the  Chief  Justice ;  *  he  bestowed  a  delightful 
half  hour  upon  me,  and  gave  me  his  parting  benediction  and  kindest  wishes. 
His  health  is  much  improved  since  the  winter. 

In  Baltimore  as  in  Washington  the  same  perplexity  exists  about  a  Secretary 
of  State.  No  one  is  spoken  of,  and  it  would  almost  seem  that  people  do  not 
realize  your  resignation.  Must  it  be  so  ?  You  know  that  in  England  we 
have  abandoned  the  precedent  of  the  minister's  retiring  on  a  change  of  meas 
ures.  Such,  if  I  remember  right,  was  the  course  of  Earl  Grey,  he  withstood 
even  the  majorities  against  the  Reform  Bill,  and  continued  at  the  helm. 

To  make  Mr.  Calhoun  feel  satisfied  that  you  should  understand  him  thor 
oughly,  I  have  written  the  above,  but  you  have  encouraged  me  to  speak  freely 
with  you  on  all  matters,  and  therefore  I  shall  add  as  my  supplement  to  his 
message,  that  in  case  you  should  see  the  advantage  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  holding 
office,  /  sincerely  hope  that  you  and  the  President  will  make  out  a  strong  case, 
and  overrule  his  delicacy  ;  besides,  he  is  very  powerful.  My  confidence  in  him 
is  as  unlimited  as  it  is  in  you,  for  you  are  both  equally  noble,  finely  tempered, 
faithful  and  pure. 

Dear  Mr.  Buchanan,  do  not  forget  me,  for  I  shall  relate  in  England  the 
considerate  solicitude  which  you  have  exercised  in  my  behalf.  At  your  hands 
I  have  received  all  the  assistance,  all  the  protection  which  I  had  anticipated 
from  the  minister  of  my  country,  and  my  advice  to  all  who  like  myself  are 
alone  and  unattended  will  be,  trust  yourselves  to  the  courtesy  of  the  Amer 
icans,  they  will  never  fail  you. 

Always  believe  me,  most  sincerely,  most  gratefully, 

Your  English  friend, 

SARAH  MYTTON  MATJRY. 

P.  S.— I  think  I  should  add  in  confidence  to  you  that  should  any  difficulties 
arise  out  of  the  Mexican  war  between  the  United  States  and  England,  Mr. 
Calhoun  would  consider  it  his  duty,  if  requested  by  the  President,  to  give  his 
services  in  an  official  capacity ; — of  course  I  leave  it  to  your  judgment,  to  use 
this  information  as  you  think  best,  and  I  believe  Mr.  Calhoun  would  at  once 
acquiesce,  should  such  a  case  present  itself. 

[FROM  MRS.  MAURY.] 

LIVERPOOL,  November  3,  1846. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN: — 

I  am  wearying  to  write  you  a  long  letter,  and  first  let  me  offer  you  my 
best  congratulations  on  the  recent  successes  in  Monterey ;— this  Mexican  war 

*  Chief  Justice  Taney. 


616  LIFE    OF   JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

must  give  you  much  anxiety,  from  the  various  difficulties  which  General 
Taylor  has  had  to  encounter  in  a  country  scarcely  known,  and  where  the  cli 
mate  was  new  and  therefore  trying  to  his  troops.  I  was  delighted  to  observe 
that  the  President  had  made  offers  of  peace,  because  such  a  step  is  worthy  of 
a  great,  and  powerful,  and  magnanimous  nation  ;  thus  a  wise  parent  offers  to 
his  refractory  child,  or  a  forbearing  friend  to  his  companion,  constant  and 
kindly  proposals  of  peace,  pitying  the  recklessness  and  stupidity  which  con 
tinue  to  prompt  a  refusal  of  their  proffered  tenderness. 

The  ill-fated  Great  Britain  carried  myself  and  my  doctor  home  in  safety. 
Our  passage  was  agreeable,  and  the  recollection  of  it  makes  me  feel  much  for 
the  ship,  and  for  her  commander.  Poor  Captain  Hawkens  had  taken  leave  of 
his  wife,  who  was  not  expected  to  live  many  hours,  just  before  he  sailed. 
She  has  since  rallied,  brit  only  for  a  season.  In  a  few  moments  he  seemed  to 
lose  everything  that  would  render  life  desirable — his  fortune  and  his  fame,  and 
the  partner  of  his  life.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Great  Britain  had  outrun 
her  reckoning.  My  husband  who  is  the  chairman  of  the  Marine  Insurance 
Company  has  voted  in  favor  of  giving  her  a  chance  through  the  aid  of  a  well- 
experienced  engineer ;  but  nothing  can  be  done  until  the  spring,  and  she  will 
have  much  to  suffer  during  the  winter,  besides  the  danger  of  rusting. 

I  have  had  a  most  pleasant  chit-chat  letter  from  Mrs.  Plitt,  giving  me  all 
the  details  of  our  various  friends ;  I  have  also  heard  from  the  bishop  who  is 
still  suffering  from  the  refractory  tooth,  and  still  with  extraordinary  pertinacity 
refusing  "  to  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  him."  I  am  going  this  day  to 
write  and  upbraid  his  "  holiness "  with  neglecting  to  practise  what  he 
preaches.  Mr.  Ingersoll  tells  me  that  he  is  again  a  candidate  for  Congress, 
and  I  most  earnestly  hope  he  will  be  successful  on  account  of  the  vexatious 
affair  which  occurred  in  the  spring.  Nothing  has  contributed  more  to  my 
happiness  than  your  gentlemanly  and  considerate  expressions  of  unabated 
regard  for  my  guardian.  His  letter  is  like  himself,  unreserved  in  confidence, 
and  always  a  most  pleasant  mingling  of  smiles  and  tears. 

I  called  with  my  husband  to  pay  our  respects  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bancroft. 
They  had  a  stormy  passage,  and  Mrs.  B.  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  it. 
The  American  Chamber  of  Commerce,  of  which  my  husband  is  the  treasurer, 
waited  upon  the  minister  with  their  best  wishes  and  welcome.  He  made  a 
very  appropriate  speech,  and  acquitted  himself  extremely  well.  His  manners 
are  less  popular  than  those  of  McLane,  but  I  predict  that  he  will  be  highly 
esteemed  and  respected  here.  Mrs.  B.  is  quite  a  nice  woman,  and  the  Amer 
ican  ladies  have  a  naivet6  which  I  hear  is  much  admired  as  a  contrast  to  the 
sameness  of  manner  which  necessarily  exists  among  the  aristocratic  ladies  of 
an  old  country.  They  see  none  but  the  artificial  phases  of  society. 

I  have  been  in  London  a  month,  and  have  had  an  interview  with  the 
commissioners  of  the  board  of  emigration,  Mr.  Elliot  and  Mr.  Rogers.  They 
entered  fully  into  the  subject  of  the  Emigrant  Surgeon's  Bill.  I  told  them  your 
opinion,  and  gave  them  among  other  documents  the  report  of  the  expenses 
of  whaling  vessels  for  sickness ;  they  regard  it  as  a  very  important  statement 


PRIVATE  CORRESPONDENCE  DURING  THE  WAR.         617 

in  our  favor.  I  believe  them  both  to  be  in  earnest,  and  the  more  especially 
as  they  requested  me  to  procure  for  them  various  kinds  of  information  relative 
to  the  supply  of  surgeons  having  taken  out  diplomas  in  Liverpool,  Dublin, 
New  York,  etc.  Of  course  I  have  lost  no  time  in  setting  the  requisite 
machinery  to  work.  The  commissioners  frankly  stated  that  the  shipowners 
would  make  the  same  difficulties  that  Mr.  Grinnell  had  conjured  up  on  the 
other  side.  As  the  bill  will  have  to  go  through  parliament,  of  course  it  will 
be  some  time  before  I  hear  anything  from  the  board  ;  but  as  soon  as  I  do,  I 
shall  hasten  to  inform  you  who  have  been  so  valuable  an  ally  to  me. 

Accompanied  by  my  husband,  I  had  afterwards  an  interview  with  Lord 
Palmerston,  and  after  showing  him  the  letter  which  I  wrote  in  January  last 
from  Washington,  on  the  subject  of  Pakenham's  unfitness  for  his  position 
there,  I  fortified  the  report  by  several  anecdotes.  The  secretary  looked  per 
plexed,  heard  me  most  patiently,  and  when  I  had  ended  my  story,  endeav 
ored  as  well  as  he  could  to  defend  his  representative.  As  far  as  respectful 
politeness  allowed  me  to  go,  I  entirely  differed  from  him,  and  I  said  that  he 
was  quite  unequal  in  capacity  to  the  men  he  had  to  deal  with ;  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  commerce  ;  received  neither  the  Americans  nor  the  English  at  his 
house ;  had  quarrelled  with  the  chairman  of  foreign  relations  in  the  House  of 
Representatives ;  and  in  fact  that  this  government  should  send  one  of  their 
foremost  men  to  Washington  with  rank,  wealth,  good  manners,  and  ability  to 
carry  him  through. 

Lord  Palmerston  then  observed : 

"  Well,  they  have  got  more  than  they  bargained  for." 

Mrs.  M. — They  will  have  the  whole  of  Oregon  very  soon,  my  lord. 

Lord  P. — Do  you  really  think  so  ? 

Mrs.  M. — Certainly,  and  the  Pope  is  doing  all  he  can  to  help  them.  He 
has  just  divided  the  Oregon  into  an  archbishopric  and  eight  bishoprics,  and 
the  Irish  and  German  emigrants  will  pour  in  by  thousands. 

Lord  P. — I  had  not  observed  that.     Is  it  so,  indeed  ? 

Mrs.  M.— Undoubtedly. 

Here  laughing,  I  rose  to  take  leave.  The  viscount  was  extremely  cour 
teous,  and  expressed  much  pleasure  at  having  made  my  acquaintance.  It  is 
somewhat  strange  that  I  should  have  had  the  opportunity  of  expressing  these 
sentiments  to  yourself  and  Mrs.  Walker  in  Washington,  in  the  presence  of 
the  British  minister,  and  also  in  England  to  the  secretary  for  foreign  affairs. 

And  now,  my  dear  Mr.  Buchanan,  I  am  going  to  my  old  trade  of  begging 
favors,  and  have  still  a  long  story  to  tell  you  by  way  of  introduction.  I  have 
wished  to  prepare  a  work  with  the  title  of  "  An  English  Woman's  Opinions 
of  America,"  in  compliance  with  the  gratifying  wishes  of  my  friends  both 
here  and  in  America ;  but  I  cannot  get  this  ready  for  some  months,  for  you 
know  I  have  eleven  children,  and  found  much  to  do  for  them  on  my  return, 
besides  I  have  had  much  to  do  for  my  husband  in  the  way  of  business,  and 
the  daily  congratulations  of  my  numerous  friends  here  to  receive,  and  to 
return. 


(518  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  I  am  trying  to  get  ready  the  Ci  Statesmen  of 
America,"  that  is,  my  own  sketches  of  their  characters,  etc.,  with  extracts 
from  their  works  or  speeches.  While  reading  over  to  my  husband  the  two 
charming  letters  you  have  written  to  me,  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  would  ask 
your  permission  to  place  them  before  my  friends  here  to  show  that  the  Amer 
ican  statesmen  are  as  elegant  in  their  private  correspondence  as  they  are  able 
in  their  public  documents.  I  have  made  a  mark  with  a  pencil  through  the 
opening  of  the  paragraph  relating  to  Mr.  Calhoun;  but  I  should  dearly  like  to 
publish  your  opinion  of  him.  Mr.  Panizzi  of  the  British  Museum  Library  is 
in  love  with  these  letters,  and  he  is  head  authority  in  all  literary  matters.  I 
enclose  them  for  your  perusal,  because  I  have  thought  you  might  wish  to  see 
them  before  granting  me  permission  to  publish  them ;  but  whether  you  grant 
me  this  permission  or  decline  it,  pray  restore  me  the  letters.  I  cherish  with 
jealous  care  every  memorial  of  those  who  made  me  so  happy  when  among 
them. 

My  husband  begs  that  you  will  accept  his  most  grateful  and  respectful 
thanks  for  all  your  goodness  to  me.  Forgive  me,  dear  Mr.  Buchanan,  this 
unconscionable  letter  and  its  long  weariness,  and  believe  me  always  most 
respectfully  and  affectionately  your  friend, 

SARAH  M.  MAURY. 

[FROM  MADAME  CALDERON.*] 

NEWPORT,  August  1st,  1846. 
DEAR  MR.  BUCHANAN: — 

As  I  see  a  letter  for  Calderon  this  morning  in  your  handwriting,  I  think  it 
as  well  to  let  you  know  that  he  has  gone  to  New  York  on  business,  in  case 
there  should  be  any  delay  in  his  answer.  Calderon  tells  us  that  there  is  some 
chance  of  your  coming  to  New  York,  which  I  hope  is  the  case.  I  am  anx 
ious  to  inquire  into  the  progress  of  your  domestic  affairs,  and  whether  I  have 
more  chance  than  I  formerly  had  of  finding  Mrs.  Buchanan  when  I  call  at 
your  house.  I  think,  now  that  you  have  settled  Oregon  and  the  tariff,  and 
are  in  a  fair  way  of  disposing  of  Mexico,  it  is  time  for  you  to  look  at  home, 
and  bring  about  the  annexation  of  a  certain  fair  neighbor  of  ours.  Newport 
is  very  cool :  we  have  not  had  a  single  really  hot  day.  I  hope  you  have  stood 
the  heat  of  Washington  better  than  Calderon  did.  We  are  living  very  quietly 
here  as  to  society,  but  with  bathing,  riding,  fishing,  etc.,  pass  our  time  very 
agreeably.  We  are  at  this  moment  nine  ladies  in  one  house,  and  no 
gentlemen. 

Pray  remember  me  to  Mr.  Pleasonton  and  his  family  the  next  time  you  go 
there,  and  especially  to  my  friend  Miss  Clementina.  My  sister  and  nieces  beg 
their  best  regards,  and  I  remain 

Yours  very  truly  and  respectfully, 

FANNY  CALDERON  DE  LE  BARCA. 

*  Wife  of  the  Spanish  Minister.    She  was  a  Scotch  lady,  nee  Inglis. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

1848—1849. 

CENTRAL   AMERICA — THE   MONROE   DOCTRINE.    AND   THE   CLAYTON-BULWER 

TREATY. 

TO  give  an  account  of  every  public  transaction  with  which 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  connected  as  Secretary  of  State,  would 
be  impracticable  within  the  limits  of  these  volumes.  But  there 
remains  one  subject  which  must  not  be  overlooked — the  aifairs 
of  Central  America,  and  the  position  in  which  they  stood  before 
the  negotiation  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty. 

The  policy  of  Mr.  Folk's  administration  towards  the  States 
of  Central  America  and  on  the  subject  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
was  shaped  by  Mr.  Buchanan  very  differently  from  that  adopted 
by  the  succeeding  administration  of  General  Taylor,  whose 
Secretary  of  State  was  Mr.  Clayton,  the  American  negotiator 
of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  with  Great  Britain.  In  1845, 
when  the  war  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  was  im 
pending,  there  was  reason  to  believe  that  England  was  aiming 
to  obtain  a  footing  in  the  then  Mexican  province  of  California, 
by  an  extensive  system  of  colonization.  Acting  under  Mr. 
Buchanan's  advice,  President  Polk,  in  his  first  annual  message 
of  December  2,  1845,  not  only  re-asserted  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
in  general  terms,  but  distinctly  declared  that  no  future  Euro 
pean  colony  or  dominion  shall,  with  the  consent  of  the  United 
States,  be  planted  or  established  on  any  part  of  the  North 
American  continent.  This  declaration  was  confined  to  North 
America,  in  order  to  make  it  emphatically  applicable  to  Cali 
fornia.  The  effect  was  that  the  British  plan  of  colonization  in 
California  was  given  up.  Two  years  afterward,  when  the  - 
Mexican  war  was  drawing  to  a  close,  after  the  capture  of  the 
City  of  Mexico  in  September,  1847,  Mr.  Buchanan  turned  the 
attention  of  President  Polk  to  the  encroachments  of  the  British 


620  LIFE  OF  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

government  in  Central  America,  under  the  operation  of  a  pro 
tectorate  over  the  king  and  kingdom  of  the  Mosquito  Indians. 
In  his  annual  message  of  December  7, 1847,  the  President,  after 
reiterating  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  asked  for  an  appropriation  to 
defray  the  expense  of  a  charge  d'affaires  to  Guatemala,  the 
most  prosperous  and  important  of  the  Central  American  states. 
The  appropriation  was  made,  and  in  April,  1848,  the  charge 
was  appointed.  But  before  his  departure  a  state  of  things 
occurred  in  Yucatan,  which  made  it  necessary  for  the  President 
to  make  a  fresh  and  solemn  declaration  of  his  purpose  to  main 
tain  the  Monroe  Doctrine  at  every  hazard  against  Great  Britain 
and  all  other  European  powers.  This  was  the  war  of  extermi 
nation  waged  by  the  Indians  against  the  white  population  of 
Yucatan  in  1847-48.  If  not  actually  incited  by  the  British 
authorities,  the  savages  were  known  to  be  supplied  with  Brit 
ish  muskets.  The  whites  were  reduced  to  such  extremities 
that  the  authorities  of  Yucatan  offered  to  transfer  the  dominion 
and  sovereignty  of  the  peninsula  to  the  United  States,  as  a 
consideration  for  defending  it  against  the  Indians,  at  the  same 
time  giving  notice  that  if  this  offer  should  be  declined,  they 
would  make  the  same  proposition  to  England  and  Spain.  By 
a  special  message  sent  to  Congress  on  the  29th  of  April,  1848, 
President  Polk  recommended  to  Congress  the  appeal  of  Yuca 
tan  for  aid  and  protection  against  the  Indians,  but  he  declined 
to  recommend  the  adoption  of  any  measure  with  a  view  to 
acquire  the  dominion  and  sovereignty  over  the  peninsula.  But 
it  was  necessary  for  him  to  announce  what  would  be  his  policy 
should  Great  Britain  or  Spain,  accept  a  similar  offer.  Antici 
pating  that  England  might  take  advantage  of  such  an  offer  to 
establish  over  Yucatan  such  another  protectorate  as  that  which 
she  claimed  to  exercise  over  the  Mosquito  coast,  the  President, 
at  the  close  of  his  message,  recommended  to  Congress  "to 
adopt  such  measures  as,  in  their  judgment,  may  be  expedient 
to  prevent  Yucatan  from  becoming  a  colony  of  any  European 
power,  which,  in  no  event,  could  be  permitted  by  the  United 
States,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  rescue  the  white  men  from 
extermination  or  expulsion  from  their  country." 

It  then  became  necessary  for  Mr.  Buchanan  to  consider  how 
the  removal  of  the  British  government  from  their  assumed  pro- 


CENTRAL  AMERICA.  621 

tect orate  over  the  Indians  of  the  Mosquito  Coast  could  be  best 
accomplished.  He  was  convinced  that  the  best  thing  to  be 
done  would  be  to  re-unite  the  Central  States  of  America  in  a 
federation,  so  that  they  could  aid  each  other  and  be  in  a  condi 
tion  to  receive  aid  from  the  United  States.  Accordingly,  with  ^ 
the  approbation  of  the  President,  on  the  3d  of  June,  Mr. 
Buchanan  instructed  Mr.  Hise,'the  new  charge  to  Guatemala, 
as  follows : 

"  When  the  federation  of  the  centre  of  America  was  formed,  the  Gov 
ernment  and  people  of  the  United  States  entertained  the  highest  hopes  and 
felt  the  warmest  desire  for  its  success  and  prosperity.  Its  government  was 
that  of  a  federal  republic,  composed  of  the  five  states  of  Guatemala,  Hondu 
ras,  Nicaragua,  St.  Salvador,  and  Costa  Rica ;  and  its  constitution  nearly  re 
sembled  that  of  the  United  States.  This  constitution  unfortunately  endured 
but  a  brief  period,  and  the  different  states  of  Central  America  are  now  politi 
cally  independent  of  each  other.  The  consequence  is  that  each  of  them  is  so 
feeble  as  to  invite  aggressions  from  foreign  powers.  Whilst  it  is  our  intention 
to  maintain  our  established  policy  of  non-intervention  in  the  concerns  of  for 
eign  nations,  you  are  instructed,  by  your  counsel  and  advice  should  suitable 
occasions  offer,  to  promote  the  reunion  of  the  states  which  formed  the  federa 
tion  of  Central  America.  In  a  federal  union  among  themselves  consists  then- 
strength.  They  will  thus  avoid  domestic  dissensions,  and  render  themselves 
respected  by  the  world.  These  truths  you  can  impress  upon  them  by  the 
most  powerful  arguments. 

A  principal  object  of  your  mission  is  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly  relations 
with  Guatemala.  It  is  now  an  independent  sovereignty,  and  is  by  far  the 
most  populous  and  powerful  of  the  states  of  the  former  federation.  Whilst 
representing  your  Government  at  Guatemala,  however,  you  will  enjoy  fre 
quent  opportunities  of  cultivating  friendly  relations  between  the  United 
States  and  the  other  states  of  Central  America,  which  you  will  not  fail  to 
embrace. 

The  enemies  of  free  institutions  throughout  the  world  have  been  greatly 
encouraged  by  the  constantly  recurring  revolutions  and  changes  in  the  Spanish- 
American  republics.  They  are  thus  furnished  with  arguments  against  the 
capacity  of  man  for  self-government.  The  President  and  people  of  the 
United  States  have  viewed  these  incessant  changes  with  the  most  profound 
regret.  Both  our  principles  and  our  policy  make  us  desire  that  these  repub 
lics  should  become  prosperous  and  powerful.  We  feel  a  deep  interest  in  their 
welfare ;  but  this  we  know  can  only  be  promoted  by  free  and  stable  govern 
ments.  The  enjoyment  of  liberty  and  the  maintenance  of  private  rights 
cannot  be  secured  without  permanent  order ;  and  this  can  only  spring  from 
the  sacred  observance  of  law.  So  long  as  successive  military  chieftains  shall 
possess  the  ability  and  the  will  to  subvert  subsisting  governments  by  the 


622  LIFE    OF    JAMES    BUCHANAN. 

sword,  the  inevitable  consequences  must  be  a  disregard  of  personal  rights, 
weakness  at  home,  and  want  of  character  abroad.  In  your  intercourse  with 
the  authorities  of  Guatemala  and  other  states  of  Central  America,  you  will 
not  fail  to  impress  upon  them  our  example,  where  all  political  controversies 
are  decided  at  the  ballot-box. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  dissolution  of  the  confederacy  of  Central  America 
has  encouraged  Great  Britain  in  her  encroachments  upon  the  territories  of 
Honduras,  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  under  the  mask  of  protecting  the  so- 
called  kingdom  of  the  Mosquitos.  We  learn  that  under  this  pretext  she  has 
now  obtained  possession  of  the  harbor  of  San  Juan  de  Nicaragua — probably 
the  best  harbor  along  the  whole  coast.  Her  object  in  this  acquisition  is  evi 
dent  from  the  policy  which  she  has  uniformly  pursued  throughout  her  past 
history — of  seizing  upon  every  valuable  commercial  point  throughout  the 
world,  whenever  circumstances  have  placed  this  in  her  power.  Her  purpose 
probably  is  to  obtain  the  control  of  the  route  for  a  railroad  and  a  canal  be 
tween  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  by  the  way  of  Lake  Nicaragua.  In  a 
document  prepared,  as  it  is  understood,  by  Mr.  Macgregor,  and  printed  by 
order  of  the  British  Parliament,  which  has  been  furnished  to  me  by  Mr. 
Crampton,  her  Britannic  Majesty's  charge  d'affaires  to  the  United  States, 
Great  Britain  claims  the  whole  of  the  sea-coast  for  the  king  of  the  Mosquitos, 
from  Cape  Honduras  to  Escuda  de  Veragua.  By  this  means  she  would 
exclude  from  the  Caribbean  Sea  the  whole  of  Honduras  south  of  Cape  Hon 
duras,  and  the  entire  states  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica,  as  well  as  the  New 
Granadian  state  of  Veragua.  Under  the  assumed  title  of  protector  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Mosquitos — a  miserable,  degraded  and  insignificant  tribe 
of  Indians — she  doubtless  intends  to  acquire  an  absolute  dominion  over  this 
vast  extent  of  sea-coast.  With  what  little  reason  she  advances  this  preten 
sion  appears  from  the  convention  between  Great  Britain  and  Spain,  signed  at 
London  on  the  14th  day  of  July,  1786.  By  its  first  article,  "  His  Britannic 
Majesty's  subjects,  and  the  other  colonists  who  have  hitherto  enjoyed  the  pro 
tection  of  England,  shall  evacuate  the  country  of  the  Mosquitos,  as  well  as 
the  continent  in  general  and  the  islands  adjacent,  without  exception,  situated 
beyond  the  line  hereafter  described  as  what  ought  to  be  the  frontier  of  the 
extent  of  territory  granted  by  his  Catholic  majesty  to  the  English  for  the 
uses  specified  in  the  third  article  of  the  present  convention,  and  in  addition  to 
the  country  already  granted  to  them  in  virtue  of  the  stipulations  agreed  upon 
by  the  commissioners  of  the  two  crowns  in  1783." 

The  country  granted  to  them  under  the  treaties  of  1783  and  1786  was 
altogether  embraced  in  the  present  British  provinces  of  Belize,  and  was  remote 
from  what  is  now  claimed  to  be  the  Mosquito  kingdom.  The  uses  specified 
in  the  third  article  of  the  convention  were  merely,  in  addition  to  that  of 
"  cutting  wood  for  dyeing,"  the  grant  of  the  liberty  of  cutting  all  other  wood, 
without  even  excepting  mahogany,  as  well  as  gathering  all  the  fruits  or  pro 
duce  of  the  earth,  purely  natural  and  uncultivated,  which  may,  besides  being 
carried  away  in  their  natural  state,  become  an  object  of  utility  or  of  com- 


CENTRAL  AMERICA.  623 

merce,  whether  for  food  or  for  manufactures ;  but  it  is  expressly  agreed  that 
this  stipulation  is  never  to  be  used  as  a  pretext  for  establishing  in  that  country 
any  plantation  of  sugar,  coffee,  cocoa,  or  other  like  articles,  or  any  fabric  or 
manufacture,  by  means  of  mills  or  other  machines  whatsoever.  (This  restric 
tion,  however,  does  not  regard  the  use  of  saw-mills  for  cutting  or  otherwise 
preparing  the  wood.)  Since  all  the  lands  in  question  being  indisputably  ac 
knowledged  to  belong  of  right  to  the  crown  of  Spain,  no  settlements  of  that 
kind,  or  the  population  that  would  follow,  could  be  allowed.  "  The  English 
shall  be  permitted  to  transport  and  convey  all  such  wood  and  other  produce 
of  the  place  in  its  natural  and  uncultivated  state  down  the  rivers  to  the  sea  ; 
but  without  ever  going  beyond  the  limits  which  are  prescribed  to  them  by 
the  stipulations  above  granted,  and  without  thereby  taking  an  opportunity  of 
ascending  the  said  rivers  beyond  their  bounds  into  the  countries  belonging  to 
Spain." 

And  yet  from  this  simple  permission  within  certain  limits  to  cut  and  carry 
away  all  the  different  kinds  of  wood  and  "  the  produce  of  the  earth,  uncultivated 
and  purely  natural,"  accompanied  by  the  most  solemn  acknowledgment  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain  that  all  the  lands  in  question  "  belong  of  right  to  the 
crown  of  Spain/'  she  has  by  successive  encroachments  established  the  British 
colony  of  the  Belize. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  not  yet  determined  what  course 
it  will  pursue  in  regard  to  the  encroachments  of  the  British  government  as 
protector  of  the  king  and  kingdom  of  the  Mosquitos ;  but  you  are  instructed 
to  obtain  all  the  information  within  your  power  upon  the  nature  and  extent 
of  these  encroachments,  and  communicate  it  with  the  least  possible  delay  to 
this  department.  We  are  also  desirous  to  learn  the  number  of  the  Mosquito 
tribe,  the  degree  of  civilization  they  have  attained,  and  everything  else  con 
cerning  them.  — ~\ 

The  independence,  as  well  as  the  interests  of  the  nations  on  this  continent, 
require  that  they  should  maintain  an  American  system  of  policy,  entirely 
distinct  from  that  which  prevails  in  Europe.  To  suffer  any  interference  on 
the  part  of  the  European  governments  with  the  domestic  concerns  of  the 
American  republics,  and  to  permit  them  to  establish  new  colonies  upon  this 
continent,  would  be  to  jeopard  their  independence  and  ruin  their  interests. 
These  truths  ought  everywhere  throughout  this  continent  to  be  impressed 
upon  the  public  mind;  but  what  can  the  United  States  do  to  resist  such 
European  interference  whilst  the  Spanish  American  republics  continue  to 
weaken  themselves  by  division  and  civil  war,  and  deprive  themselves  of  the 
ability  of  doing  anything  for  their  own  protection  ?  / 


Mr.  Hise  was  prevented  by  illness  and  other  causes  from 
reaching  Guatemala  until  a  late  period  in  Mr.  Folk's  adminis 
tration,  and  before  any  despatches  were  received  from  him  Mr. 
Polk  had  ceased  to  be  President.  The  plan  wisely  conceived 


624  LIFE    OF    JAMES   BUCHANAN. 

by  Mr.  Buchanan  and  adopted  by  President  Polk,  for  uniting 
the  States  of  Central  America  in  a  new  federation,  which,  by 
the  aid  of  the  United  States,  could  compel  the  surrender  of  the 
British  protectorate,  was  not  carried  out  by  their  successors, 
although  it  descended  to  them  in  the  best  possible  shape.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  British  government,  taking  advantage  of  the 
wretched  internal  condition  of  those  States,  had  undertaken  to 
extend  the  dominions  of  the  puppet  king  of  the  Mosquitos  far 
beyond  their  former  pretensions,  and  in  February,  1848,  had 
seized  upon  the  port  of  San  Juan  de  Nicaragua,  expelled  the 
State  from  it,  and  thus  deprived  her  and  the  State  of  Costa 
Rica  of  the  only  good  harbor  along  the  coast.  To  counteract 
this  encroachment  and  to  enable  the  Central  States,  by  uniting 
them,  to  demand  the  withdrawal  of  the  protectorate  asserted  by 
Great  Britain,  was  the  purpose  for  which  Mr.  Hise  was  sent  to 
Guatemala.  Instead  of  taking  up  and  carrying  out  this  policy, 
the  succeeding  administration  of  General  Taylor,  without  con 
sulting  the  States  of  Central  America,  entered  into  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  Treaty,  concluded  April  19,  1850,  the  ratifications 
being  exchanged  July  4,  1850. 

It  is  necessary  to  make  a  brief  analysis  of  this  treaty,  because 
Mr.  Buchanan,  when  he  became  minister  to  England  under 
President  Pierce,  had  to  do  what  he  could  to  unravel  the  com 
plications  to  which  the  ambiguous  language  of  the  treaty  had 
given  rise.  There  were  two  provisions  in  the  first  article  of  the 
treaty  which  need  separate  examination.  By  the  first  of  them, 
the  contracting  parties  stipulated  that  neither  of  them  should 
ever  exercise  exclusive  control  over  the  ship-canal  that  was  to 
be  constructed  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  by  the 
way  of  the  river  San  Juan  de  Nicaragua,  or  erect  any  fortifi 
cations  commanding  it.  The  treaty  then  proceeded  to  declare 
that  neither  of  the  parties  shall  ever  "  occupy,  or  fortify,  or 
colonize,  or  exercise  any  dominion  over  Nicaragua,  Costa  Rica, 
the  Mosquito  coast,  or  any  part  of  Central  America."  One 
general  objection  to  this  provision  was,  that  so  long  as  it  should 
remain  in  operation  it  would  preclude  the  United  States  from 
ever  annexing  to  their  dominions  any  state  of  Central  America, 
even  if  such  state  should  desire  to  come  into  our  Union.  But 
the  last  clause  of  the  first  article  of  the  treaty  was  the  one  which 


THE   CLAYTON-BULWER    TREATY.  625 

led  to  the  subsequent  controversy.  Instead  of  a  simple  pro 
vision  requiring  Great  Britain  absolutely  to  recede  from  the 
Mosquito  protectorate,  and  to  restore  to  Honduras,  Nicaragua, 
and  Costa  Rica  their  respective  territories,  the  treaty  declared 
as  follows :  "  Nor  will  either  [of  the  parties]  make  use  of  any 
protection  which  either  affords  or  may  afford,  or  any  alliance 
which  either  has  or  may  have,  to  or  with  any  state  or  people, 
for  the  purpose  of  erecting  or  maintaining  any  such  fortifica 
tions,  or  of  occupying,  fortifying,  or  colonizing  Nicaragua,  Costa 
Rica,  the  Mosquito  Coast,  or  any  part  of  Central  America,  or 
of  assuming  or  exercising  any  dominion  over  the  same." 

It  soon  became  the  British  construction  of  this  clause  that  it 
recognized  the  existence  of  the  Mosquito  protectorate  for  all 
purposes  other  than  those  expressly  prohibited.  Under  this 
construction,  Great  Britain  claimed  that  she  could  still  direct 
and  influence  the  Mosquito  king  in  the  administration  of  his 
government ;  and  down  to  the  time  when  Mr.  Buchanan  was 
sent  by  President  Fierce  as  minister  to  England,  this  claim  was 
still  maintained.  On  the  other  hand,  taking  all  its  provisions 
together  and  interpreting  them  according  to  the  fair  meaning 
of  the  stipulations  as  applied  to  the  facts,  the  treaty  was  under 
stood  in  this  country  to  bind  the  British  government  not  to 
exercise  in  any  part  of  Central  America  any  "dominion," 
either  through  the  name  and  authority  of  the  titular  king  of  the 
Mosquitos,  or  otherwise;  or  in  other  words  not  to  exercise 
dominion,  either  directly  or  indirectly.  Manifestly  the  treaty 
was  destined  to  be  a  source  of  discord  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States ;  and  when,  as  will  hereafter  be  seen,  it 
devolved  upon  the  administration  of  President  Pierce  to  meet 
the  British  construction,  there  was  an  imperative  necessity  for 
Mr.  Buchanan's  services  as  minister  to  Great  Britain,  in  order 
that  this  and  other  pending  questions  between  the  two  govern 
ments  might  be  adjusted  without  further  hazard  of  more  serious 
collision. 


NOTE. 

On  page  459  of  this  volume,  it  should  have  been  stated  that  the  charge  of  "  treachery" 
made  by  Mr.  Clay  and  the  Whigs  generally  against  President  Tyler,  was  chiefly  based  on 
the  assertions  that  the  first  Bank  bill  (passed  August  Cth,  1841),  was  framed  by  Mr.  Ewing, 

I.— 40. 


026  LIFE  OP  JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  approved  by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet ;  that  it  was 
vetoed  on  the  ground  of  essential  alterations ;  that  the  second  bill  was  framed  to  meet  his 
special  objections,  was  privately  submitted  to  him  and  approved  before  its  passage,  but 
vetoed  afterwards.  The  central  point  in  the  Whig  charge  is  that  Mr.  Tyler  vetoed  a 
bill  which  he  had  promised  to  approve,  and  which  was  first  submitted  to  him  in  order 
that  its  terms  might  be  altered,  or  that  the  whole  might  be  abandoned,  if  he  could  not 
approve  it. 

It  has  not  been  my  intention  in  this  work  to  express  any  opinion  upon  the  conduct 
of  President  Tyler  in  relation  to  the  Bank  bills.  In  the  Life  of  Mr.  Webster,  the  reader 
will  find,  at  pages  69  to  80  of  the  first  volume,  his  explanations  of  the  whole  difficulty. 
But  since  page  459  of  the  present  volume  was  written  and  stereotyped,  I  have  thought  it 
proper  to  advert,  without  comment,  to  the  precise  character  of  the  Whig  charge  against 
Mr.  Tyler,  lest  it  might  be  said  that  I  have  omitted  to  refer  to  an  important  part  of  th« 
history. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


OCT  1 1  1975  1  6 


VED 


MAY  6    'P7  - 


OAN  DEPT 


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HECEIVED 


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JAN  6    1970 


/^General  Library' 
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C  59472 


